Breaking 6 minute mile

Loire

Hi all,

I've recently started running (about a month ago) and am really enjoying it. I've set myself a target of breaking 6 minutes for a mile and was wondering if there were any experts here who you point me in the right direction? I am running 20 minutes twice a week at the moment but this is broken up with about 3-4 minutes of stretching. I am running on footpaths and walkways at the moment, but would consider joining a track for the winter months.

Thanks!,

Loire.

pconn062

Hi Loire, breaking 6 minutes for a mile would be a big achievement for someone who is only running a month, what is your mile pace on your runs at the moment? One way to build speed is to do some interval work (although it might be a bit too early in your running career to introduce this kind of work). Head to a track and do one lap at a good pace and then take a 90 second rest i.e. a slow jog. Repeat this 6-8 times. But as I said it might be a bit early for this type of work, maybe build a bit of a better base or longer runs, up to an hour at an easy pace as speed work can be hard on your body if your not used to it.

Loire

pconn062 wrote: »

Hi Loire, breaking 6 minutes for a mile would be a big achievement for someone who is only running a month, what is your mile pace on your runs at the moment? One way to build speed is to do some interval work (although it might be a bit too early in your running career to introduce this kind of work). Head to a track and do one lap at a good pace and then take a 90 second rest i.e. a slow jog. Repeat this 6-8 times. But as I said it might be a bit early for this type of work, maybe build a bit of a better base or longer runs, up to an hour at an easy pace as speed work can be hard on your body if your not used to it.

Thanks.

I know it's a big challenge, but it needs to be as I'm afriad if I don't have such a challenge I might lose interest. I ran a 6.30 minute mile when I was 10 or 11 with my Dad and think I should be able to improve on that with some training. My current goal is to get to 20 minutes of comfortable running and then run 3 x 1 miles at a decent pace and take it from there. Or perhaps I'd be better off joining a club at that stage?

The good thing is that I'm not in any rush with this but before Xmas would be nice.

Loire.

menoscemo

pconn062 wrote: »

Hi Loire, breaking 6 minutes for a mile would be a big achievement for someone who is only running a month, what is your mile pace on your runs at the moment? One way to build speed is to do some interval work (although it might be a bit too early in your running career to introduce this kind of work). Head to a track and do one lap at a good pace and then take a 90 second rest i.e. a slow jog. Repeat this 6-8 times. But as I said it might be a bit early for this type of work, maybe build a bit of a better base or longer runs, up to an hour at an easy pace as speed work can be hard on your body if your not used to it.

Given that the OP is only running 20 minutes twice a week, they are in no way able to be doing interval work. That is a long way down the line.

OP to improve your mile time you simply have to run more. Maybe start by moving to 3 days a week and than by making your runs a little longer. You can keep the 2 20 minute runs and introduce a third longer , slower run. This will help you build up endurance. As you increase the amount you run you will find all your times automatically coming down.

Loire

menoscemo wrote: »

Given that the OP is only running 20 minutes twice a week, they are in no way able to be doing interval work. That is a long way down the line.

OP to improve your mile time you simply have to run more. Maybe start by moving to 3 days a week and than by making your runs a little longer. You can keep the 2 20 minute runs and introduce a third longer , slower run. This will help you build up endurance. As you increase the amount you run you will find all your times automatically coming down.

Hi,

I meant to add...that's my plan for Saturday mornings (once my weekly job of feeding the kids is done!).

Thanks for the advice and keep it coming. I know it's going to take some time but the more tips the better. I'll put together my plan then and post for review if that's OK.

Loire.

Ruu_Old

Sign up for a 5k race in a few weeks or months time to gauge how you feel about it, it can help having something to train for if you feel you might lose interest.

Loire

Ruu wrote: »

Sign up for a 5k race in a few weeks or months time to gauge how you feel about it, it can help having something to train for if you feel you might lose interest.

Thanks Ruu, that's a good idea. A quick Google tells me that most of the summer runs are over so I might have missed the boat. There are a few 10 milers and half marathons alright but I'd need my bike for those

pconn062

menoscemo wrote: »

Given that the OP is only running 20 minutes twice a week, they are in no way able to be doing interval work. That is a long way down the line.

