Outside: 'How Our Totally Average Runner Broke the Sub-Five Minute Mile'

This morning was my weekly speed workout, which went:

1 mile easy.
8 x 800 sprints.
1 mile easy.

My first 800 (actually a 1/2 mile) I ran at a 5:35 mile pace, my best at that distance yet.

I was pretty gassed by the end of the workout, especially my legs, but it was fun.

I still would like to lose about 10 pounds and see where that gets me.

 

Here's a suggestion -- instead of 8x800s, do 30x200s at goal race pace.

 

I don't know how much 200s would translate to 5Ks and marathons, though.

 

For a 5K, they work very well, with minimal rest. You can, for example, run a 200 in 40, then jog a 200 in 80, then repeat until you've done 15 "fast" 200s.

 

I've found walking on a slight incline with a 20-pound kettleball in each hand to be my new favorite exercise. I can't do fast.

 

Have you tried swings with the kettlebells? Very effective exercise!

 

No. Will explore. Was back at it with the sledgehammer today.

 

Here's a suggestion -- instead of 8x800s, do 30x200s at goal race pace.

Good idea. Maybe throw in a stepladder series, up with 200s, 400s, 800s, and a 1200, then down with 800s, 400s and 200s. You get to train at race pace in the 1200 and 80os to build stamina, and then work on your fast-twitch on the shorter distances.

Hill repeats are excellent too. Or find a 3-4 mile route and do intervals by city block, by 3-4 telephone poles, or run two minutes hard and then two minutes easy. Lots of ways to incorporate speed workouts into your run without going on the track.

For me, a successful 10K was all about pacing. The fourth and fifth mile are the challenging ones, as you have to maintain when it starts getting tough; dropping 15-20 seconds off pace in those miles is a killer to your time. You can't make up 40 seconds in the final mile, no matter how strong your kick. And if you did, then you didn't work hard enough in the middle portion of the race.

Plus, when you keep pace and pass dying people in the second half of the race, it's a real mental boost. Road kills just naturally make you feel stronger.

I never went out in less than 5:45 or 5:50, even though you want to just take off faster. One out and back 10K I went out in 18:11, came back in 18:10.

 

Boys, please wait while I crack open my copy of Daniels' Running Formula...

 

Anaerobic threshold, baby.

 

Distance running in track was the only sport I was marginally decent at in high school; back then the 880 was a distance race. I somehow managed once, once, to run a 2:16 (I was usually around 2:30) and got down around 4:50 for the mile a couple of times. Assuming I could even get in decent enough shape to finish running a mile, I doubt I could get under 10 minutes. Of course, I'm also 62.

 

You almost certainly could have run faster than 2:16 for 880y (even moreso the 800m) in one of you're 4:50 miles (2:15/2:35, for example). No doubt you probably were 2:10 or better at that fitness. That, or you have no footspeed. Should have focused on the 2-mile/3,200, then, son.