Mile

1500m/Mile Pace Workouts

Reading time: 3 min

This post outlines progressions for two different types of 1500m/Mile pace workouts: Long Recoveries and Short Recoveries. Plus three 1500m/Mile Race Prediction workouts are included at the end.

The workout list below is NOT a training program. Check out the post on Five-Pace Training to learn how to integrate these 1500m/Mile pace workouts into a complete program. The Five-Pace Training model includes workouts at paces anchored to standard race distances spread over two- or three-week training cycles. The post on Choosing Workouts will also be helpful when selecting your training sessions.

Continue reading →

Of Records & Races

Reading time: 3 min

On the track or road, when a runner sets a world record, often he or she is far ahead of any rivals. The record becomes a time trial more than a race. Once the pacers have completed their duties, there is nothing to feed off other than the clock itself.

Time Trialling to a record is an incredible accomplishment. But when a record comes down to a drag race between two or more runners, the excitement you experience while watching is palpable.

In the runners’ attempts to outdo one another, they are each elevating each other’s performance. The result is a race that is “greater than the sum of its parts.” The results achieved are beyond what the runners could have done alone racing against the clock.

I love that.

There is a comradery underlying the machismo of racing for the win, the gold or the money. There is a tie that binds runners chasing mastery of their sport at the highest level – the spirit of competition. Aiming to be the very best a person can be. We are going to watch two such races today.

Continue reading →

Peter Snell: Athlete

Reading time: 3 min

As a teenager I had no idea that I had the potential to win an Olympic gold medal and my athletic career developed only by lucky circumstances

Peter Snell

Peter Snell was a natural athlete. He excelled at rugby, tennis, cricket and golf among other sports. It just so happens that one day, coach Arthur Lydiard spotted the 19-year-old Snell run an 880-yard handicap race in 1957. Lydiard was impressed by Snell‘s natural speed and convinced Snell to drop his other sports and pursue track. The rest we shall say is history.

Snell’s impressive resume includes all of the following:

  • 800m gold medal at the 1960 Rome Olympic games
  • 880y and Mile gold medals at the 1962 Perth Commonwealth games
  • 800m and 1500m gold medals at the 1964 Tokyo Olympics games – a feat that has not been replicated since.
  • World Records in the 800m, 880y, 1000m, Mile and 4 x 1 Mile relay
  • Voted New Zealand’s Sports Champion of the (20th) Century

There is a lot to say about Peter Snell. But here are just two tidbits about the 1960 Olympics and his 800m world record.

Continue reading →

Name the Second Man to Break the 4min Barrier

Reading time: 3 min

Doctors and scientists said that breaking the four-minute mile was impossible, that one would die in the attempt. Thus, when I got up from the track after collapsing at the finish line, I figured I was dead.

Roger Bannister

I’m sure you’ve heard of Sir Roger Bannister. He was the first man to break the 4min barrier in the Mile by running 3:59.4 on May 6th, 1954. A remarkable achievement. In the video below you can watch the record attempt with insightful commentary from the man himself Roger Bannister

It is all the more impressive when you consider that he was running on a cinder track. According to investigative reporter David Epstein in his acclaimed TED talk Are Athletes Really Getting Faster Better Stronger, cinder tracks are 1.5% slower than modern synthetic tracks. If this is true, that means Bannister’s time in 1954 is roughly equivalent to a 3:55.8 today. I’d highly suggest you watch David Epstein’s entire TED talk. If you want to skip right to Bannister part, jump to 2:49.

You may not know the name of the second man to break the 4min barrier: John Landy of Australia. Forty-six days after Bannister ran his breakthrough race, Landy ran a scorching 3:57.9, 1.6 seconds faster than Bannister’s time. What I want you to see today is what Landy looks like when he runs.

Continue reading →