Do I have what it takes to run a 4:24 mile? Let's find out

5/14: 4 miles easy (7:30)

5/15: 4.2 miles easy (7:25)

5/16: 8.7 miles easy (7:14)

5/17: AM 5 miles easy (7:24), PM 5 miles easy (7:50)

5/18: 8 miles easy (7:07)

5/19: 5.5 miles easy (7:16) Some drills and striders after

5/20: 5 mile tempo (6:20)

I took the tempo on the easier side of things. Didn't want to over do it this early on. I plan on doing a longer run today. Maybe with a little progression towards the end. Legs have been a little tired but they're slowly but surely catching up.

I can tell you most of the guys running the mile at D3 ecacs are running 70-80mpw over the summer.

Get in that range and based on how you've been improving your times should drop. Also all of your other times are very weak compared to your mile. I think if you can have a great XC season and PRing by at least a minute in the 8k, it'll be a lot easier to get under 4:24.

Thanks for the insight. I plan on getting there by the end of June. I am going to start doubles consistently Sunday or Monday. I truly feel like if I had run a fresh 800 I would be near 2:01 or 2:00, but thats nothing to gripe about at this point. Based on my Mid D (and 200) times I really think I just need to get in a lot more aerobic base with mileage and aerobic quality with tempos.

i ran d3 in new england wrote:

I can tell you most of the guys running the mile at D3 ecacs are running 70-80mpw over the summer.

Get in that range and based on how you've been improving your times should drop. Also all of your other times are very weak compared to your mile. I think if you can have a great XC season and PRing by at least a minute in the 8k, it'll be a lot easier to get under 4:24.

A lot of your times were tracking with mine, but your speed is better and clearly you would realize dramatic overall improvements with aerobic improvement, given that you are slowing down so much for 5000m/8k. Don't worry too much about running fast tempo runs now, but as you get along in the summer, 6:20 pace should be more like a good fairly hard ten miler (whether it is or not, get that 4-5M tempo down to 5:45 pace), and you should be running considerably faster tempos in September/October, if not sooner.

Thanks for the insight. During indoor this past season I was doing some 9ish mile runs at about 6:20 pace with too much difficulty (although they weren't "easy"). I could have likely done that tempo yesterday for a couple more miles. Just wanted to make sure it wasn't anything crazy. Without pushing too hard my best 5 mile tempo is in the low to mid 5:50's pace. If I can get it my pace down to 5:45 and have it still be a "tempo" i'll be pretty happy.

jjjjj wrote:

A lot of your times were tracking with mine, but your speed is better and clearly you would realize dramatic overall improvements with aerobic improvement, given that you are slowing down so much for 5000m/8k. Don't worry too much about running fast tempo runs now, but as you get along in the summer, 6:20 pace should be more like a good fairly hard ten miler (whether it is or not, get that 4-5M tempo down to 5:45 pace), and you should be running considerably faster tempos in September/October, if not sooner.

Good start so far.

Don't forget Summer of Malmo.

http://www.bunnhill.com/BobHodge/rtp3.htm

"five mile tempo run once a week AND, lets say, five by one mile, OR 16 x 200 for the other workout"

The 20 most important words for your summer training.

Shortly after disco died I went into mourning and decided that I should put meaning back in my life by running under 4:30 in the mile. I was about your age at the time.

I had two basic types of training days:

Easy Days: 5-8 mile tempo runs, no ball busting allowed. Second session in the weight room, high reps with medium-low weights.

Hard Days: 8x880 at 2:15 pace, at goal pace, or 10x440 hard, both followed by stadium steps or jumping rope (plyometrics, before the word was invented)

Never ran a single mile by itself during training.

4 meals a day. I put on 15 pounds in two 1/2 months and ran 4:29.7 with splits of 2:14.8 and 2:14.9.

The secret ingredient was all those 880's run at goal pace. During practice the first few 880s are easy and train you to hold back for the first half. But the last couple 880s are hard and train you to feel what it's like to maintain the pace when you're hurting.

That, and my mullet reduced wind turbulence behind my head. You'll have to work a little harder to overcome that advantage. Good luck.

I certainly think you have what it takes, if you put in the right training and stay healthy. Your freshman and sophomore times are similar to mine (I think my 1500 times were 4:21 as a freshman, and 4:17 as a sophomore). Fall of my junior year, I ran right around 27 minutes for 8k, and ran a 1600 meter time trial in 4:35 after the season.

I was out of the country for most of track season junior year, then ran a little under 27 minutes for senior year cross country (just a little faster, but much more consistent than my junior year). Then in indoor track senior year, I opened up with a 4:30 mile, and cut off a little time each meet to finish with a 4:20 mile by the end of indoor season.

So, long story short - you could certainly go under 4:24. If you put in the right work, you could potentially go a lot faster - just focus on consistent running this summer, with as many doubles as possible per week. With your background, probably don't try to push too much past 80 miles per week - while you could possibly see some benefits of going closer to 100, you also raise the chances of getting hurt.

