I ran a mile race (or 1500 m) or at least a time trial for many years going back to 1976, and usually it was something that I looked forward to. But over time I liked the event less and less, culminating with the USATF masters mile in Indianapolis a few years ago. Warming up for the event I just hated being there. I think what happened is, well some bad experiences in college for sure, but after that and for decades on I learned to visualize and mentally prepare for the mile so well that I could send my heart rate racing while just sitting there and thinking about how I’d line up and execute an upcoming race. I was never a great miler (mid-4:20s if you believe in NCAA conversions, now excluded for Division I, but still in use for Division II and III), and a 4:38 mile at 40, and 5:00 at 50. Not bad (unless you ascribe to the Letsrun.com philosophy where anyone outside of the top 10 in the US professional rankings is pretty bad at it!) but not great.
My biggest mile win was taking the age group national title (and American road record) at the Flint, MI mile some years back. The record did not last long but you can’t take away a title! Indianapolis a few years was my last attempt at the distance and I ran to 2nd place there. Again, not bad but I was so nervous that I felt that I did not want to do this event anymore.
However, in order to stay in the running for the state age group runner of the year rankings I need to score in five certified road races from the 1 mile, 5K, 8K, 10K, 10 mile, half marathon, and marathon. I have done the 5K, 10K, and half this year and ran an 8K last month but the course was about 30 m short and did not count. Come on race directors! Do your job. I’m not doing an in state marathon, and there are no more certified 8Ks to be found on the calendar and few opportunities for the mile. Gulp! So I signed up the other week for a local race.
The Race
The race was on a warm but not too humid Saturday morning the other week. A near loop with a 2-foot elevation loss, and the course is certified and record sanctioned.
Into the second month of marathon training, I have not been doing speed work (famous sandbagging line). It’s true. I have been running 60-70 miles a week for the past five or six weeks with tempos and progressions. The only real speed work (faster than 8K race effort) has been doing some 20-30 second strides about twice a week. And these have just been short sets of 4 to 6 reps. However, with all of the base work it is enough to maintain an element of speed. Running with a friend a couple days before, he asked what I thought I could do and I knew it’d be under 6, maybe down to 5:40. And deep down I felt that a 5:40 would be a good baseline effort.
Pensive moment before the start of the road mile.
I lined up at the front, we had about 100 in the race. The horn went off I and I stepped off the only to have a dozen runners jostle their way ahead in the first 25 or 30 meters. Which put me in about 25th place. The first 200 meters are through a school parking area with net downhill, but then the course makes a sharp left, and you start to climb a little. I measured my effort and felt about right, but had to slow on that turn because the traffic tightened as we turned onto a sidewalk (2 wide). I had to slow some and weave my way through a half a dozen runners to keep the effort even. I felt that my pace was decent overall, but once I got around those people (at least according to my Garmin/Strava) I surged to 5:00-5:20 pace for about 100 m before settling in.
Off the line but soon to be passed by that entire row just behind me.
Just before 500 meters the course makes another left turn, and there you climb about 6 meters in elevation over the next 350 or so m. I could feel a bit of a burn in my legs, which is just about right–on the track I usually feel that at about 600 meters in. Although I slowed I kept the effort even and passed another four or five runners. I wasn’t checking my watch but the official at the 1/2 mile called out 2:49. This is is the high point of the course but I was not feeling terrible. Yet. And I was encouraged to be on 5:40 pace and not dying.
At about 900 you take the third turn of the course, and there were four or five (all seemingly tall, at 6’3″ to 6’9″ or so! maybe a high school basketball team in summer training) runners ahead and I picked them off on the long downhill stretch I was feeling pretty good but did not want to surge until I made the final turn, with about 200 to go. I did try to pass the one last tall (the tallest) guy just before the turn but he’d have none of that and he surged. I reeled him in just before the turn and thought I’d pass and pull away and maybe pick off one or two more. That’s called getting greedy.
But then it did get hard and my legs got heavy! I picked it up for maybe 50 meters after the turn but made little headway, and then I really tied up and the tall guy pulled away. With 100 to go two other runners passed me. I finished about 12th or 13th overall with a 5:36!
Final strides! Holding off the charge.
Although it wasn’t great to tie up like that, I was actually pleased to run a 5:36. With the new (2025) age grading that was a 92%, my best ever for the mile (age graded 90-91% at those USATF championships), with an age graded time of 4:06, and set a new state record for my age. I’m not complaining.
Back to the conversation with my friend a couple days before the race, the second part of his question was how much could I bring my time down from baseline (first race without specific preparation), and I thought 10-15 seconds is possible. 10 for sure with some tapering and a month or so of weekly speedwork at mile pace/sometimes faster. So yeah, sub 5:30 for sure. Which would keep me competitive at the national level. But no! Not the mile. I’ll stick to 5K and up for that unless I’m forced by circumstances to race the mile at a national age group championship.
Although I tied up over the last 150 or so I was happy with the effort. And I might return to the mile at low key mile events here and there.
rrunnin234 