Why a faster mile?
The mile is an often neglected distance, especially for people who focus on distance. But what you might not think about is that often that middle distance system is neglected. A strong mile means a faster mile, and a faster mile means you’ve got much more room for that awesome 5km, 10km, half marathon or marathon.
I’m a fan of mini-goals
Especially right now! It can be hard to get motivated for things when all your usual carrots aren’t around and it can feel like we are never ‘getting back to normal’. This is where mini goals come in. Short enough, that everything you do matters, but not long enough that you lose focus.
The plan – 4 Week Faster Mile
Tempo vs Efforts
Tempo is about 80% effort or heart rate and roughly probably equates to your 10km race pace. Efforts are more based on feel, but would be more like 90%. You want to finish your intervals feeling like you could do one or two more, but not more than that.
About Strides
Strides are about 100m and are 1/3 accelerating, 1/3 holding your top speed with good control, 1/3 decelerating. You can start off more slowly and work your way into it.
Too much volume?
If this looks like it’s too much volume for you, just reduce the intervals by about a third, or whatever is right for you.
And most importantly, have fun with that faster mile.
The mile is a fun, challenging training cycle and it’s only as hard as you want it to be. That’s the brilliant part about effort based running is you can go all out, or you can cruise a bit – it’s totally up to you. And in four weeks, you can pick a new goal. But the mile is pretty fun. You might come back for round two.
I’m writing a book about how to love running enough for it to change your life.
The book is going to focus on my journey so far, the when the why and the how of the workouts and of training, but also how it all connects to things that are far bigger than running. I’m taking up the challenge of writing a book in 30 days. Which is a lot of writing, but hopefully just enough pressure to keep the momentum going. You can sign up to read the daily words on patreon and get access to a whole range of bonus podcast episodes, and an ebook with 52 running workouts, so you’ll never be stuck for ideas ever again. Stay up to date on:
- instagram @opmove
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- Our community group has moved! Check us out at sisterhood.opmove.com
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