That 8 Minute Mile
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RunnerGrl1982
Posts: 412 Member
Hey friends!
For those runners out there, I've set a long term goal of training for a sustainable 8 minute mile. I am really interested to hear from others who are on a similar path or who have already achieved that kind of sustainable 8 minute mile pace - how long did you train to reach that goal?
Everyone's fitness level is going to be different, as is their time frame of what it took/takes to get there; I'm simply curious as to the path each of you went down and your experiences.
That's all!
Hope everyone is doing well!
For those runners out there, I've set a long term goal of training for a sustainable 8 minute mile. I am really interested to hear from others who are on a similar path or who have already achieved that kind of sustainable 8 minute mile pace - how long did you train to reach that goal?
Everyone's fitness level is going to be different, as is their time frame of what it took/takes to get there; I'm simply curious as to the path each of you went down and your experiences.
That's all!
Hope everyone is doing well! 4
Replies
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Looking forward to seeing the discussion here, this is something I would also love to accomplish.3
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Run much longer much slower. What do you mean by sustainable? One continuous mile only or for multiple miles? If the former, then once you can run a sub-10 minute 10K you should be able to handle one 8 minute mile.
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" run a sub-10 minute 10K you should be able to handle one 8 minute mile." A sub 10 minute 10K is quite an achievement, no? ;-)
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Run much longer much slower. What do you mean by sustainable? One continuous mile only or for multiple miles? If the former, then once you can run a sub-10 minute 10K you should be able to handle one 8 minute mile.
I probably worded that oddly, apologies. For sustainable, I was implying continuous miles (ie: marathon pacing)1 -
Sustainable over what distance? My parkrun PB is a 7.57 pace but my long distance pace (10k and over) is around 9.20.
I found the best way to get my parkrun time down was to slowly increase overall weekly mileage and have one long slow run at the weekend.2 -
I "think" this is my target for this year. If I do the math right, this would be ~25 mins for a 5K, or 5min/km for 5K. PB for me so far is 27:33 for 5K and my latest runs are ~28:15, but that is on snow and ice.
Plan is to run a lot more. ~50KM per week, with a couple of the runs being speed work, and the bulk to be longer slow runs. Following the 80/20 rules of running.1 -
Nativestar56 wrote: »Sustainable over what distance? My parkrun PB is a 7.57 pace but my long distance pace (10k and over) is around 9.20.
I found the best way to get my parkrun time down was to slowly increase overall weekly mileage and have one long slow run at the weekend.
7:57, that's awesome.
Sustainable over a 10K length running up to marathon pace, eventually. I was just interested in hearing people's experiences on their own time frame of getting down to that pace. I totally get needing to increase mileage slowly. I'm up to 40mpw right now and working on slowly building that up over the rest of this year +.Tacklewasher wrote: »I "think" this is my target for this year. If I do the math right, this would be ~25 mins for a 5K, or 5min/km for 5K. PB for me so far is 27:33 for 5K and my latest runs are ~28:15, but that is on snow and ice.
Plan is to run a lot more. ~50KM per week, with a couple of the runs being speed work, and the bulk to be longer slow runs. Following the 80/20 rules of running.
Nice! That's great! I also follow the 80/20 rule. 0 -
RunnerGrl1982 wrote: »7:57, that's awesome.
Sustainable over a 10K length running up to marathon pace, eventually. I was just interested in hearing people's experiences on their own time frame of getting down to that pace. I totally get needing to increase mileage slowly. I'm up to 40mpw right now and working on slowly building that up over the rest of this year +.
Thanks! I'm working on increasing my mileage, I'm up to 18mpw so 40mpw is really impressive to me! I've learnt my lesson the painful way about increasing slowly so I'm pretty careful to not go too quickly and I'm only adding on an extra 1-1.5 miles a week.
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I'm interested too. I can do a 9 minute...but 8 is definitely a long term goal.2
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I'm an "ok" runner at best,(at 61 years old and 180lbs) but I ran a sub 8 minute pace consistently for the 5k distance in training and races during the 2017 season. I had restarted running in 2012 after a 15 year layoff.
