Mile – an amazing run

Chasing a Sub-6 Mile – Final Chapter – I DID IT!

When Covid-19 took away my racing events for the year I decided I needed a goal to replace them. Since I had been focused on endurance events like marathons and Ironman and the training that goes with them, I thought that maybe I would try something that focuses on speed. After participating in the Torch Run at work and testing myself for a mile afterward and hitting 6:35, I came up with a plan to try to run a sub-6 minute mile.

I trained through the summer and into fall and tried a few test runs to see if I improved. The first attempt lowered my time to 6 minutes, 32 seconds. The second attempt I hit 6:25. Now I was seeing some improvement, but still pretty far away from sub-6. The third attempt resulted in a DNF when I basically went out way too fast and pulled the plug on it at the half-mile mark. The fourth attempt clocked in a 6:24, an improvement by 1 second, but still a long way from hitting my goal. I figured a few things would need to happen.

First, I needed a cool day. I also needed the wind to either work for me, or not work against me, or both. And lastly, I needed to move off the track and trail and find a course that was mostly downhill with limited interruptions. So on my 57th birthday, I found that the conditions might be right to give it another go.

So here’s the attempt at achieving my goal:

OCTOBER 17, 2020 – Attempt Number 5

TIME: 5:44.1
WHERE: KENSINGTON ROAD, MOKENA, IL
WEATHER: ~60 degrees, strong/gusty SSW winds
LEAD-UP: 9.25 mile run Thursday, rest day on Friday
COMMENTS: I told my son Ben that I was thinking of giving the sub-6 mile another try, and since he was coming down for my birthday with his girlfriend Emily, he brought his special racing Nike ZOOM X shoes, which he claimed would make me faster. I was skeptical, but I would at least be open to give them a try.

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So when he arrived, I tried them on and I had to admit that they felt pretty light and springy. Ben had already ran 12 miles that morning, so he grabbed a bike from the garage and offered to pace me along. As I did some warm-up through the neighborhood, I changed my mind on the route we had discussed a few minutes before. I decided to run out of my neighborhood on Kensington because I felt like it was more downhill than the other route we thought of using. Emily jumped in her car to follow us and watch as well. I did a little less than a mile to warm-up the legs and to get used to the shoes and told Ben that I would pick up my tempo and hit start at the corner and we’d be off.

My pace felt good as I hit the start button on my watch and I quickly locked into the tempo I felt I could comfortably hold. Ben was monitoring my bike computer and advised that we were right at 10-11 mph, which was just what we needed. A quick left and then right turn about 200 yards or so into the run and downhill we started. The wind was really strong at my back, but I could not sense that it was aiding me. At least it wasn’t hurting me either.

The only thing I was worried about was a street that I had to cross about a half-mile into the run. The intersection wasn’t a 4-way stop and the cross street didn’t have to stop for traffic. But Ben pedaled ahead and gave me the all clear and I trucked through the intersection without even looking for any cars.

The next section was somewhat flat but still descending. I was really starting to feel the burn in my lungs, but my legs were still churning pretty well. The legs weren’t tiring much.

At about 2/3’s of a mile I realized I had a decision to make ahead – I could go straight and then turn left around the neighborhood I would finish in, or I could make a left and then turn right. As I searched my memory for how the neighborhood was laid out, I figured that the second option would be better as I would finish with a downhill and not have to climb at the end.

My breathing was now producing spittle, which was flying out of my mouth at every breath. I gave a quick glance at my watch to see the distance I had left and I saw that I was at about 0.86 miles. Time to dig deep! I also saw the pace was showing 6:15, which gave me an “oh crap” moment. I thought maybe I was going to miss it.

After a few more hard pressed strides, I saw the watch turn from 0.99 to 1.0 miles and I hit stop. I gave myself a few yards to come to a stop and then looked at the watch and saw 5:44.

5:44!

My jaw dropped. I couldn’t believe it. All this time I had been thinking that taking nearly a half-minute off my previous best was going to be a very difficult thing to do, but not only did I do that, I really did it! 15 seconds under my goal of sub-6!

I told Ben and we celebrated with some high-fives and some big smiles.

A screenshot of my Garmin results, proof of the sub-6 minute finish.

The route I took. I like how Garmin added the color coding for pace on the route. You can see that I was speedy (red) when I was heading downhill. You can also tell when I started to run out of gas (blue) near the end.

I jogged back home and had the wife take my victory picture. I could definitely feel the wind in my face coming back, hence the backwards turned visor. I hardly ever turn it backwards.

I was kind of coughing at the end of the run while my heart rate was coming down. Ben said that it was pretty common and even has a name – “track hack.” I guess I just irritated it with the volume of air I was pushing in and out.

