I’d like to improve my mile-run time. Should I just work on running a mile every other day until I reduce the time, or should I gradually increase the distance until I’m doing 4 or 5 miles every other day? How do Maurice Green and Michael Johnson train? Do they run miles and miles, or just practice the events in which they participate?
(Also, are there any other tips for running a faster mile?)
Longer runs will increase your stamina, and give you more energy to expend when you run a single mile for time.
Wind sprints will increase strength, and endurance at the high end of exertion which is what you will need.
Runner’s World can give you more information than you want to know about this subject. From their homepage, click on “Training and Racing” on the left menu. They don’t have any articles specifically about running the mile, though. The 5K (3.1 miles) is the closest distance, so you’ll have to modify it for your purposes.
Essentially, they’ll tell you to alternate distance days with interval days. Running distance (4-6 miles) will improve your endurance. Doing shorter intervals (200-400 meters) will help your leg speed and anaerobic capacity. Doing longer intervals (400-1200 meters) will help increase your aerobic capacity (Runner’s World will talk about “VO[sub]2[/sub] max”) and resistance to fatigue (in their lingo, “lactic acid tolerance”). If you’re a beginning runner, they’ll suggest that you take two or three rest days a week to ensure adequate recovery from your training days.
Don’t worry about Michael Johnson. He’s a sprinter. The mile is middle distance. The training is completely different.
Good luck.
Being an ex-track athlete, i would recomend alternating workout days: 1 day run 4-5 miles at a speedy, but comfortable clip to work on endurance, 1 day run short fartlek variations (wind sprints, jog/run/sprint quarters, etc.) to improve flat-out speed, and 1 day run a combination workout, like a hill course, to maintain strength and speed over long distance. Do the cycle twice a week, and rest up on sunday, perhaps doing an upper-body lifting workout, to maintain upper body strength. That seemed to work for me getting my middle-distance times down. Then again, I was mostly a 100-200 man, but that cycle seemed to help me during the one year I ran cross country.
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- Two words: ankle weights. Start light [less than a pound per foot] and for short sprints only. At first it hurts badly, so don’t do it again until you’re recovered from the last time you did it. It seems obvious and it is; you feel results very quickly. - MC
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