Sub-5 Minute Mile Every Day for a Month

4.50.78

Word on the Street wrote:

4.50.78

This is confirmed.

4.50.78

www.joemacruns.blogspot.com

Confirmed: I finished the run with Joe Mac. The course is not flat by any means and from what I'd say...is rather rolling. This is going to be a major b9tch come day 20 or so. Needless to say the man looked great. 22.xx days left

This is just an absolute, immediate, and up-to-date adventure that I'm loving, but I have to point out how much I appreciate the dramatic input of how sh*tty you feel in your blog before doing each run. I expect monsoon conditions or a 12 foot blizzard by day 20 or you'll have to uncover a different twist of difficulty. Keep running. ;)

I'm enjoying this thread, but I have to add some necessary skepticism in good LRC fashion. How can you act like you forgot about doing the hard mile when you intended to film it with cameras you brought? Either a) you are full of crap or b) you just wanted attention from your buddy by saying something dumb like, "[Oh, I forgot I was doing this cool thing for attention and I'm speaking this sentence to remind you how egotistical I am.]" Based on the fact that you're blogging and advertising this, I'm giving you the benefit of the doubt that it's the latter. Kudos! You're the next Dean Karnazes!

I don't know if this has been pointed out up-thread, but this is almost text book Van Aaken. I was not quite so fast as you, but I spent a few months doing something like this - or trying to. 40k/day (VA's recommended mileage for the marathon) and finishing with a 2k (ratio of 20:1 mileage to tempo work) at my goal pace for the marathon, which was 80 s. So I was finishing the day with a 2k in 6:40. I almost always ran it on the track, though and this was in good weather. I frequently did not make the mileage, but I was usually able to do the 2k.

Anyway, this is an excellent way to train, I think. If you can hang on for a few months of this your body and mind will adapt; it will start to feel easier and then you are going to race fast - really fast.

Joe Mac wrote:

Hey in Steamtown I dropped a sub 5.10.

Let me guess...mile 4? It drops off a cliff.

Excellent posts!

My body indeed feels like shit, but like I said in my blog, on a normal day I don't think it is much of a problem or necessarily that difficult. In the long string of days is where it will be difficult.

In response to me forgetting I had to do this. You definitely misread what I wrote. I didn't say I forgot that I had to do this. That would be insane, I absolutely dread it all day now, and think about it all the time. The last thing I want to do after being active and on my feet all day for 8 hours at work, doing a morning run, and doing an evening run, is run a hard mile. I just want to finish my run with a hot shower and a cold beer, believe me. So no, I didn't forget. Today was the first time in Maryland that I have run with someone in over a month....think about it, I am running over 100 miles per week and have no one to talk to at all...so needless to say we we having a good running conversation about: guns, cars, sex, drinking....running. So for a brief instant I was having a normal run and then realized it wasn't a normal run and that I was running a hard mile following it. To which Jerry, replied oh yea, I forgot, which is understandable since he just found out about it this evening.

Secondly, the camera idea. I wanted him to at least take a picture. When we passed by my house at about 60 minutes I grabbed my Manhattan jersey off the outside doorknob to put on as we continued the rest of our run. I asked Jerry to take a pic, and he said he had a video camera in his car and it would be a good idea to film it. So that was completely impromptu.

I really enjoy the criticism as well as the praise. I am trying to the best I can to depict the courses, how I truly feel physically and mentally in a stream of consciousness manner.

"Over the course of several years at Southeastern, as Denton's reputation grew, a number of undergraduates decided they would train with him, thinking to pick up on The Secret. The new man showed up the first day expecting all manner of horrific exertion, and was generally stunner and giddy to find he could so easily make it through one of Denton's calendar days. Showing up the second morning at 6:30 he would be of good cheer, perhaps trying to imagine how he would handle the pressure of his incipient fame. That day also went well enough, but he would begin to notice something peculiar. There was no let up. The tempo was always moderate but steady. if a new guy decided to pick up the pace that's where it stayed, whether he finished with the group of not. You showed off at your pearl.

