@OrganizedChaos
Just got you added as I hadn't noticed you joined the group. Was looking through activities and thought I'd share some thoughts and would definitely hope others can chime in that know a good bit more.
It looks like you did a couple of 10Ks earlier this year (March and April) and ran them at a solid 8:29 and 8:37 pace. Since then, starting in June and really increasing over the last 2 months (at least on Strava), you've gotten your miles up to about 20 mpw which is good. But, the problem is your paces are all about the same in every single run. Even worse, they are all in a range of ~8:30 with the slowest run you've done at 9:13. Considering your race paces, that means you are running close to race effort every time you go out there. That is WAY too fast and almost assuredly the reason you haven't gotten any faster.
If you look at this calculator, and plug in your better 10k time (I put in 52:40 as your time to match your pace based on Strava), you'll see that you have to slow WAY down for most of your runs. Your easy runs should be between 10:44 -11:44 pace. Even any longer runs you do shouldn't be faster than 9:45. You are essentially running your runs as a speed workout without any good, slow aerobic work or time to recover. I know that seems painfully slow, but it's a big deal.
As someone who made the same mistake early on but fixed it thanks to guys here, if you slow down now, you're going to see some increases in your speed. It seems counterintuitive but it's true. I started paying attention to these fast guys in here and when I saw that they are running in the 9's (and even 10's) when they are doing easy days, then how can I be trying to do mine faster?
It looks like you ran 5 times last week. 4 of those 5 runs should be at that slower pace (close to 11:00) based on your race pace (80/20 rule). 1-2 times per week you can let it rip and either do faster tempo runs or specific speed workouts if you want, but any more than that and you are just hurting your progress. And I would say you can try and run even faster when you do those faster runs. All of your runs now are in the same pace area and they aren't serving much of a purpose (in terms of getting you faster).
I wouldn't be surprised if you did this for just 2-3 months that you can take a significant amount of time off your next 10K if you stay disciplined and run slow and easy and keep your miles where they are (20-25 mpw).
ETA -- To put it in perspective, someone that runs a 19 min 5K (just over 6:00 pace) does most of their runs (easy runs) in the range you are currently doing yours (8:27-9:27).
I knew it wasn’t going to be a great experience two miles in. I’ve been intermittent fasting until lunch time and forgot all about eating something before my run, so my last food was at 5pm last night. Realized that error at mile two. Though I had Tailwind and gels with on my run, I think 19 hours without food with 18 miles on a brutal section of this trail mixed in was just too much. As least that’s how I’m rationalizing what might have been my most mentally challenging run ever (well, besides the ball chafage thing last year).
Your penance is to BMF it today.
:( 
)