My goal during training was to improve my half marathon run split during triathlons, so the 5k speed improvement was just a bonus. To train for it, my coach set up track workouts on Tuesdays as one of my 3 runs/week. We did various speed sessions on the track each Tuesday, plus 2 other runs weekly, one of them being a long run.
Here's a couple track workouts that really helped me increase my speed at both the 5k and 13.1 distance:
The first is called the "popsicle stick" workout. It is fun when done on a track with a group. After a warm up mile, each runner takes a popsicle stick and carries it with them for the prescribed run time(say 2, 3 or 4 minutes) and then drops it where they stand and walks back to the starting line. This is typically a 30-45 second rest, then run again. The idea is to start at a modest pace for the first block, then increase speed with each subsequent block so you move the popsicle stick farther and farther each time. The last one is meant to be run "all out". Typically we'd do 5 sets of this, then a cool down mile. With a competitive group, this got to be nearly vomit inducing.
The second is by far my favorite track workout for increasing a runners ability to push hard over an extended time period, like a HM. Its a simple workout, but very effective. Again, its easiest to run this on a track or somewhere with easily measured intervals. Start with a 1 mile warm up. Then runners do laps alternating between 5k pace and Half Marathon pace. So, as an example, Lap 1 would be run at a 7:50pace, Lap 2 at a 9:00 pace, Lap 3 at a 7:50pace, Lap 4 at a 9:00 pace, etcetera. Finish with a 1 mile cool down.
We'd start early in the season with 12 laps of work(3 miles) then build up over the weeks to 16 or 20 laps of work. With a warm up mile and a cool down mile, the 20 lap sessions yielded a 7 mile workout. After a few months of speed work, my open half marathon time improved from a 9:10 to an 8:43 pace during 2017, with my 5k time getting down to 7:50/mile.
Speed work can increase the risk of injury for newer runners, but for those runners who have enough mileage under their belts, it is very helpful. Since focusing on longer course racing last year, I stopped speed work in favor of more distance focused training.
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Back when I was in the army, I could run 2 miles in 14 minutes, so that was 7 minute miles.
Now I'm 61 and it takes me 14 minutes to run 1 mile... 7 -
RunnerGrl1982 wrote: »
Sustainable over a 10K length running up to marathon pace, eventually. I was just interested in hearing people's experiences on their own time frame of getting down to that pace. I totally get needing to increase mileage slowly. I'm up to 40mpw right now and working on slowly building that up over the rest of this year +.
The jump from running a sub 8 min/mile 10K to sub 8 min/mile marathon is pretty huge. I would venture to say that many, many people that can routinely run a sub 8 min/mile 10k will never be able to hit that pace for a marathon *points to self*. The big difference is that you can run 5Ks and 10Ks at paces above your lactate threshold. That is not the case for a a marathon. For example, my PR paces at the popular distances set within about a year of each other are: 5k-7:04, 10K-7:15, HM-7:38, marathon-8:20. As you can see, the drop off in pace increases greatly as the distance increases.
But since you asked for personal accounts of what it took to get under 8 min/mile, here is mine in a nut shell. I ran for many years through my 20s and 30s, just as a recreational runner. Most of my running was done in the 9-10 min/mile range, regardless of distance. I didn't do too many races, but when I did most of my times fell into this range for 5ks up to half marathons. My first 3 half marathons were all 2:05. At least I was consistent.
In 2013, at 41 years old, my friend convinced me to run a marathon with her. I agreed, but she was a relatively new runner and her pace was a bit slower than mine. However, we trained together for most of our long runs at that slower pace and we ran the entire race together. We finished in just under 5 hours (around 11:30 pace). Not long after that, I had signed up for a half marathon on my own. I went out and ran as a normally did and was shocked to see that my pace was 8:30. Without really trying, by training for a marathon, even at very slow pace, my pace had improved by nearly a minute per mile over my previous times. So then I got the bug and wondered what I could do in a marathon if I ran it on my own.
