run a 5 minute mile

Things came to an abrupt halt late last summer when i wrecked my ankle with a fall at work. I dropped a few feet down a manhole jamming my heel into a crevice. With the extra weight of what i was carrying this drove my heel far into the cleft and my foot was forced up at a ridiculous angle.. crushing soft tissues around the joint. Swelled up like a bast and never quite returned to normal, but i did get back to full training fitness around the turn of this new year. Mile times now are around 5.30/40 but i’ve been doing more circuit training than anything to hammer the cardio.

Managed half a mile then another third or so at 4m57 pace. Need to start working on intervals a bit more i think, and perhaps try to increase the ‘regular’ mile speed i do.. say from 17.5 to 18, which would be 5.22.

Might give this a shot tomorrow. Have been training quite hard this last week or two and will by then have had two days rest. Humidity and heat are a big factor in this..

Under advice i’ve started doing splits at sub 5m pace to help get me there quicker. I’m managing to get the distance covered in 3 splits at the pace for 4m57, but have found fault with most of the treadmills at the local gym on the way. For some reason, over 18km/ph a lot of them started having trouble keeping pace.. slipping or just dropping below the pace.. and issuing warnings about it. Of the 7 or 8 now though i think i have a reliable one which i’ll use all the time from now on.

Closer calculation shows 18kph to give a mile time of 5.22, and 17.5=5m31. Breakdown is as follows

Speed (KPH) Time (for 1 mile)

17 5m40
17.5 5m31
18 5m22
18.5 5m13
19 5m05
19.3 5m
19.5 4m57

I think i can manage a regular 17.5 pace now, but getting rom there to 19.3 is going to take quite a bit of strength buildup in the legs to manage. You have to kick a lot more to get that pace, so i’ll have to develop it along with leg workouts/strength training. I seem to have reached a point where cv is less the limiting factor than the legs themselves. Maybe that to do with stride length.. at these speeds you can’t really take big long strides.

Ran at 17.5kph today.. halfway to 18 and it felt ok.. think i can make it my standard speed now. Equates to about a 5m30 mile.

Broke a full 5.20 mile today and it hurt. Not so bad cv/muscle-wise, but anything much over 17kph gives me a lot of acid reflux/indigestion. The 1kph increases from 17 and up really increase intensity. I don’t think a regular 5.20 is viable yet, but having stretched myself to a full mile of it, 17.5 as a regular run might now be. Test the theory tomorrow :)

Did a 5.38 mile first thing in the gym today, and between sets hopped on the treadmill for a couple of half miles at 5m20 pace. The first one was easy and I should have pushed on for a mile from it. The second was painful and lots of lactic acid. I can tell when i’m pushing it as i get indigestion, even if i haven’t eaten in a loooong time. I suspect there might be a good bit of variation in the reliability of the treadmills accuracy, given how different those two half miles were. I need to try and bags the same one as often as i can for more consistency. Alora, 5.20 mile is nearly here, and still a good two months for summer. Hopefully sub 5m by then.

Ran 2k’s at 17kph which equates to a 5m38s mile. This feels like my standard speed setting now.. a bit more lactic than 16kph but well manageable regularly. Having done half a mile at 18 a few days ago i think a full mile at that pace (5.20) is not very far off. :) This is all seeming too easy compared to previous efforts. I think taking the 1 or 2 degree incline off has made all the difference..

After tinkering with other sports for a while i’ve come back to running and the 6m mile is now very comfortable. It’s 6mins of running at 16kmph. I’ve worked out that 18kmph gives a time of 5m32 and that a 5min mile would be gotten with a constant 19.3kmph. First time back on the treadmill i ran a 6min mile easily, then at the end of workout had another run. Cranked it to 18kmph for curiosity’s sake and it wasn’t that bad. I think i have a 5min mile in me.