Quicker Runners - how much faster did you get?

Obviously difficult to answer without specifics and trying to compare one person to another can be very dangerous.  (age, background, etc.)

In my experience, after you get all the easy gains(low hanging fruit), it's takes consistent training over years to make those long term improvements and gain the incrimental fitness gains. 

Using myself as an example, I did my first HIM in late 2007 in 6hrs.  3 1/2 years later I'm looking at breaking 4:30 this year.  My run splits haven't improved as much as my bike splits, but I have made small improvements a little bit at a time, which have added up to larger gains.  In 2007 I ran a 10miler in exactly 70 minutes, in 2011 I can take 10 minutes off of that. 

Your 1:32 is a great run.  Triathlon training will probably help you make some improvements, but I would suggest a few run focused periods (maybe offseason) to get that time down into the mid 1:20's.  If you're running 1:32 in your first year of really training, I would think that if you focused solely on running you could get down to ~1:20, but that would be at the expense of bike & swim. 

Just to clarify, the HM this past weekend was my second one.  First one was in 08 at the end of my first Tri season to see what I could do.  Ran a 1:41 in that one, got injured late in the next season and didn't run much during remainder of 09 and all of 10, and now followed a 5 month plan for this past weekend's race.

So, I've got some volume in my legs, but I also passed my 2010 run mileage by the end of April this year.

Sounds very similar to me. My first half mary was a 1:41, second half, 2 years later was 1:33 on the same course under the similar weather conditions.

I am looking at breaking into the mid 1:20's by next year, and I would hope that it can be done without sacrificing biking/swimming.

I am taking an approach that starts with short distance racing (5k and 10k), and eventually leads to HIM, hopefully at a faster pace.

Sounds like you're taking a good approach.  It also sounds like you have what it takes to run in the mid 1:20s.  My comment about sacrificing swim & bike has a lot to do with how much time you have to devote to training.  On a set amount of weekly training hours, it might take a little longer to get where you want if you're splitting your time between 3 different sports.  Obvious, I know, but it's worth stating. 

Going from 1:41 to 1:33 (8 minutes) is a whole lot easier than going from 1:33 to 1:25 (8 minutes)!  Good luck!

All good points - I guess I'm wanting my cake and be able to eat it too.

I have actually thought about this a bit, in terms of focusing less on Tri's and more on running, simply because there is some natural ability there.  If I was taking my 3 swims a week and turning those into runs, then I think I could become a decent duathlete/runner.

But I admittedly enjoy Tri's, and just look at adding some run races as a supplement to the Tri's.  Here's the thing with the running - I don't want to compete unless I think I can meet certain goals.  Hence I wonder how big my potential is.  I'll run a 5K at some point, but not till I feel I can break 20min, and while I'm intrigued about running a marathon, I have no plans to do one until I think I have a good shot at BQ'ing. 

That means, from a run perspective, I want to focus on the HM distance because I have a goal to go faster at this distance, while improving my run base for HIM races.   The real point of the post was to see how much faster people have gotten.  crmorton's looking to run in the mid 1:20's next time out - realistically I'm not sure I'm capable of that in a year's time.  To Andrew's point, dropping 8min off a 1:33 is a lot harder than off a 1:41 - and that's what I'm trying to figure out.  Where/when does that curve really start to level off?  I'm also in my late 30's, not my mid-20's, so I wonder how much of an impact that has as well.

There was something about cake too.  I think that should probably be added to your list as item 5. 

I don't consider myself a fast runner, but I have improved over the past two years. Most of my improvement has simply come with increased run volume, not speed work.

For years, my wife and I would do a half marathon each year and a few 5k's or 10k's. We did these with little run training, maybe running once or twice a week. For a while I played pretty competitive pick-up basketball, which kept me in decent shape. My best half marathon during this time was around 1:48.

In the fall of 2009 with no run training at all (not one run in the two months prior to the race!), I ran a half marathon with my wife, crossing right at the 2:00 mark. Last year I decided to stop being so lazy and got into triathlons. I began training in the spring of 2010. In April I ran a 10K in around 47 minutes. I did a half marathon in May in 1:38. By December I was running around 40 miles per week and PR'd in a 5k, running 18:15, but then I got an injury and didn't run for two months.

I began running again at the end of February and I'm now back up to the mid 40's for mileage. About a month ago I PR'd a 10k in 39:35. I have a half marathon in two weeks where I'm shooting for somewhere in the 1:23-1:24 range.