I picked up a copy of "80/20 Running" and that book was really what changed everything for me. In January of 2015 I ran my first solo marathon and finished in 1:52:26. Since I knew I was pretty close to my Boston qualifying time, I spent the rest of the year training for an October marathon to try and BQ. I used the intermediate plan that is in the book which included one day of intervals, one day of tempo runs along with long runs that had some speed work embedded in them, which I think were the most effective runs. I ran my marathon in October of 2015 at a PR time of 3:38:26 and qualified for Boston.
Since then, I have used this general format of training and have achieved all of the PRs I listed above as a result. I think time, patience and consistency are the key. Of course, I should also mention that, at 47 years old now, I am starting to slow down. All of those cumulative miles eventually begin to take their toll. In 2015 I was running 6 days a week and maxing out around 60 mpw. I am currently running 4-5 days and will max out in this training cycle around 45 mpw. I think early on in your training, those extra mile really pay off, but there eventually comes a point where they offer diminishing returns as your body starts to notice the wear and tear.12 -
I'll join in...I can get a 10 minute mile but a 9:30 1500m. Long term goal is 8 minutes and I have been wanting to get this for a while. I am mostly a long distance runner from 2 to 3 miles, but I need help getting the mile down to 8 minutes. I will force myself to train extra hard in March. 0
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I never trained running per sae, but I'm a athlete and it took me about a month to achieve sub 8 min mile average for 5k and just over 9min miles on 10k-25k when I ran every day for about a year or so when I was 45ish of age.
Just add mileage load increases about 10% a week or follow a program. Once you get miles kicking, you don't really need to try to kick faster...it just happens because you increase your fitness for running.1 -
As a former fun runner who described himself as a retired runner, I've jumped back into the action and am a work in progress. I never ran a marathon but did do fun runs of the 10k variety and ran longer distances at a sub 8:00 mile pace. Now, I'm working on a sustained 10:00 mile pace and do have as a goal to run a 10k sometime in 2019 at a 9:00 mile pace.
What I've learned is to run fast you must train fast and while longer runs are part of building a base, you got to put time in running faster. What I"m currently doing is taking a run walk run approach getting in one hour of running this way. I've had best results doing 3 minutes running and one minute walking rounds because the 3 minute runs can be at that faster pace. Compare this to runs I've done using 5 minutes running and one minute walking. One hour later, the distance covered is less than when doing it 3 minutes running and one minute walking because of run speed.
Don't know if this helps but just wanted to share my two cents. Good luck.
p.s. I'm age 64 and it's definitely harder jumping back on the running saddle and reclaiming some pace speed from the good olden and younger days.2 -
OldAssDude wrote: »Back when I was in the army, I could run 2 miles in 14 minutes, so that was 7 minute miles.
Now I'm 61 and it takes me 14 minutes to run 1 mile...
I have found that now, at 64, my half mile splits match my mile splits from high school and college. So, I guess, I'm half fast. ;-)6 -
The longest distance I've run is 13.1(PR 1:42:10), but I did quite a few time trials on my bike. Faster came from the same things training and diet. There is a lot of great training advice above, but the other thing that kicked my time down was getting lean, strong and mentally ready.
I made my diet about fuel. Coach had me on a very specific high protein, lower carb diet that he'd adjust based on events or training. I did strength training in the gym only 1/week. Most of my strength workouts came from hills. Fast hills, slow hills, steep hills, dreaded windy steep hills that you think will never end (mental game there).
I also had to become comfortable with discomfort. Finding that point just beyond comfortable that you can sustain takes mental fortitude and knowledge of what your body can do. These are also things you need to practice.
Once every 2 weeks, I'd do a "trial race" each time with a different focus, lower HR, faster climbs, negative splits, go out fast and then ease into it, different fuels, whatever. For running this was a set 8 mile loop. Sometimes I blew up, sometimes I couldn't find my rhythm, sometimes the "goal" just didn't fit my running style, but I always learned something. Once a month I went and tried to kill it. I learned what my strong suits were, that I knew how to push and how to attack a race course. I'd put this knowledge to work at local races. I'm super competitive, and I mostly knew who I should beat and who I wanted to beat.
