I thought of the magic mile today as I was cranking away at
If you’re interested, here is a YouTube of my last attempt (with my 3 week old son in tow) and the “race report” during which I appear naked.
The Magic Mile is one of the easiest ways to judge your overall fitness. The conditions are fairly easy to control if you run on a track, the recovery time is really quick (vs running a full marathon), and training paces can pretty easily be extrapolated with all sorts of online running calculators, including the McMillian Calculator. Plug in your fastest mile and they’ll forecast out all the way to a marathon. The accuracy isn’t horribly good the greater the distance, but it still gives you a general idea.I know people who do them every month, but that seems a bit overkill - so I’ll crank them out every 6 months or so. Doing them too often is sort of like weighing yourself before pooping, after pooping, and then after you take a shower. Sure, they’re going to be different, but what is the “real” weight? (hint: after pooping)
So, if you’ve made a new year’s resolution to get faster – why not use your mile time as a gauge for your TRUE speed? If nothing else, it'll show you how fast you can go before you puke!
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15 comments:
Would people in Europe do the Magic K?
I've done a few mile races and after the third one, started not hating them. It's just wrong that in #2, I had to stop to walk (which I don't do in marathons!) Now that I have my pacing down a bit better, I like the challenge.
never done a magic mile on the track. dang you are wicked fast.
i remember your video post from before. still like your comments about it.
I *remember* how fast my magic mile was... don't want to even think about how long it's been since I attempted one though!
Relatively recently finished the book "The Perfect Mile" about the first breaking of the 4 min mile and the chasing by the three men most likely to do it first. This post made me think of that. Can't even fathom miles as fast as that (or you), but I do believe you can only improve what you measure so I like this advice. Will wait to measure my mile when I can run the whole thing. Period.
I ran an 'almost' magic mile in high school (5:01 in 1985...still bitter). Lately, I've run many tragic miles. Can't think of anything else that rhymes with magic, so I'm done.
Dude, you are crazy fast! With a taper and the right conditions, I bet you can break 5 minutes.
I've never done mile repeats in my training or did speedwork with the goal of really kicking ass in a short race.
But the last two years I've run in the Harrisburg Mile and I just go and run as fast as I can. It's definitely fun because it's so different from all the other running I do all year. I hit 6:21 on the last one and one of my goals this year is to actually train for the shorter distance and try to get under six minutes.
Interesting... I actually used a training plan for a marathon earlier this year that called for going magic miles once a month or so. I never knew what they were so I didn't do them. ha ha. Now I know!
If you can't get in to St George, check out the Tuscon race. I think it has a similar elevation profile and was just written up in RW.
The Kidless Kronicles
@Jamoosh: it isn't just Europe, it is pretty much THE REST OF THE ENTIRE WORLD who are not stuck in LudditeHell. Look north and south, east and west of you. We're all metric. I refuse to teach my kids what inches, feet, etc. are. Course, they are also mystified by pennies, dimes, nickles and quarters and keep askign me why their math book has the date backwards (MM/DD/YY). :)
you know....you know...i'm not sure i've EVER raced a mile. mile repeats, sure, 1600s as part of an interval workout...but never one all alone. HMMM.
I've kind of wanted to run an all-out mile ever since your last attempt, but I think I'd suck at it. I don't know how to push myself so there's nothing left. I could ALWAYS do more - that's how I ended up running a marathon in the first place (by trying to find my breaking point). Is something wrong with me? I think I am not built for speed.
After pooping & running 20 miles that way the pipes are cleared and you're dehydrated...that's good for a couple more lbs.
I've really been wanting to do this, but my current injury will leave me not doing it for quite a while, even after recovery (partially torn abductor that popped again today while walking down the hall.)
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