Are you looking to improve your mile time? Whether you’re new to running or have years of experience, you can make some small changes in your training to run a faster mile. Here are some tips for shaving some time off your mile PR.
Do Interval Training
High-intensity interval training is an excellent way to improve your speed and confidence. Once a week, do track interval workouts, such as 200 meters (1/2 lap) or 400 meters (one lap around the track) repeats.
How to Do an Interval Workout: After a 5- to 10-minute warm-up, alternate between running hard for one 200m or 400m and then easy jogging or walking for the same distance to recover. If you’re doing 200m repeats, start with six repeats and try to work your way up to 8 to 10 repeats. For 400m intervals, start with two or three repeats (with a recovery lap in between each), and try to work your way up to 5 to 6 repeats.
Interval workouts can also be done on the treadmill, of course. Or, if you’re running on the road, you can use lamp posts or telephone poles to mark intervals. After warming-up, try sprinting for two lamp posts, then recover for two, and keep repeating the pattern until you’ve covered a mile.
More Interval Workouts:
Build Endurance
If you want to run a faster mile, you’ll have to run longer than a mile. You may already be running more than a mile several times a week, but are you doing one run that’s significantly longer than the rest? Doing one long run a week will improve your cardiovascular fitness and strength, which will lead to faster times.
Start with 2 to 3 miles (assuming you’ve already reached that mileage) and add one mile a week until you get to the 7 to 8 mile range. There’s no reason to go beyond 8 miles, unless you think you may want to train for a long distance race like a half or full marathon!
Add Strength-Training
Building muscle strength will boost your speed, as well as give you additional benefits. You don’t need to lift serious weight or hit the gym five days a week. Even just doing several body weight exercises such as squats and planks a couple times of week can help you add lean muscle. Here are some basic strength-training workouts for runners.
More Exercises for Running:
Do Hill Repeats
Running hills will make you stronger, as well as improve your running efficiency and increase your lactate threshold. All that should help you run faster and improve your mile time.
How to Do Basic Hill Repeats: Start with a 10-minute warm-up of easy running. Find a hill with a decent incline, but not too steep. (If you’re on a treadmill, start with a 4% incline.) Sprint uphill for 30 seconds, then walk down to recover. Start out with 5 repeats and try to work your way up to 10. Finish with a 10-minute cooldown of easy running.
Want more variations of hill repeats? Check out these hill workouts to build strength and speed.
Don’t have access to a treadmill or outside hills? Try some of these fun alternatives to hill running.
Lose Weight
If you’re already trying to shed some pounds, here’s more incentive: Research has shown that, on average, runners get two seconds per mile faster for every pound they lose. So, for example, a 5-pound weight loss could shave about 10 seconds off your mile race time.
Running is a powerful and efficient way to burn calories, which can help boost your weight loss efforts. But you can make even more progress by following a nutritious, healthy diet and limiting the amount of processed foods you eat.
You should also try to avoid some common weight loss mistakes that runners make. Some runners end up undoing all of their hard work and calorie burning by giving into cravings, rewarding themselves with unhealthy foods, or overeating when hunger strikes.
More Weight Loss Advice:
Don’t Forget About Rest Days
Don’t assume that running hard every day will make you faster. Rest and good sleep habits are critical to your recovery and injury prevention efforts. Your muscles actually build and repair themselves during your rest days.
A rest day doesn’t have to be a complete day off. For example, you could do easy cross training such as walking, biking, or swimming on a rest day. But you should never have two days in a row of intense workouts, such speed training.
More Advice on How to Run Faster