I start out fast and it takes about a mile for my breathing and stride to stabilize. That mile is uncomfortable, but I knew it would pass and that I didn't need worry about it. I found out that I am not a great climber but I am a moderate consistent climber and usually have a tiny kick as I approach the top. Always a great place to pass people. Again my breathing gets wonkie, but I know it will settle. The big one that I learned is I had a lot of self doubt. I seem to to think I'm going to die (fail) and I stop like 100m before the finish. If I let myself stop, it was never for more than a few seconds. Not enough to recover, just enough to let a few people pass me (damn!). If I'd needed to stop longer it might have been because I had kicked too soon, but that wasn't it. I was just afraid of failing or disappointing people. Silly but true. I've stopped in 5k's all the way up to half marathons in view of the finish, for no apparent reason. I learned through practice at these mostly local races to push through that doubt/discomfort and finish strong.
Always remember that discomfort is ok, pain is not.
It all takes time on the road, track or path. I'm currently trying to rediscover the drive I had then. Typing this out reminds me how much I enjoyed the challenge and thrill of racing. Hope you can take something from my experience that helps.2 -
lporter229 wrote: »RunnerGrl1982 wrote: »
Sustainable over a 10K length running up to marathon pace, eventually. I was just interested in hearing people's experiences on their own time frame of getting down to that pace. I totally get needing to increase mileage slowly. I'm up to 40mpw right now and working on slowly building that up over the rest of this year +.
The jump from running a sub 8 min/mile 10K to sub 8 min/mile marathon is pretty huge. I would venture to say that many, many people that can routinely run a sub 8 min/mile 10k will never be able to hit that pace for a marathon *points to self*. The big difference is that you can run 5Ks and 10Ks at paces above your lactate threshold. That is not the case for a a marathon. For example, my PR paces at the popular distances set within about a year of each other are: 5k-7:04, 10K-7:15, HM-7:38, marathon-8:20. As you can see, the drop off in pace increases greatly as the distance increases.
But since you asked for personal accounts of what it took to get under 8 min/mile, here is mine in a nut shell. I ran for many years through my 20s and 30s, just as a recreational runner. Most of my running was done in the 9-10 min/mile range, regardless of distance. I didn't do too many races, but when I did most of my times fell into this range for 5ks up to half marathons. My first 3 half marathons were all 2:05. At least I was consistent.
In 2013, at 41 years old, my friend convinced me to run a marathon with her. I agreed, but she was a relatively new runner and her pace was a bit slower than mine. However, we trained together for most of our long runs at that slower pace and we ran the entire race together. We finished in just under 5 hours (around 11:30 pace). Not long after that, I had signed up for a half marathon on my own. I went out and ran as a normally did and was shocked to see that my pace was 8:30. Without really trying, by training for a marathon, even at very slow pace, my pace had improved by nearly a minute per mile over my previous times. So then I got the bug and wondered what I could do in a marathon if I ran it on my own.
I picked up a copy of "80/20 Running" and that book was really what changed everything for me. In January of 2015 I ran my first solo marathon and finished in 1:52:26. Since I knew I was pretty close to my Boston qualifying time, I spent the rest of the year training for an October marathon to try and BQ. I used the intermediate plan that is in the book which included one day of intervals, one day of tempo runs along with long runs that had some speed work embedded in them, which I think were the most effective runs. I ran my marathon in October of 2015 at a PR time of 3:38:26 and qualified for Boston.
Since then, I have used this general format of training and have achieved all of the PRs I listed above as a result. I think time, patience and consistency are the key. Of course, I should also mention that, at 47 years old now, I am starting to slow down. All of those cumulative miles eventually begin to take their toll. In 2015 I was running 6 days a week and maxing out around 60 mpw. I am currently running 4-5 days and will max out in this training cycle around 45 mpw. I think early on in your training, those extra mile really pay off, but there eventually comes a point where they offer diminishing returns as your body starts to notice the wear and tear.
Thank you for sharing your experience and perspective on things. This was incredibly insightful. I picked up running roughly 5 years ago, but have only been consistently running for a year now. Most of my times currently are in the 9's, and I run my first marathon in late March. My relative pace will be somewhere between 10:30 and 11:00.
