Forums >Racing>how do you run a mile?
I tried to run a mile once and couldn't do it. I thought I'd just split the distance into halves to make it mentally easier. So, I took off and covered half the distance... then ran until I covered half of the remaining distance... then half of that remaining distance... then half of THAT remaining distance. I got really, really close, but never could finish that mile.
be curious; not judgmental
not bad for mile 25
I was told that to run a marathon, I should go all-out in the first mile, then pick it up from there.
Old , Ugly and slow
Spaniel that is a fast mile. I love your picture we just got a new springer
in Aug.
first race sept 1977 last race sept 2007
2019 goals 1000 miles , 190 pounds , deadlift 400 touch my toes
rather be sprinting
He was starting to get the white haze even this early; it wouldbe very bad when it all caught up, but of course that was noconsideration now. Come on you son of a bitch, he thought, but heknew he was just hanging on. It was all going slowly downhill andWalton had about eight yards on him still. Cassidy could feel themuscles in his neck start to tighten, pulling his lower lipdownwards into an ugly grimace; he knew this was one of the lastsigns, this death sneer. So this is what happens! You just don't gethim, that's all! The son of a bitch just keeps on going and it endsand you don't get him ever! Cassidy adjusted his lean a little forward; that seemed to helpsome, but the neck was getting tighter and he felt his armsbeginning to stiffen. By the time they got out of the turn and intothe last straight, he knew they would be really bad. All down the back straight Cassidy tried to reel him in, but it was no good. Eightyards. Eight yards, Eight yards! The strain was apparent to thoseclose to the track, on the exhale breath he made little gasps: gahh!gahh! gahh! His eyes were starting to squeeze up shut but he couldhardly see through the white haze anyway. The chant roared across the field, beseeching, hopeful,frenzied. CASS-A-DAY! CASS-A-DAY! CASS-A-DAY! Shut up! Shut up! I'm not your godamned hero! All down theback straight he stared at the fleeing black suit through thewrinkled slits he had left for eyes, stared at the black suit andwished they would all leave him alone. Just leave him the hellalone with his misery and defeat. That's when he saw it. Almost imperceptible, but there it was just the same: the leftshoulder dipped suddenly, then the right leg shot out a little furtherthan usual, and that was it: back to normal stride. Walton was tying up too. So that's the way it is. Not so casual after all. Cassidy bore down, bore down, and finally began reeling himin, all during the final turn, all the way around he pulled him in,inch by inch, as his mouth was drawn more and more into the uglygrimace by the spastic neck muscles. Inch by inch the black suitcame back until finally they broke clear of the turn and there itwas: John Walton was three feet ahead of him with a hundred andten yards of Tartan stretching out in front of them to the finish line.There was utter pandemonium in the stands as the chantdegenerated into a howling, shrieking din. Quenton Cassidy moved out to the second lane, the Lane ofHigh Hopes, and ran out the rest of the life in him. All through the last 50 yards he had lookedthrough the two fogged slits of windows atthe howling slow motion nightmare going onaround him as he rigged up in true fashion,getting the jaw-shoulder lock and thesideways final straight fade as he began tolose all semblance of control; he peered out at all this as the orbwas about to burst letting all the poison flood out, peered at it andquite calmly wondered: when will it all end? He felt more than saw Walton come back up to his shoulder,entertained an idle curiosity about who would get it, but then wentback to wistfully concentrating on those green inches of Tartanpassing slowly, slowly beneath his feet. The last 10 yards his body was a solid block of lactic acid, withthose straining neck muscles pulling his lip down and his backarched, trapezia trying to pull him over backwards. And all theway Quenton Cassidy is telling himself: Not now…it hurts but go all the way through do not stop untilyou are past it you cannot afford to give the son of a bitchanything…so holdit holdit holdit jesus christ hold itholditholditHOLDITHOLDITHOLD IT… Finally with a scream and a violent wrenching motion he shookhimself loose from this terrible force that gripped him, forcedhimself into a semblance of a lean and it was over… That method only works if you wanna go run 60 quarters at a time.
He was starting to get the white haze even this early; it wouldbe very bad when it all caught up, but of course that was noconsideration now. Come on you son of a bitch, he thought, but heknew he was just hanging on. It was all going slowly downhill andWalton had about eight yards on him still. Cassidy could feel themuscles in his neck start to tighten, pulling his lower lipdownwards into an ugly grimace; he knew this was one of the lastsigns, this death sneer. So this is what happens! You just don't gethim, that's all! The son of a bitch just keeps on going and it endsand you don't get him ever!
