Running a Sub 4 Minute Mile: Help and Advice Needed (Read 281 times)

Set a goal to consistently run, jump into a race every now and then and gradually increase your mileage.  10% per week which is often advised is too much in my opinion for a new runner.  Every 4th week drop your mileage down to an earlier cycle for rest.

Your rest is the most important thing, followed by diet, etc.  You will not adapt if you don't take care of yourself.

Some tough love:

Saying you want to run a sub 4 minute mile is like saying that you want to be a space pilot without having any flight training in an airplane.  Learn how to fly first.

You have to get this thought out of your mind for now or you will not last.  As things click along make goals that are within reach.  You will know if it is possible after a year.

I am working with someone now that has an outside shot at it but we are thinking on a 5 year plan.  For him it's possible but he needs some luck to pull it off.  Sickness, injuries, life happens stuff all can get in the way.  He has run a 53 sec. 400 at the end of a workout and we are not there yet.

Sub 4 minute milers don't train 8 hours per day and/or go for long walks.  They do however value their rest more than other athletes.  Keep that in mind.  You can't muscle your way to your best performance no matter where that is.

Hi all! So I have scratched my plan on having an exact date to hit 70 mpw. Instead I am just going to take it in segments and reassess every 4 - 5 weeks. My first segment will be running 15 mpw and I'm going to try and do it over 5 weeks. Ideally, by the 5th week I'll run 5 5km runs under 30 minutes. Does that sound reasonable to start. I have created a plan using the tool on this website so feel free to look at it and give me some insight or advice to improve it. Thanks!

This sounds reasonable. I was your size once and decided to start running. Don’t run too hard. Running East should feel easy and right now every run will feel hard because it is. Easy running is just whatever pace you feel like running and if you need to walk then walk. Running for time can be just as challenging as running for distance. The most important thing is not to overwhelming yourself or your body to the point of injury. Being sore is one thing. Being injured is another. A 30 minute 5k sounds like a good goal. I built up to a 5k distance and my long runs were 5-6 miles and those probably took me an hour when I started.

as for increasing mileage. Just remember a month ago when you didn’t run. If someone said to increase your mileage you could tell them ‘10 percent of zero is zero’ and be correct. You have a pace for a 400m so you could look up what a training pace would be for a 20 minute run using that if you wanted, or multiply by 4 and call it a mile and use THAT pace if you wanted.

this is a question I don't know.

what does you 200 or 400 time need to be to be able to run a 4 minute mile.

I was always slow i don't think i ever ran under 60 for a 400.

this is a question I don't know.

 

what does you 200 or 400 time need to be to be able to run a 4 minute mile.

 

I was always slow i don't think i ever ran under 60 for a 400.

It depends on which direction you're approaching a 4:00. Some people have better endurance, and their 400 PR is only :58, but they can run four :60 in a row. Other people are speed demons with a 400m PR several seconds below :50, so running a :60 for them is nearly jogging. But being fast isn't a foolproof recipe for a good mile, nor does being a great long distance runner.

One does not necessarily exclude the other, Kipchoge is a sub 4:00 miler and has the world record in the marathon.

But from the hip, I'd say anyone capable of a 4:00 mile should be able to run at least a :55 400m.

200m? That's a sprint. There are many elite 200m runners who can't even break 2:00 for 800m.

 Your original plan called for 8 hours per day of training. How does that work for a 24-year-old? Do you not work? Do you have a trust fund?

I asked myself these same questions all the time when I browse the training logs of some people on RA who are averaging 70+ miles per week. I have two kids under five and a busy job with travel so I am usually looking for someone to give me a big trophy when I get 30+ miles in a single week.

The original post talks about devoting 8h per day to training. Maybe your expectations have already become a bit more pragmatic by this point. Either way, whether it's going to be 8h or just 2-4h (which would still be very impressive in my view!) per day that you want to devote to becoming a faster runner, I recommend that you allocate a large portion of that time to learning and planning. Especially in the early stages. If you train inefficiently, putting in more hours won't be valuable, and may even turn out to harm your fitness (injury risk). While it may not seem like directly making progress, my recommendation is take 1h every day, for at least a week or two, to get a better sense of all the running advice that's out there. Asking people on this forum is a great start, but I'd say it's not enough given how ambitious your goals are. The more you plan to train, the more progress is lost by training counterproductively.

It's important not to be too attached to a certain vision of training. My motivation works in a similar way: I tend to make ambitious plans and when I encounter reasons why things probably take more time or turn out to be more complex, I'm reluctant to make adjustments. But it's unwise to throw all one's energy into something only to realize later that some very foreseeable mistakes ruined most of the progress.

 

Here some quick advice (I'd recommend more research on all of these): 
- Building up a foundation of high weekly miles seems like a decent first step. It makes sense to focus on developing good running form early on. I don't think speedwork is important at the start, but it might make sense to already incorporate a few strides here and there once you're comfortable running 45mins+ several times per week. 
- Don't increase weekly miles too quickly. Everyone is saying that because people usually don't listen. But you're basically guaranteed to injure yourself if you neglect this advice. Just keep in mind that the time and motivation you lose from an injury weighs much more heavily than the benefits you might get from squeezing in an additional practice session despite early warning signs of doing too much too soon. If you're new to running, you might relatively quickly reach a point where your endurance becomes good enough that you feel like you can do a 1h run almost every day. But the important thing to realize is that endurance and motivation to go running aren't the limiting factor. Your progress will be bottlenecked by your bone density and the strength of your muscles, tendons, ligaments and so on. If you go running even though your body hasn't made enough running adaptations, it's just a matter of time until you injure muscles, ligaments, tendons or bones. You can't rush these things, unfortunately. If you really want to train more, maybe use the elliptical trainer at the gym on some of the days (low risk of overuse injuries), or do some other kind of cross-training (swimming or cycling, for instance). 
- Take time regularly to train stabilizing muscles for injury prevention and for improving your running efficiency. Maybe also take up stretching (though I'm less certain about the evidence base for that). This way, you should be able to increase your weekly miles more easily (without injuries) further down the line.
- Especially when you run more than three times per week, 80% of your training volume should be done at an easy intensity. Easy means a pace where you could hold a conversation while running. Some people recommend "training less, but higher intensity." That's a good way to train if one doesn't have all day every day to go running. But if you want to devote most of your attention and time to running, then you have to get used to easy-pace workouts.

 

I did travel less during those years though--that makes a huge difference. From mid-2014 through 2019 I probably hit peak business travel for my career and it killed my running. I started having relentless injuries after being bullet proof for most of my running life and I swear it was mostly due to travel--sitting on airplanes is the worst thing for a runner's body. Throw in the poor sleep and bad eating that and it's a recipe for disaster.

 

Trying to get back in a groove now but I'm older, fatter and my body has a lot more mileage on it.

Business travel is HORRIBLE for running.  All the sleep deprivation, sitting, and mandatory late night business dinners.

I have negotiated a limit of 2 business trips a year for work (and domestic only) - I see that as part of my compensation package.   I've also passed up promotions for the same reason - the next step up in my career would be one where I would need to travel a lot, including internationally, sometimes on short notice.  No thanks.