5/21: 9.5 miles (7:10)

5/22: Taking today off. Normally I wouldn't, but I've been getting over bronchitis and I want to make sure I kick this thing for good. Only one more day of antibiotics after this.

I'll be starting to double as much as possible Saturday. Just 3ish miles every morning and then my longer run in the evening.

My plan is to get to 75-80 and remain there, while keeping the aerobic quality decently high.

FWIW--

Seems like you're doing your easy distance running a bit too fast considering it is only May and you're a 28-minute 8k-er.

Perkunas wrote:

FWIW--

Seems like you're doing your easy distance running a bit too fast considering it is only May and you're a 28-minute 8k-er.

Yeah sometimes a get carried away. But I'm certainly never hammering or pushing easy runs if im tired or hurting.

5/23: AM 3.2 miles easy (7:36)

PM 5 miles easy (7:42)

5/24: AM 8.7 miles easy (7:20)

PM 3.2 miles easy (7:35)

Week ending in 5/30

Sunday: 8.7 mile easy run (7:15)

Monday: Cruise intervals @ tempo 6X800m, 90 sec rest. (3:02 average). 7.1 miles total

Tuesday: AM 3.2 miles easy (7:48) + 6X8sec Hill Sprints, 3 min rest.

PM: 10 mile easy run (7:12)

Wednesday: AM 3 miles easy (7:45)

PM: 5 miles easy (7:35) + Strides

Thursday: AM 3 miles easy (7:50) + Lifting

PM: 5.4 mile tempo (6:32, 5:56, 6:05, 6:11, 6:08, last .4miles @ 6:15) 6:09 average pace. 7.5 miles total

Friday: AM 8.2 miles easy (6:58)

PM: 2 miles easy (7:20) + Drills and strides

Saturday: Ran a two mile race in 10:50 at a local middle school. Two lap race around campus that had a decent climb. Lot of sharp turns. I won by like 3 minutes. Tried to pretend it was a 5k and took it a little easy. Felt strong. 3 miles total today.

Weekly total: 60.5 miles

What school do you go to? I am also in the D3 New England conference trying to qualify for ECAC's. My longer times are a bit better than yours but you definitely have more speed than me. 800-2:05 Mile-4:31 3K- 9:15 5k- 15:52

popa doc's handgun wrote:

What school do you go to? I am also in the D3 New England conference trying to qualify for ECAC's. My longer times are a bit better than yours but you definitely have more speed than me. 800-2:05 Mile-4:31 3K- 9:15 5k- 15:52

Seems like we overlap pretty well in the mile. haha

I go to Penn State Behrend. Which with all the information given it should be pretty easy to determine who I am.

Where do you go to school?

Week Ending in 6/6

Sunday: AM 3 miles (7:56) + Lifting

PM 6.1 miles (7:37)

Monday: Moderate Pace Run 7.5 miles (6:40)

Tuesday: 9 miles (7:33)

Wednesday: 3 miles (7:40) + Lifting

Thursday: 9.5 miles (7:20)

Friday: AM 3.2 miles (7:20) + Lifting

PM 7 miles (7:17) + striders

Saturday: 12 mile orienteer leg of an adventure race

Had asthma and bronchitis problems in the middle of the week. Feeling better now. Thursday's run was absolute hell (couldn't breathe).

Total: 60.3 miles

Your program seems good so far, given how many months away from xc you are. Keep it going with a very gradual increase of pace all around, when you feel good.

Week ending in 6/13

Taking a down week before I build up to 70 in the next few weeks.

Sunday: Off. Exhausted from adventure race the previous day

Monday: Hill Fartleks. Ran an 8 mile loop and every hill we got to we would push. Anywhere from tempo effort to 3 effort depending on the length of the hill. Varying rests (easy pace between hills). Probably about 16 hills in total. Not huge hills, but hills non-the-less

Tuesday: 3.1 mile tempo run. Felt good and strong. 6:00, 5:37, 5:39 (gradual uphill). Average 5:45 pace. Total mileage 6.7 miles

Wednesday: 6 AM 10 miles easy (7:33)

Thursday: AM 3.3 miles easy (7:16 pace) Did the last 3 minutes @ 6:00 pace + Lifting

PM: 3.2 miles easy (7:34) + 6X8sec Hill Sprints with 3min rest

Friday: 5.3 miles easy (7:32 pace)

Saturday: AM 3.2 miles easy (7:30) last 90 sec @ 6:00 pace + lifting + 700 yards swimming

PM: Light 5 mile tempo (6:25, 6:06, 6:04, 6:03, 6:10) average 6:10 pace. Felt pretty easy, only pressed a little the last mile because it was uphill.

Week total: 45 miles

Felt good, no complaints or problems all week. Will probably be anywhere from low-60's to 70 next week. We'll see.

Although obvious, I meant 3k* not just 3 in my description of Monday.