OP to improve your mile time you simply have to run more. Maybe start by moving to 3 days a week and than by making your runs a little longer. You can keep the 2 20 minute runs and introduce a third longer , slower run. This will help you build up endurance. As you increase the amount you run you will find all your times automatically coming down.

I know thats why I said it would probably be too early to try this work and to build a better base!;) I was just given an example of the type of work required to improve speed.

Hard Worker

Loire wrote: »

Hi,

I meant to add...that's my plan for Saturday mornings (once my weekly job of feeding the kids is done!).


Loire.

I think you might need to feed the kids more than once a week.

Loire

Hard Worker wrote: »

I think you might need to feed the kids more than once a week.

Then Mammy bear would be out of work and we couldn't have that

DULLAHAN2

How Fast can you run a mile if you were to run a mile today?

Timmaay

Loire wrote: »

I ran a 6.30 minute mile when I was 10 or 11 with my Dad and think I should be able to improve on that with some training.

Depending on what age/weight etc you are now, a 6min mile might either be totally unrealistic, or a very easy challenge! But if you have managed 6.30 when you were that young I would say you should be well able for it. I would 2nd the view that you should give a 5k a go soon enough, there actually are plenty of 5ks still on over sept (check out runireland.com, or the events subforum here). A lovely friendly place to try a mile race would be the goal mile, of which there are lots of locations to do one, and they are all on over the christmas period. It would give you a realistic enough timeframe to train for a mile race, start out with just building up the number of runs you do, and then think about intervals in a month or 2months.

Loire

Timmaay wrote: »

Depending on what age/weight etc you are now, a 6min mile might either be totally unrealistic, or a very easy challenge! But if you have managed 6.30 when you were that young I would say you should be well able for it. I would 2nd the view that you should give a 5k a go soon enough, there actually are plenty of 5ks still on over sept (check out runireland.com, or the events subforum here). A lovely friendly place to try a mile race would be the goal mile, of which there are lots of locations to do one, and they are all on over the christmas period. It would give you a realistic enough timeframe to train for a mile race, start out with just building up the number of runs you do, and then think about intervals in a month or 2months.

I should have added it was soon after I ran the Cork 800 (a 10k run)!! I was pretty fit then! I'll definately check out those 5k runs alright. Had a decent run last night - 4 x 5min runs with 60 sec breaks in between for stretching. Ran the last one at a good pace too. To the previous poster, once I get upto 15 minutes I'm planning on running a mile to see how fast I can go - in probably 3 or 4 weeks time hopefully.

Pisco Sour

If you could run 6:30 when you were a child then you should be able to coast to sub 6 to be honest.

Loire

04072511 wrote: »

If you could run 6:30 when you were a child then you should be able to coast to sub 6 to be honest.

Ohh the pressure...I shouldn't have said anything

Clearlier

menoscemo wrote: »

Given that the OP is only running 20 minutes twice a week, they are in no way able to be doing interval work. That is a long way down the line.

OP to improve your mile time you simply have to run more. Maybe start by moving to 3 days a week and than by making your runs a little longer. You can keep the 2 20 minute runs and introduce a third longer , slower run. This will help you build up endurance. As you increase the amount you run you will find all your times automatically coming down.

While I would advocate the same approach it's perhaps worth pointing out that if the OP's only goal is to run a mile in under 6 mins then that can be achieved through interval training and probably faster that way too. Long term development however will be compromised and they'll hit a plateau that they'll find harder to get past than if they focused on building endurance.

Loire

Clearlier wrote: »

While I would advocate the same approach it's perhaps worth pointing out that if the OP's only goal is to run a mile in under 6 mins then that can be achieved through interval training and probably faster that way too. Long term development however will be compromised and they'll hit a plateau that they'll find harder to get past than if they focused on building endurance.

Hi Clearlier,
Breaking 6 minutes for a mile is the first goal I have set for myself. The main reason for this is to give me something to aim for..otherwise it'll be harder for me to keep going. (I must say I'm really enjoying it anyway though). I will have no doubt other goals after that which will probably include longer distances. Ballycotton 10 would be a fantastic achievement for me as I cheered my dad on at so many of them as a kid in the 80s. Therefore I wouldn't want to do anything to jepoardise this.
Thanks again all.
Loire.