Newbie looking for indoor mile advice. Can I break 5?

Gonna bump this just once cause I really need some input

Hard to tell based on these workouts, but I would say 5:10-15. A better predictor would be If you can do 8x400 on a track at 75s with 1 min rest then you can break 5.

How fast were those tempos? At first glance, I’d say no, mileage isn’t high and you’re barely hitting pace and you seemed to struggle once it got longer than 400m. If, however, you’re hitting some awesome tempos, I could see you being very close. What mileage was your marathon training on and what did you hit?

Nothing about those workouts indicates to me that you are ready for a sub 5:00 mile - I would agree with the other poster who said it looks more like 5:10-5:15.

HOWEVER, if you ran 5:23 a few months ago, and feel like you are in significantly better shape now, maybe you have a shot. If those 200s were truly easy, then your odds go up a good bit.

Just run it ffs.

If people tell you you can, and you don't, you'll over think it all. Were you just a poor competitor? Should you keep doing this?

And if you do it, will you bother to get out of bed and race.

The great thing about track is the unknown, and the variability of racing.

Set a plan in place - race first. Don't think of time trialing. Know what is too fast and make sure you don't blow up. Race.

After that you can work on honing your racing skills and understanding, and then work on getting faster. Race Race Race. People on this site often spend more time in front of the mirror than they do at the starting line.

The best thing about a season is planning to get faster and better. You do that on the track. That's where the fun and the challenge is.

NWARunner wrote:

How fast were those tempos? At first glance, I’d say no, mileage isn’t high and you’re barely hitting pace and you seemed to struggle once it got longer than 400m. If, however, you’re hitting some awesome tempos, I could see you being very close. What mileage was your marathon training on and what did you hit?

I've been running my tempo's at about 6:15. I'm really training for a 10k so that's why these reps are a bit slow. The mile race will just be for fun. I wasn't intending to run them at goal mile pace. The marathon was a 3:40 on 40 mi/wk. I didn't really know what I was doing when I signed up for the marathon. Classic hobby jogger first race. After the marathon I began figuring out how to train correctly.

You're not there yet. Keep working.

In your workouts, your splits don't even average 75s, and that includes recovery jogs. For those workouts, I would want to see 32-35s for 200m and 70-72s for 400m before I would feel good about a 5:00 mile.

No, I am just under 5 minutes for the mile and i cannot imagine this is enough. But you can ask for some workouts if you are interested. I am more speed based than endurance based though

With the limited info given, I'd say you will probably run about 5:12. Based on your workout times but also since this is your first mile race. The good news is that if you run close to 5:12 this weekend, you are probably about 3 weeks and 2-3 mile races away from sub 5.

How long have you been doing workouts like the ones you mention? That makes a difference in our predictions. If you just started doing them recently then you may improve a lot more.

Do you know how fast you can run a 400?

Let us know how you do.

seattle dude,

I just started doing short repeats like this a few weeks ago. Before that I was doing tempos and building my base mileage. I have no idea how fast I could run a 400. Probably mid 60's? I ran an 800 about a year ago in 2:26 and I'm in far better shape now. I will post on Monday how the race went for those that are curious.

Didn't end up racing the mile this weekend. I played hockey with some friends on Saturday and was very sore so I decided to skip the race and just recover. Sorry to disappoint. Might do 8 x 400 this week if the weather allows (Chance of snow and single digit temps). I'll update the thread with the results of that workout if I'm able to run it.

I ended up scrapping the plans to run a indoor mile. There were no more indoor races that worked with my schedule and I didn't want to run one outside in the winter. I ended up doing a JD 10k/5k plan to peak for a 10k in April. Ran a virtual race in 36:49. Then, yesterday my roommate was doing a virtual mile TT for his work running club. So I decided to join him at the track. Ran 4:57. A few months late but I accomplished my goal.

Good job. Did you do any more 200/400’s? How much improvement in rep times from the original ones you posted? I am going for sub 5 and I am right around those original times.

rg2 wrote:

Good job. Did you do any more 200/400’s? How much improvement in rep times from the original ones you posted? I am going for sub 5 and I am right around those original times.

Thanks! After posting this I did a few more weeks of 200/400's at around this same pace. I wasn't running these all out, it was a hard but relaxed pace. If you're running similar paces for these workouts at max effort, breaking 5 might be a stretch. But as other poster's in this thread advised me, the only way to find out is to run the race/TT. Good luck!

slom wo wrote:

rg2 wrote:

Good job. Did you do any more 200/400’s? How much improvement in rep times from the original ones you posted? I am going for sub 5 and I am right around those original times.

Thanks! After posting this I did a few more weeks of 200/400's at around this same pace. I wasn't running these all out, it was a hard but relaxed pace. If you're running similar paces for these workouts at max effort, breaking 5 might be a stretch. But as other poster's in this thread advised me, the only way to find out is to run the race/TT. Good luck!

I should probably also add that I haven't done any intervals shorter than 1000 in about 8 weeks. I've focused more on threshold work and TT. As stated above, the mile TT was a side thing. My goal race was a 10k. If I repeated these workouts today, I might run slightly faster splits.

slom wo wrote:

I ended up scrapping the plans to run a indoor mile. There were no more indoor races that worked with my schedule and I didn't want to run one outside in the winter. I ended up doing a JD 10k/5k plan to peak for a 10k in April. Ran a virtual race in 36:49. Then, yesterday my roommate was doing a virtual mile TT for his work running club. So I decided to join him at the track. Ran 4:57. A few months late but I accomplished my goal.

This surprising since you were training for the 5k/10k. Because I would argue that 4:57 is better than a 36:49 10k.

I have always ran better at shorter distances. I think it has something to do with my background as a basketball player and the fact that I'm 6'7". Also the mile TT was done with my roommates watching, so there was some added motivation.