As I recovered I started wondering why this attempt was successful when the others were not. I definitely had a cooler day, and the wind was in my favor, but I have to really think the most important aspect was the mostly descending route that I took. Not having to fight gravity is a big deal. I’ll admit the shoes were lighter and more springy, but the psychological advantage may have been a bigger factor. If you feel like they are giving you an edge, then maybe they will.

But I got to think it might be due to the mustache that I grew back. The spirit of Steve Prefontaine must have been with me.

Chasing a Sub-6 Mile – Update #2

Time for another update, so here’s how my attempt at getting under a 6-minute mile is going . (See below for the links to the previous two posts.)

I had not given the sub-6 mile attempt much thought since the last time, as I was still hoping to increase my miles for the Big Hill Bonk Last Runner Standing ultra. Unfortunately, Covid-19 has killed that event and I will have to wait until April 2021 to give that one another go. I wasn’t that focused for some reason on keeping up with getting under sub-6 minutes until I was at a group ride and one of my Facebook friends (Hi, Angela!) who read my blog inquired about it. I mentioned the above and that I have also been dealing with the typical aches and pains that usual appear at this time of year after the work I have been doing, things like plantar fasciitis, piriformis butt pain, etc. All things that I typically just ignore and train through.

But I have done a couple of attempts, one of which was a total failure and the second one today that turned out to be consistent with what I think is going to be my best effort from here on. Here are the summaries:

SEPTEMBER 7, 2020 – Attempt Number 3

TIME: DNF
WHERE: BEARSKIN TRAIL, MINOCQUA, WISCONSIN
WEATHER: Mid-50’s degrees, windy
LEAD-UP: A bike ride with Kari the day before
COMMENTS: This was just going to be a quick and easy 4-mile run before heading back out of town and a six hour ride home. But seeing the day was pretty cool and I was feeling pretty good, I decided that I would warm up with two miles of light pace and then turn around and hammer it. Well, I did that and totally threw out the pacing strategy that I had learned from previous efforts, mainly starting a little slower and pushing for negative splits. No, I went out like a shot and burned out very quickly. By the time I hit the half mile mark I was near hyperventilation and had to pull the plug on it. My watch showed 3:22 for that effort, well off the pace I needed. I blew it. It was a little bit of a surprise, but I quickly realized my dumb mistake. I jogged it back to the car and enjoyed the Northwoods scenery as I went.

SEPTEMBER 23, 2020 – Attempt Number 4

TIME: 6:24.8
WHERE: MOKENA JR. HIGH SCHOOL TRACK
WEATHER: 72 degrees, light wind, low humidity – a perfect day
LEAD-UP: A bike ride the day prior and an easy-paced 3-mile warm-up
COMMENTS: As I started the 2.75-mile jog to get to the track I could tell this was probably going to be a wasted effort. The upper leg soreness from the bike ride the day before was pretty evident, but once I got there I decided to see where I stand. This time I made sure that I held back at the start and the first two laps were pretty good. I felt smooth and wasn’t really feeling terribly taxed. I pushed harder for the third and fourth laps and surprised myself when my watch showed 6:24 at the mile mark. I think I need some more speed work training and a cooler day to get this time a little lower. I think I might be capable of sub-6:20, but I’m thinking maybe my goal should have been to get under 6:30! I’d have done it by now!

Stay tuned, I plan on doing my last effort or two in October.

Chasing a Sub-6 Mile – Update #1

Chasing a Sub-6 Minute Mile

Chasing a Sub-6 Mile – Update #1

It’s been a couple of weeks since I declared that I’m attempting to run a sub-6 minute mile and it’s time for an update. Here’s the link to the first post: Chasing a Sub-6 Minute Mile

The summer here in the midwest has been typical – hot and humid – and my efforts have been influenced by that. It’s no surprise that the hot weather will produce slower times and my running has fallen in line with that. But I have been training fairly consistently and I’m seeing a few positives come my way. And the weather this week turned much cooler and less humid, so I decided to give it another go.

First, I’ve dropped about 10 pounds from what I weighed over the winter months. This winter weight gain is something I struggle with every year, but I generally lose the extra weight by mid-summer. I currently weigh about 167 pounds, so another five or so pounds less might make me a little quicker. I’ll keep that in mind.

The second positive is I ran to the local junior high school track last week and did a speedwork session of 4×400 repeats with a 400 recovery between each one. It was a warm day and somewhat windy. I wasn’t trying to do it for any other purpose other than to put in some work at a faster pace. But I was very happy to see that I turned in those 400-meter laps in 1:30, exactly the time I need to be at a 6-minute mile. Now, each 400 was followed by a recovery 400 in which allowed my heart rate and breathing to recover. If I could string those four laps together though I would meet my goal. I’m not counting that workout as an official attempt because it was broken into four segments, but I did get a huge confidence boost from it.