Cassidy adjusted his lean a little forward; that seemed to helpsome, but the neck was getting tighter and he felt his armsbeginning to stiffen. By the time they got out of the turn and intothe last straight, he knew they would be really bad. All down the
back straight Cassidy tried to reel him in, but it was no good. Eightyards. Eight yards, Eight yards! The strain was apparent to thoseclose to the track, on the exhale breath he made little gasps: gahh!gahh! gahh! His eyes were starting to squeeze up shut but he couldhardly see through the white haze anyway.
The chant roared across the field, beseeching, hopeful,frenzied.
CASS-A-DAY! CASS-A-DAY! CASS-A-DAY!
Shut up! Shut up! I'm not your godamned hero! All down theback straight he stared at the fleeing black suit through thewrinkled slits he had left for eyes, stared at the black suit andwished they would all leave him alone. Just leave him the hellalone with his misery and defeat.
That's when he saw it.
Almost imperceptible, but there it was just the same: the leftshoulder dipped suddenly, then the right leg shot out a little furtherthan usual, and that was it: back to normal stride.
Walton was tying up too.
So that's the way it is. Not so casual after all.
Cassidy bore down, bore down, and finally began reeling himin, all during the final turn, all the way around he pulled him in,inch by inch, as his mouth was drawn more and more into the uglygrimace by the spastic neck muscles. Inch by inch the black suitcame back until finally they broke clear of the turn and there itwas: John Walton was three feet ahead of him with a hundred andten yards of Tartan stretching out in front of them to the finish line.There was utter pandemonium in the stands as the chantdegenerated into a howling, shrieking din.
Quenton Cassidy moved out to the second lane, the Lane ofHigh Hopes, and ran out the rest of the life in him.
All through the last 50 yards he had lookedthrough the two fogged slits of windows atthe howling slow motion nightmare going onaround him as he rigged up in true fashion,getting the jaw-shoulder lock and thesideways final straight fade as he began tolose all semblance of control; he peered out at all this as the orbwas about to burst letting all the poison flood out, peered at it andquite calmly wondered: when will it all end?
He felt more than saw Walton come back up to his shoulder,entertained an idle curiosity about who would get it, but then wentback to wistfully concentrating on those green inches of Tartanpassing slowly, slowly beneath his feet.
The last 10 yards his body was a solid block of lactic acid, withthose straining neck muscles pulling his lip down and his backarched, trapezia trying to pull him over backwards. And all theway Quenton Cassidy is telling himself:
Not now…it hurts but go all the way through do not stop untilyou are past it you cannot afford to give the son of a bitchanything…so holdit holdit holdit jesus christ hold itholditholditHOLDITHOLDITHOLD IT…
Finally with a scream and a violent wrenching motion he shookhimself loose from this terrible force that gripped him, forcedhimself into a semblance of a lean and it was over…
That method only works if you wanna go run 60 quarters at a time.
PRs: 5k 19:25, mile 5:38, HM 1:30:56
Lifting PRs: bench press 125lb, back squat 205 lb, deadlift 245lb
A little late to the discussion but here's my $.02: Our marathon PRs are similar but I've broken 5:20 3 times.
First off, how do you train?
If you want to get better at the Mile, you need to train faster. I believe that marathon training actually makes you slower at distances 5K and below. Do at least 1 interval session per week. Maybe 8-10x400 near goal pace. Continue to do the occasional tempo as well.
What is often deemed heresy for marathoners, reduce your mileage and increase your training paces.
As for the race itself, my best Mile races are fairly even. Laps 1 and 4 are a little faster than 2 and 3 but there should not be much more than a 5 second spread. I believe my splits were 77-81-82-78.
Mile: 5:18, 5K: 19:09, 10K: 39:44, Half: 1:28:12, Full: 3:21:56
Post-35 PRs:
Mile: 6:02, 5K: 21:14, 10K: 45:40, Half: 1:42:24
http://jzehnder208.googlepages.com
www.crazyj208.blogspot.com
Feeling the growl again
Spaniel that is a fast mile. I love your picture we just got a new springer in Aug.
Field or bench bred? Mine is field and while the pic is from about age 2 he is now 9 and has been a wonderful dog. Tempered somewhat with age, but I love the energetic type as it matches my personality.
My fast miles are behind me. I would be happy to break sub-4:50 today.
