Sub 5-minute Mile Part 2

MoreFaSho

United States1427 Posts

January 30 2013 05:01 GMT

Work got a little crazy at points since my first post and I was traveling a lot which made my training difficult, but overall I've been okay at keeping it up.

I had originally intended to run Sub 6:00 on a race in December, but I misread the schedule and showed up just after the race ran (instead of an hour before). I decided to go out to a path by the ocean and just time myself, but I was barely able to break 7:00. The conditions weren't great, but that's no excuse for missing by so much and the mile was PAINFUL.

I did however about 2 weeks later run a 5k and ran my first mile in what I guess was about 6:30-6:40 quite comfortably (running with others has always helped me) and ran 22:39 in less than ideal conditions (I had been in vegas for a week and my flight back didn't get in until almost 1am and the race was at 8:30am.

Since then I've been increasing my distances a little for my training runs as I didn't think I had a strong enough base going. I do think that my goal date is no pretty unrealistic because I didn't make as much progress as I was expecting, but I plan on keeping it up and seeing how close I can get with still the eventual goal (hopefully not long after) of breaking 5:00.

TheBigO

United States97 Posts

January 30 2013 05:17 GMT

Good job man. I am a runner myself, so I love reading these type of threads.

Just curious, but how old are you? If you are in your late 20's, I do believe you have a good chance to break 5 if you have enough time to train. If you are a lot older, it could be more difficult.

Also, what kind of workouts are you doing? Are you just doing regular distance runs, or are you varying your workouts? I am just speaking from experience, but I only did distance runs during my winter break (about one month). When I started doing track workouts, I was extremely slow compared to the other distance runners even though I was aerobicaly fit. Basically, I am saying that to run the mile, you need to focus more on speed (once you get a certain level of fitness), To run the mile, you need to be anaerobic.

Anyway, I wish you luck. I hope you continue to keep everyone updated with your progress.

LuckyFool

United States9016 Posts

January 30 2013 05:18 GMT

I'm aiming to run a mid 5ish mile over the summer, possibly a sub 5 if training goes well. Good luck!

holy shit this was my 8k post! Didn't even realize. :D

Carbonyl

United States334 Posts

January 30 2013 11:11 GMT

WOOT! GL man! hard work and perseverance is literally the only thing that will pay off. keep at it and you will achieve your goal for sure.

MoreFaSho

United States1427 Posts

January 31 2013 05:23 GMT

On January 30 2013 14:17 TheBigO wrote:
Good job man. I am a runner myself, so I love reading these type of threads.

Just curious, but how old are you? If you are in your late 20's, I do believe you have a good chance to break 5 if you have enough time to train. If you are a lot older, it could be more difficult.

Also, what kind of workouts are you doing? Are you just doing regular distance runs, or are you varying your workouts? I am just speaking from experience, but I only did distance runs during my winter break (about one month). When I started doing track workouts, I was extremely slow compared to the other distance runners even though I was aerobicaly fit. Basically, I am saying that to run the mile, you need to focus more on speed (once you get a certain level of fitness), To run the mile, you need to be anaerobic.

Anyway, I wish you luck. I hope you continue to keep everyone updated with your progress.

I'm 28. I was a runner in high school. I definitely agree to get fast at a mile I will have to work on speed. I'm pretty confident I can get to 5:30 (in theory) without doing any special speed work. I've been mostly doing distance tempo runs and distance runs between to recover.

I think the main obstacle is still my weight. I'm down to about 215, I started a little over 220 so I've been making some progress (even with the holidays in the middle) without going too crazy on the food end other than portion control.

Another big deal is finding good running partners to keep me accountable / motivated, but there are a few guys at work who will run with me that can push me hard enough.

OMin

United States545 Posts

January 31 2013 22:35 GMT

hey man! i fully applaud your efforts man! i ran track all four years of high school, and did manage to break 5 back in the day. im a 4th year in undergrad right now, and I haven't come close to having the speed i used to. i ran my first marathon like 3 months ago, and did pretty well on it considering i did it off 3 months of training (i ran 3:16). one thing training for the marathon made me realize is that you really need speedwork to up your time on shorter distances. i was doing 20 miles in one day for my long run at one point, so my time and effort was there in terms of training. it certainly was important for doing well in the marathon, but did not help my mile time very much.

once you get a solid base of just normal aerobic runs, i really think doing the 400 repeats you mentioned in your first blog is the way to go. I totally want to break 5 on the mile again, and am with you on this quest! best of luck, and keep up the good work - you WILL get there if you stick to your goals!

Juliette

United States6003 Posts

January 31 2013 23:57 GMT

You guys are motivating me to run

Best of luck! I look forward to more blogs!

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