I learned a little about pacing those 400’s as well. The first one seemed to be the hardest. I went hard from the start and felt like I was fading at the end. The second 400 was run similarly. When I did my third and fourth 400 I decided to hold back at the beginning and little and push hard at the end. That seemed to be the best way to approach it as I didn’t feel like I was dying by the end of 200 meters and staggering at the end. That will probably be my approach to any further efforts and time trial runs. Also, I am aware that I only ran 1600 meters and a mile is 1609 meters, so I will have to keep that in mind if I do further time trials on the track instead of the trail/road.

AUGUST 4, 2020 – Attempt Number 2

TIME: 6:25.2
WHERE: MOKENA JR. HIGH SCHOOL TRACK
WEATHER: 72 degrees, cool wind from the north, low humidity – a perfect day
LEAD-UP: A rest day prior and an easy-paced 3-mile warm-up
COMMENTS: This wasn’t going to be an official attempt as I was planning on just doing 8×200 and some 100 repeats, but it was such a nice day I decided to give it a go. I’m glad I did. My previous attempt came in at 6:32, so to shave off 7 seconds seems to be meaningful. I’m still 26 seconds away from going sub-6, but at least I am moving in the right direction, time-wise. The weather was definitely a factor, and I did also hold myself back a little at the beginning of the mile. I wish I had hit my splits, but forgot on the first lap and then just went with it. Here’s to progress!

Chasing a Sub-6 Minute Mile

With the 2020 racing season canceled thanks to the dumb Covid-19 Coronavirus, I was left with a big hole where my Ironman training and race was. What to do, what to do? I thought about it for a little while and realized that I didn’t want to keep training for an Ironman that wasn’t going to happen and that I should probably dial it back some and maybe use this year as sort of a recovery from the heavy training I had been doing the past couple of years. Yeah… not going to happen.

Back in June I did something during my training that sparked an interest in me. I work in law enforcement in a part-time, non-sworn support position, and I joined my department for the annual Torch Run to benefit Special Olympics. I rode my bike about eight miles to get there that afternoon, ran the two miles with some coworkers to satisfy the event, and then for kicks I decided to see how fast I could run a mile. I did it in 6:35. And I thought, could I possibly run a sub-6 minute mile? At age 56 and change? It was definitely something I began to think about.

A month later, right after the race got canceled, I texted my Gunner teammates and advised them that I was deferring my Ironman to Chattanooga in 2021 and that I was not going to follow the training plan for the rest of the year. I also advised that I was going to shoot for the sub-6 minute mile.

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Johnny replied with this:

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Okay, now the game is ON! Actually, I’m not sure if John was laughing at my super long text about what I was doing, or that I had declared that I was attempting another stupid goal. John knows me well and knows that I will obsess over something that no normal person would do – the running streak that turned into 3+ years is a good example. That’s probably it. But whatever, I’m going for it!

In addition to the first time trial mile, I’m going to try to do at least one one-mile time trial per week. I will still do my typical three bikes a week and run on alternating days. I am going to add some speed sessions to my run workouts and probably run some hill repeats as well. My Ironman training plan had some intervals and repeats in them, but I want to focus a little more on shorter and harder efforts.

I’m starting this in mid-July, and it’s been hot and humid lately. I hope to see improvement throughout the next month, but I will probably need a very good weather day for my attempt. I’m also looking to scope out the best location to do the mile. A slight descent on a straight, uninterrupted portion of the trail might be a good option. I considered doing it on the track, but my son Ben said that GPS doesn’t work very well on the track if I want to use that as my official certifying distance and time. I do want proof. The last time I attempted a mile personal best was when I was in my late twenties, on an indoor track at Highland Park, IL High School. Ten laps around the small indoor track was a mile and I spent a few weeks working my way down to a 5:29 minute personal best. It was just me and the track and my Timex back then, so not all that official. I’m also thinking of having Ben pace me on my serious attempts. He’s game and that’s no problem for the kid.

Below is a short journal of my recent attempts:

JUNE 11, 2020 – The Mile That Woke Me Up

TIME: 6:35.2
WHERE: New Lenox Commons, approximately 1/3 mile loops
WEATHER: Sunny, windy, warm and humid, midday
LEAD UP: I biked to get there, ran an easy two-mile warm-up, then did the mile
COMMENTS: The loop has an incline and decline and it was a little windy that day

JULY 19, 2020 – The First Attempt

TIME: 6:32.1
WHERE: LINCOLN-WAY CENTRAL HIGH SCHOOL TRACK
WEATHER: Mid-70’s but very warm and humid following a day-long storm
LEAD-UP: I jogged a three-mile warm-up to get there and that was probably one mile too many.
COMMENTS: I strained my back earlier in the day and was having a little discomfort with that, but I still ran as hard as I could. The track definitely felt warmer than when I was running in the shade on the trail to get there. I was forced to use lane 4 as my lane as lanes 1, 2, and 3 were flooded out from the storm in one turn from the earlier rain. Ben was right when he said that GPS may not record me very accurately on the track.