"If you want to be a bad a$s, then do what a bad a$s does. There's your pep talk for today. Go Run." -- Slo_Hand
I am spaniel - Crusher of Treadmills
I believe that marathon training actually makes you slower at distances 5K and below. Do at least 1 interval session per week. Maybe 8-10x400 near goal pace. Continue to do the occasional tempo as well.
Real marathon training does not eliminate interval workouts, and certainly does not eliminate "occasional tempos". I ran a 2:28 marathon PR on an injured hamstring training for sub-2:22....the injury occurred during a race in which I set my 5K, 8K, and 10K PRs of 15:18, 24:5X (need to look up), and 30:57 respectively. More specific short-distance training had not approached those times, it was all done off "marathon training".
About 2 months after my marathon PR, I also set my mile PR by ~10sec.
Marathon training is not just a crapload of slow miles.
Race-specific work has its place for mid/short distances, but place that after a solid marathon cycle and most people would really, really surprise themselves...considering most runners run their highest volumes during marathon training.
I believe that marathon training actually makes you slower at distances 5K and below.
bullshit.
Or, in other words, your "marathon training" is messed up. Because I can point to dozens of people here (me included) who pr'd miles and 5ks while marathon training.
Come all you no-hopers, you jokers and roguesWe're on the road to nowhere, let's find out where it goes
Marathon training doesn't make you slower at shorter events, in fact it's a great way to build a big fat base to build from. I ran a marathon in late October 2008 (2:58:25) and then ran 800m in 2:04 in early December.
Sparknotes on the quote from Once A Runner: The best way to PR is to find somebody who is a little faster than you are, maintain contact and then out-kick the poor SOB.
marathon training actually makes you slower at distances 5K and below.
Tell that to my 5K pr.
Field or bench bred? Mine is field and while the pic is from about age 2 he is now 9 and has been a wonderful dog. Tempered somewhat with age, but I love the energetic type as it matches my personality. My fast miles are behind me. I would be happy to break sub-4:50 today.
Field my wife has had them for over 30 years. They are great dogs
Didn't mean to post twice.
Need to clarify. What I meant was if you run all of your miles much slower than your GMP (as the OP seems to do) , you will not run a PR in the Mile. If you include some tempos and longish MP runs, you can definitely PR at shorter distances fresh off marathon training. My 5K PR was set only 6 weeks after my marathon. Did not mean to stir up trouble.
Need to clarify. What I meant was if you run all of your miles much slower than your GMP (as the OP seems to do) , you will not run a PR in the Mile.
If you include some tempos and longish MP runs, you can definitely PR at shorter distances fresh off marathon training. My 5K PR was set only 6 weeks after my marathon.
Did not mean to stir up trouble.
RA's cranky old teenager
jEfFgObLuE has the right idea! Seriously, I love that book.
As a miler myself, my plan is to stay relatively even for the first three laps, then all-out for the last 400m. I ran a PR of 5:00.11 last spring and my splits were 1:12, 2:25, couldn't hear the third split but it was probably 3:45-50, then finished in 5:00.11.
My strategy is to go out faster than goal pace for the first 400m and establish a slight time cushion, stay on even goal pace for the second and third lap, then pick it up gradually for the first half of the second lap, then kick your brains out for the last 200m. For 6:10, it would be 1:30.50 so I would try to go out in 1:27-28, then stay even and kick the last 200m.
With all that said, running times do not directly translate for different distances. All those calculators do is estimate your VO2max and see what other times you should be able to run based on that number. For example, my "best" VO2max number was in that 5:00.11 mile I ran. According to that number, I should be able to run a 10:37 3200m and a 17:28 5k, but my best 3200m is an 11:23 and my best 5k is 17:47. Those calculators don't take into account what kind of body type you are. Try seeing Peter Snell run a marathon with those monstrous legs. It wouldn't be fast. It just wouldn't. And that's why he was a 800m/mile runner. And it shows for me that I'm better at shorter distances, so I'm going to focus on the 800m and the 1600m this spring.
That's probably maybe mostly true.
Fight The Future
I do agree that some people are better at the short and others at the long distances. I think, in particular, that we senior citizens are supposed to lose speed before endurance, so we tend to be long distance people. I was mainly curious about the mental aspect of mile running. Is it painful the whole time, or only the first and last lap, etc.
By the way, Justin, I don't only run slower than my GMP, it's just that I don't put all of the details in my log online here. For instance, when I do intervals, it's usually in the context of a longer easier run. (example, 9 miles easy, then 6 x 1/2 mile intervals at 5K+30 sec speed, or something like that). I only record the overall distance and time.