Drop 2:00 off your Mile Pace

This week an Army Officer emailed me with a goal of dropping two minutes off his mile run pace. This is not a tough goal to achieve IF you are presently running a 10:00 mile and have a goal of 8:00 mile pace. However, as you can imagine, it gets much tougher going from 8:00 mile pace to 6:00 mile pace or faster. But the 10:00 to 8:00 pace can actually be done in less than a few months as long as you are not new to running.

If you are a beginner, you should always ramp up distance, pace, and intensity over a six to eight week period as described in the chart below:

Running Plan I - Beginning Runners

*Do not run during Week 3–bike or swim everyday for 20-30:00. Any other NON-impact aerobics is a good replacement exercise for swimming or biking. There is a high risk of injury to beginners who run this week.

For more experienced but slower runners, going from 10 – 8:00 mile pace is best done with the following recommendations:

Chart explained:

On Mondays, run two miles but try for as long as you can to run at your goal pace – chart progress each week on how far you were able to maintain goal pace. The chart below will help you figure out your goal pace at the intervals recommended in this running plan:

To ace the running portion of any PFT, it is most important to learn your pace. Recognize breathing, arm swing, leg stride, foot strikes and create muscle memory of exactly how you should feel when you are running at your goal pace. As you get into better shape, you should feel better throughout the running event.

NOTE - one day a week - you should push the speed limit and do a series of faster than pace runs:

On Tuesdays, intervals will help you build your VO2 max and foot speed to better learn your goal pace. On a few of the interval runs, try to run 1-2 at a faster than goal pace just to push your limit. After each interval run, walk or slow jog for a recovery for 1-2:00. During the second month, increase your distance but keep the pace the same. Shoot for ½ mile intervals at goal pace.

Wednesday - DAY OFF - swim or rest. Do your PT exercises today as well as every other day as recommended in any of the PT articles in the Article Archive and PFT eBooks.

Thursday - 2 mile timed run / 2 mile jog. Test yourself on Thursday, after a day off of running. If your PFT distance is 1.5 miles or 3 miles (USN, USCG, USAF, or USMC respectively), run that distance required for your services PFT followed by a jog of the same distance.

On Fridays, learn your PACE. All runs no matter what the distance – 1 mile, 2 mile, 3 miles, ¼, ½ miles etc are to be done at your goal pace. Work up to three miles of running for as long as you can at your goal pace. Once you fall off your pace, stop, walk and recover for two minutes and continue running shorter intervals until you reach a total distance of three miles.

Saturday - Long run Saturday - 4-6 miles easy pace. Have a nice leisurely run at slow moderate pace and stretch well after each running session.

Sunday - Day off

As you can see, the best way to get better or faster at running is to PRACTICE running. This routine is aggressive but doable and should only take 20-40 minutes on most weekdays. If you have any questions, feel free to email me at stew@stewsmith.com. Check out the article archives at military.com for ideas for workouts, nutrition, and PFT tips.