My progress has come almost entirely by just running more miles and more times per week. It's a pretty simple formula. Have a look at my logs if you like - they are accurate back to June of 2010.

My long term goals are to get my 5k time down into the low 17's, my 10k around 36 minutes, and in the fall I'm shooting for a sub 3:00 marathon and qualifying for Boston 2012. I think it's attainable if I can stay relatively injury free and run around 6 days per week.

I've been running for many years and while I never considered myself "fast", I managed to to PR at a 5K in 17:05, 10K in 38:10, and 1/2 marathon at around 1:28.  I'm not going to talk about the marathon.    My PR's were all made within a year...about my 4th/5th year of running.  And yes, this was a long time ago...before Garmin's and heartrate monitors.  What i can tell you that worked for me was running was my primary focus.  I did an occasional tri but just for fun with very little time in the pool or on the saddle.  I worked hard on the run...track work every week, hill work every week, a longish run on the weekend.  I ran with a track club and did lots of club runs.  I would run with guys faster than I was thinking it would help me get faster. Kind of the opposite of what Scout recommends with run lots, mostly easy.  I did run lots but mostly hard.  In hindsight probably not the best strategy but I never had any injuries back then.  Anyway, IMO for someone to run their very best a person needs to focus on the run...40-50 mile weeks would be the norm.  For a runner with a solid base, a couple years run focused with that kind of mileage I believe would bring a person (that is doing this as a hobby) very close to their top running form.

That said, I'm not sure about your age, family/work situation.  It's not easy to do when you have a job and a family.  Also, as we age most of require more recovery time.  A person needs to be smart and rest when needed.  I know I just can't consistently put in very many miles of running anymore.  So I spend much more time on the bike and in the pool than I did back in my 20s and 30s.

Anyway, my 2-cents...

I should make note that the 1:33 half was last year. Next time out if its this year, it will be in the 1:28-1:30 range as a goal (baby steps). Next year (2 years after the 1:33 time), I would love to be in the 1:24-1:26 range.

I think that is realistic, even with our age difference!

However, I do not plan on running a 1/2 Mary this year. I only plan on the 5k's and 10k's, and even 3k's. Dropping my times in those substantially (I hope).

I am willing to bet 10000000 deutschmarks you can run a sub 20min 5k with 2-3 weeks of prep for a 5k race, and being well rested the day before

walked on to my college xc team, no impressive times such as a 40min 10k.  started running on my own more consistently ran a 2:54 marathon, 1:20 half, and 37min flat 10k off the bike.

key to my running success, averaging 35-40mpw no matter what.  

Interesting that many of you posting here I would consider to be fast runners - but you don't put yourself in that category.

I recognize that to continue improving my run, I simply need to run more.  It's likely going to remain my strength in Tri's, and if that's the case then I want to further capitalize on that strength.  I also enjoy doing the half marathons, and the training distances are not too long to impact my other training.

I'm curious when/if others feel they peaked?  How long had you been running before you found that you no longer were making gains and it became more about maintaining? 

I can't speak for the others but for me even when running my fastest I always had such high expectations I wanted to go faster.  I was never happy after a race...even when I ran 17:05 at a 5K I was not happy because my goal was to break 17.  Same for every other distance...I always felt I should have run faster.  I enjoy running/racing much more now that I don't put thosse kind of expectations on myself.

As far as when I peaked at running, I think it was after about 5-years of running.  However, there are guys that keep getting faster even after 5-years.  Myself, I had some burnout.  Traithlon helped balance things out for me and I quit worrying so much about my running (and have continually become slower since).

I've been "running" for 11+ years, but 7 of that doesn't really count.  When I was in the Army I ran ~10mi/week, which doesn't really count as training.

So that leaves me with about 4 years of actual training, and I know I haven't even come close to peaking.  I don't think I've maximized my training and have always been a fairly low volume guy.  I'm still making improvements even with my limited run training, so I'd like to think that if I focused on running for a bit I still have some huge gains I could make. 

Neil - Based on the (pure) runners that I know, it takes a decade of consistent, high mileage running before performance levels off.

In your case, your running volume is quite low and your time in the sport is also short.  If you continue to slowly build run volume, avoid injury, and stay lean, you can make significant improvements.  How much improvement is possible is impossible to predict for an individual.  We each have different issues/plateaus to work through.  That is what makes it fun.