On the third day (assuming the new man made it that far) his outlook began to darken. For one thing he was getting very, very tired. No particular day wore him out, but the accumulation of steady mileage began to take its toll. He never quite recovered fully between workouts and found himself walking around in a more or less in a constant state of fatigue-depression, a phase Denton called breaking down. The new runner would find it more tedious than he could bear. The awful truth began to dawn on him: There was no secret! His days would have to be spent in exactly this manner, give or take a mile or two, for longer than he cared to dwell upon,..."

EFF it....if I get through this month, I will try for a year.

Right now the Mecca Marathon will commence on Christmas morning.

Joe Mac wrote:

Tv Fan,

That is a great point. It is up to you to believe. However, those that do know me on here, some have posted already, have partook in 140 plus mile weeks with me and Many Other Absurd Running Ideas I Have Had.

Curious. Are you the guy who started the thread about "Big Mac and the 10K" challenge? This thread is just as interesting...

Joe Mac wrote:

Secondly, the camera idea. I wanted him to at least take a picture. When we passed by my house at about 60 minutes I grabbed my Manhattan jersey off the outside doorknob to put on as we continued the rest of our run. I asked Jerry to take a pic, and he said he had a video camera in his car and it would be a good idea to film it. So that was completely impromptu.

You sleep with a loaded shotgun, but you can keep a singlet on your outside doorknob worry-free? I'm calling a lie on the singlet. You can say you took a little break to find it, honestly ~30 seconds doesn't do anything to your run if you do it once a year.

I don't know anything about a Big Mac thread, but do enlighten me.

I don't understand your post. Are you knocking me for stopping to put a jersey over my head or the fact that you don't believe I leave it on the outside of my doorknob....both of which are pretty mundane points. 30 seconds will make absolutely no difference in training when running 40/80 doubles and 2 hours on Sunday morning. Should I also mention I stopped for a minute to take a pee in an unfortunate neighbors lawn before I ran the 4.50.

If someone steals my Manhattan Jersey, they must need it more than I do and then can have it. But until that day comes, I will continue to hang it on my door knob, and plop it over what ever I am wearing. Oh, and yes, I will still sleep with a loaded shotgun 3 feet from my head.

I know! I know!

Guy went on and on and then disappeared without telling us if he completed the challenge: 6 big macs and a 10k under an hour.

http://www.letsrun.com/forum/flat_read.php?thread=3601167

Man that is awesome. I don't think I could do that, that is absurdly amazing if he completed it!

I think I'm going to try this as well. although I'm coming from the low end of the spectrum. I'm just getting back in shape, not sure where i'm at yet, but i'm racing a mile in a couple weeks. but I'd like to see what it would do for me at the 30-40 mile per week range in my first month coming back. does that sound like an injury in the making?

I might try it anyway and we can see if it jump starts my training. I can tell ya one thing the first week of em will be like race efforts every day.

In college my coach had me running a 5:00 mile on the treadmill after every run, in order to jump start my training after a poor winter break. It lasted for about 2 weeks and I wound up running about 4-5 5:00 miles per week for a while. this worked pretty well, and with in 3-4 weeks i ran 9:00 and ran 15:36 a week afterward, but this followed a solid cross season, right now i'm working on nothing.

but this should be great we'll see how it goes.

Go for it man. I took over a year off and my first run back was 12 really hungover/ drunk miles with my first week at 80 miles. I always say, just put your head down, locate your manhood, and give it a proper lash.

Try it out. I am doing this for no training benefit, maybe it will jump start my fitness, I am really doing it on a Public House bet. Who knows, maybe people should start racing a mile after their daily 10-12 miler.

Those following this post, I encourage you to try to do this without changing any of your life, runs, workouts...why not, it might be fun, I would hope you enjoy it more than I am.

I have to say, I am enjoying the challenge aspect to see how long I can consecutively go, but surely not they way I feel each day.