Tommorow I am hoping to break five in the mile. My previous pr is 5:08 and am fairly confident I can shave off 9 seconds. What splits should give me the best chance of cracking it? Are there any other tactics I can use to get the best time possible? Unfortunately this will be all run on my own, not in a race.
I had nearly the same pr before my last race and I ran 5:01 my last race, dropping 6-ish seconds. Before this I couldn't break 2:20 for the 800 and 11:20 for the 2 mile. Just race other people and it will happen.
Don't go out too fast
Why would you run on your own? This will make it significantly more difficult.
You might know what you are doing. The first time I broke 6 (I am female) it was a 20 second PR. My coach was skeptical, but sometimes you just know as an athlete.
Try to run even splits. Your first lap will feel unsustainably fast. Just don't panic and focus on your splits.
Before I first broke 5 my PR was 5:01. I broke 5 in a rag-tag time trial with my teammates. It went like this -> 73, 77, 73, 73 (4:56).
So it was a very unorthodox way to run the 1600/mile.
That race was unusual, but Jack Daniels (famous coach) told me that, usually, in a 1600/mile, your 2nd lap and 3rd lap are the same time. This isn't always the case, but in a lot of the races I've seen, he's right. My PR for the mile senior year went like this -> 67, 69, 69, 66 (4:32). So it seems to be a good way to run the 1600/mile.
So I would say go out in 72-73, and then try to run 75 for the 2nd and 3rd laps, and then obviously do what you can on the last lap.