How to break 5min. for mile?

I broke 5 for the first time as a freshmen running about 25 miles a week. The one workout that helped me the most was 10x400m. I would try and keep them under 75 seconds, although by the end of the season, a couple of them would dip under 70. I ended the season with a SB of 4:40.

TrackBot! PRs Walter George

TrackBot! VDOT 00:04:59.99 mile

Could not find / disambiguate Walter George

VDOT for 00:04:59.99 1mi: 59.4

Equivalent race times based on VDOT:

Marathon: 02:44:46

Half marathon: 01:18:49

15K: 00:54:46

10K: 00:35:39

5K: 00:17:11

3Mi: 00:16:34

2Mi: 00:10:42

3200m: 00:10:38

3K: 00:09:55

1Mi: 00:05:00

1600m: 00:04:58

1500m: 00:04:38

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You need to build up your speed. I would sacrifice some mileage for more quality workouts. One day a week you should run something like

10 x 400m @ 75s with 120s rest

and over the course of a season reduce it to

10 x 400m @ 70s with 120s rest

if you can run that workout, you will be ready for 5:00 mile.

Thank you for this response! This seems like a good method that includes a form of progressive overload. I'm guessing with mileage, the idea is just recover in between workouts, and that only requires 30-35mins. jogging or other aerobic activity. Would you recommend anything like tempo sessions, long runs, other hard workout runs; just that one session a week?

You mentioned speed too. Any specific times to shoot for (I'm taking a wild guess that an 800 of 2:12-2:19, and a 400m of 62-66, thus 29-30ish 200m are bare minimums)? The logic of course is that 70-75sec quarters need to be aerobic enough/not a full out dash if an aspiring hobby-miler wishes to break 5.

The logic with the mileage, which for me is 40-50mi/wk with 5k/4Mile workouts, is that strong aerobic fitness makes it so that the heart, lungs, and mitochondria are strong enough to absorb the amounts of oxygen needed to fuel a 5min. mile, and that ability will be enhanced with anaerobic 800m/Mile specific workouts.

I ran 4:29 with 35 miles a week

during the race, run 75 each lap, then 74 the last lap

Hey guys, I have a mind blowing concept. What if I started the training cycle with a session of 200m in 37.5sec. w/ 60secs. rest, and do that twice a week as a start? Within the 3 months block, I decrease the rest for every successful session by 10secs. 'til I get to 30sec. Once that's done, I bump it to 400m with 60secs. rest and repeat like so. Perhaps do a tempo session once every two weeks a la Daniels' formula (unless it really is as simple as doing the repeats 2x/wk).

If my logic's correct, that along with a few proper time trials of 3/4 mile, maybe even an 800 or two, will help to realize this 5min. mile. Since this is only my second year of serious running, I'd imagine that the miler repeats would indirectly improve my 800, and maybe to a smaller extent my 400m, anyways. Once I get this 5min. mile, assuming it's really as simple as the plan stated here, then I'll plan on further improving my 400-800m in future training blocks when I'm not busy trying to dominate the local 5ks.

Please tell me if this makes sense; correct me if I'm wrong. Thanks for reading, responding, and putting up with this thread. You've all helped a dumb teen learn more :)