Indeed! I tried a few times to cover a mile in six minutes and couldn't hack it, at least not in July. lap 1 lap 2 lap 3 lap 4 mile 6/22/2014 95 115 108 97 6m55s 7/03/2014 91 112 107 97 6m47s 7/06/2014 101 109 108 101 6m59s 7/31/2014 105 112 108 101 7m06s Got any tips? I was running in the second lane of a high school track. It's a brutal workout, but at least it's over quick.I just timed my mile-time and I'm at 5:50, so that's surprisingly awesome
seconds per quarter mile
Tips, a.k.a., what worked for me: 1) Quit smoking (cigarettes in my case, and I would say lay off the bong hits, but Michael Phelps would take umbrage with that). 2) Intervals. They suck. The more typical interval training I did was (a) running up hills 10 or so times, once or twice a week, and then (b) sprinting the 100-yard distances between the lamp posts that round a 1.3 mile path near my house. The sprints would take however many seconds, and then the next 100 yards I'd walk/jog super slowly, and would take something like 90 seconds to cover. And I never fully rounded the 1.3 mile path doing this, I'd always get way too tired by 65% of the way through. 3) Play soccer, or ultimate frisbee, or basketball. The thing about the interval training in tip (2) is that I did it for three months, tops. But I play soccer, which is sprinting and jogging, all the time. I do it all the time because it's so much fun. Whereas I had trouble punching the clock on my more formal interval training, I have zero trouble driving 40 minutes one-way to a turf field under stadium lights to play for 90 minutes at 10:30pm on a Friday night. I think this is what really does it for me. Find an aerobic sport that really engages you. For me, it beats the hell out of running around a track or, ugh, a treadmill.
I read somewhere that some trainers used to encourage runners to smoke. They knew it was bad, there was some kind of theory about stressing the lungs. Of course you wouldn't smoke while competing, so your lungs would open up and gulp oxygen, like the Mexico City futbolistas that have an advantage at away games that are played close to sea level and without all the smog. I think your approach makes more sense. Tip #3 is key. If you hate your training, it's almost impossible to keep it up. Far better to do something, anything, that you enjoy and can make routine, then risk burnout. Treadmills are the worst, but I agree with your assessment of intervals too. Still, I would like to hit that 6.
I do a mile workout every week. My times usually bounce between 6:20 and 6:40, depending on my training load and conditioning. A few things that could help are losing weight, running at night, and watching your diet. I feel if I lost 5 or 10 pounds, I'd cut a significant amount of time; after all, there'd be less of me to haul around. Sadly, I love food too much to cut out my beers/burritos on the weekends. Similarly, consistently eating nutritious food will provide you with a hell of a lot more energy during your runs; junk food will leave you feeling sluggish after the first 400m. Finally, especially now that it's summer time, running when it's 10-15 degrees cooler and you don't have the sun beating down on you is a huge plus. Saving the stress from the heat should save you a not insignificant amount of time.