[Singularity]

Morning.

I'm doing a 1 mile race on Monday and I've never raced that distance and don't really know what to expect. Whats it like? Do people just run as fast as they can? All my training and races are anything from 3 miles to 10 miles.

I know there are loads of threads on here about preparing for the army 1.5 mile test etc but what I'm after is what people do over a short distance. I think there was also another thread recently about people who have raced 1 mile but I can't find it.

My last 10k I did the first mile in 6:10 (and then suffered for the next 5 miles, but thats another story) so I know I should be able to do this resonably fast but I'm wondering whether I should just go for it and hope that I don't go too fast or whether I should start slow and get faster as I would in 5k and 10k races.

 

[Steve]

I've never done a 1m race but suspect if I did I would go for it from the B of the Bang and treat it like a 5k but worse!!

Good luck to you.

 

[Singularity]

Yea, I'm thinking that you don't really have much time to do anything else. The problem with starting off slowly is that you may not have time to pick up speed and get past all the people who have set off faster.

 

[ed_m]

start fast and hang on for dear life.

concentrate on breathing & form when you start to hurt.

 

[Steve]

Exactly..no time to think and then catch up.

I think a decent warm up will be essential to allow you to race off at the start.

 

[JBBury]

My advice would be to just go for it, almost like a sprint. Pain will only last a few minutes. I've never done a one off 1 mile time trial or race, but I have done a 2 mile speed trial, which I did in 11:25. The second mile hurt quite a bit, but the first mile felt like a sprint, and I think it should if you're racing it. I reckon you should be aiming for around 5:00 flat for the race, maybe even breaking 5 min. Do a couple of speed trials over a mile before the race to give you an idea of what kind of pace you can hold.

 

[Singularity]

The only concern I have is that I'm doing a 10k on Friday so hope my legs have recovered enough by Monday

 

[richardsimkiss]

Is it a road or track 1mile? sounds silly but a track mile is almost easier in my opinion. (easier to judge pace).

I couldn't sprint a mile - no way! I have to pace myself over 400m, lol.

 

[JBBury]

Is it a road or track 1mile? sounds silly but a track mile is almost easier in my opinion. (easier to judge pace).

I couldn't sprint a mile - no way! I have to pace myself over 400m, lol.

Oh Richard. Of course you could sprint 400m. I reckon you could do it in 56 seconds.

 

[Singularity]

Its two laps in a park on tarmac. Half of the lap is slightly uphill, the second half is flat.

 

[ed_m]

agree on warm up.... gentle warm up with some accelerations to stretch the legs out ready for 1 mile pace.

 

[richardsimkiss]

Its two laps in a park on tarmac. Half of the lap is slightly uphill, the second half is flat.

How does that work?:huh: Where's the downhill bit? or is it one of those optical illusion things?

 

[richardsimkiss]

I'd be very happy with 56 secs JBB! I can run 400m very hard... but definately not as an all out sprint! I managed 69secs on Mon, though that was after a hard speedwork session :embarrassed:

 

[Trinity]

Its two laps in a park on tarmac. Half of the lap is slightly uphill, the second half is flat.

I did a mile race fairly recently on a track.

You need a really good warm up as close to the start time as possible.
When I did it on the track I had a pacer and he said the first lap will be brisk but just getting into stride, the second lap will be a little harder but maintaining pace, the third lap will be the hardest as the effort is sustained and your body trying to keep up with the fuel utilisation. The fourth lap is basically a run for home so you have to have something left to sprint with but not too much because you could have used it to go faster in previous laps.

But the track was flat, obviously, so not sure how your slightly uphill section would affect the efforts.

 

[JBBury]

So what was your time Trinity?

 

[Singularity]

How does that work?:huh: Where's the downhill bit? or is it one of those optical illusion things?

Ha ha, excellent. Ok, it must be up hill and down hill.

 

[m4tty]

How does that work?:huh: Where's the downhill bit? or is it one of those optical illusion things?

:lol: Genius. I hope the finish isn't at the "top".

 

[roadrunner84]

I'd be very happy with 56 secs JBB! I can run 400m very hard... but definately not as an all out sprint! I managed 69secs on Mon, though that was after a hard speedwork session :embarrassed:

There was this sicko on our school track team who used to run a 52 second 400m and he was only 15 ha ha! My event was always the 800m but I suspect he'd have destroyed me in that too

 

[m4tty]

52 seconds!?! That's getting to Olympic athlete times!

 

[roadrunner84]

I know ha ha! What was weird was he just appeared in the athletics team out of nowhere, had no history of running and just hammered it around the track at that pace! I was never much of a sprinter, never really got past 60s.