Do I need to slow down to get faster?

Nah, that's probably fine. I train pretty much the same and recently ran a 2:53.

I'd say your bigger problems are lack of mileage and any real meaningful workouts.

"Greyzoning" it every run probably isn't going to hurt you while you're not doing anything that'll require recovery time, but it's also not the most effective way to train.

Admittedly, I know my mileage is too low and I probably run in the gray zone too much. However, to keep the post from being too long I didn’t detail my training outside of the summer.

Generally in better weather, my workout day will be a progression run 8–10 miler. Something like 8:00, 7:45, 7:30 7:15, 7:00, 6:50, 6:40, 6:30, 6:00, 7:45. Occasionally just a tempo run with 2 mile warm up 4 miles at roughly 6:30 pace and 2 mile cool down. My long runs also typically incorporate 4-8 miles at 6:45-7 min pace.

Even in my prime, I rarely hit the track and I plan to start doing that. Do I need to run easier on the other days to have better workouts?

if it feels easy and you're not worn down, that pace is fine for your mileage. but you'd probably be better off slowing down 20 seconds per mile and running another 10-15 mpw. And throw in a good dose of threshold work. It's fun!

If you are hitting 15-20% of your mileage at M to T pace, you're naturally gonna gravitate to slower running on in between days.

Also, with that stifling weather, threshold reps with 60 seconds rest in between, or whatever will feel a lot more manageable than the progressions. And other continuous workout runs you are into.

shake it up

You still need to do some work at faster than threshold.

Perhaps not right at the very end of your marathon block, but pre-block (and in the early stages) throw in some intervals once every second week at 5-10k pace. Something like 8-10 x 2 minutes with a 1-1.5 minute jog recovery for example.

It just seems like your training is very monotone, that is, there isn't a big enough variation in the paces you run (pretty much all your running is between 7:50 and 6:30 miling), which means you're neglecting fairly important energy systems like your vo2 max and your second lactate threshold.

If you do this, you'll need to run easier on your easy days, but the overall benefit will be much greater than simply running at or close to LT1 for every run.

All good feedback. Thanks for the responses.

Tough crowd. I get 2 downvotes for saying thanks for the good feedback.

I should stop at this point because 3:07 is slow, or because the 3:07 is a running joke on these boards? It's not a troll, it's actually what I ran. I firmly believe I can break 3 again, as my fitness continues to improve. I think if I follow this advice and really step it up to 6 days/week with 55+miles and better workouts, I can break my 2:53 PR in the next 18 months.

I think I got some really good advice, beyond the part I already knew which is I need to increase mileage. If it's just because 3:07 is slow, I would have agreed with that 10 years ago.

In my defense, which are excuses, I'm 46 married with 2 kids in travel sports working 50 hours a week with a real commute to the office 5 days per week. Fatigue is not the limiting factor in my training, it's missing workouts for other commitments or often just sleeping in and not having the motivation at 6:30-7pm when I get home from work. The workouts I'm able to do can certainly be improved or as others put it "mix it up a bit".

I also quit drinking, so my training is already better than it was when I ran 2:53 back in the day, which I'm sure is still slow to many. I think it would be pretty solid if I were to do it at 47 next year.

The problem with your particular marathon time is a - desperately unfunny - running joke, nothing more.

I wouldn't consciously change your pace. I'd just let easy pace be easy, whatever that feels like, as you raise mileage and progress workouts.

I think older guys go plenty slow enough. It's better to speed up. Opposite of young guys. They have to slow down.

What you running for 5k? I like my easy runs to be about 2min or so slower than 5k pace. If your just doing runs with no workouts your easy pace naturally is a little faster. You can also look at heart rate on easy days.

I haven’t raced a 5K since I started running regularly again about 3 years ago. I ran a 40:07 10K 16 months ago, and I’d guess I’m about a minute faster today based on my current “workouts”. I think I could run a 5K in roughly 19 minutes.

I completely agree.