It's a great point you brought up about maxing out around 60mpw, I was under the assumption it would most likely take 60 - 70mpw consistently to start seeing results over time. I'm dedicated to working my pace down over time, I'm not in a hurry, but it is a goal. Whether I reach that goal or not, will remain to be seen - but at least it's out there!
I haven't read the book you've mentioned, but I do train under those metrics currently. I should look into that and pick up a copy to continue educating myself.
Congratulations on qualifying for Boston! That is also one of my primary reasons I've set a goal to hit an 8 minute pace. Thank you again, your personal account and information has been incredibly helpful and thought provoking!2 -
I'm an "ok" runner at best,(at 61 years old and 180lbs) but I ran a sub 8 minute pace consistently for the 5k distance in training and races during the 2017 season. I had restarted running in 2012 after a 15 year layoff.
My goal during training was to improve my half marathon run split during triathlons, so the 5k speed improvement was just a bonus. To train for it, my coach set up track workouts on Tuesdays as one of my 3 runs/week. We did various speed sessions on the track each Tuesday, plus 2 other runs weekly, one of them being a long run.
Here's a couple track workouts that really helped me increase my speed at both the 5k and 13.1 distance:
The first is called the "popsicle stick" workout. It is fun when done on a track with a group. After a warm up mile, each runner takes a popsicle stick and carries it with them for the prescribed run time(say 2, 3 or 4 minutes) and then drops it where they stand and walks back to the starting line. This is typically a 30-45 second rest, then run again. The idea is to start at a modest pace for the first block, then increase speed with each subsequent block so you move the popsicle stick farther and farther each time. The last one is meant to be run "all out". Typically we'd do 5 sets of this, then a cool down mile. With a competitive group, this got to be nearly vomit inducing.
The second is by far my favorite track workout for increasing a runners ability to push hard over an extended time period, like a HM. Its a simple workout, but very effective. Again, its easiest to run this on a track or somewhere with easily measured intervals. Start with a 1 mile warm up. Then runners do laps alternating between 5k pace and Half Marathon pace. So, as an example, Lap 1 would be run at a 7:50pace, Lap 2 at a 9:00 pace, Lap 3 at a 7:50pace, Lap 4 at a 9:00 pace, etcetera. Finish with a 1 mile cool down.
We'd start early in the season with 12 laps of work(3 miles) then build up over the weeks to 16 or 20 laps of work. With a warm up mile and a cool down mile, the 20 lap sessions yielded a 7 mile workout. After a few months of speed work, my open half marathon time improved from a 9:10 to an 8:43 pace during 2017, with my 5k time getting down to 7:50/mile.
Speed work can increase the risk of injury for newer runners, but for those runners who have enough mileage under their belts, it is very helpful. Since focusing on longer course racing last year, I stopped speed work in favor of more distance focused training.
Oh wow! Thank you for sharing these workouts. I hadn't run across those variations before. Very intriguing. I bet the Popsicle stick workout can be very challenging and competitive. I'm internally competitive with myself, so I could see how this could easily ramp up quickly.
I appreciate you sharing your experience and workout ethics. This was quite good!nlmackey98 wrote: »The longest distance I've run is 13.1(PR 1:42:10), but I did quite a few time trials on my bike. Faster came from the same things training and diet. There is a lot of great training advice above, but the other thing that kicked my time down was getting lean, strong and mentally ready.
I made my diet about fuel. Coach had me on a very specific high protein, lower carb diet that he'd adjust based on events or training. I did strength training in the gym only 1/week. Most of my strength workouts came from hills. Fast hills, slow hills, steep hills, dreaded windy steep hills that you think will never end (mental game there).
I also had to become comfortable with discomfort. Finding that point just beyond comfortable that you can sustain takes mental fortitude and knowledge of what your body can do. These are also things you need to practice.
Once every 2 weeks, I'd do a "trial race" each time with a different focus, lower HR, faster climbs, negative splits, go out fast and then ease into it, different fuels, whatever. For running this was a set 8 mile loop. Sometimes I blew up, sometimes I couldn't find my rhythm, sometimes the "goal" just didn't fit my running style, but I always learned something. Once a month I went and tried to kill it. I learned what my strong suits were, that I knew how to push and how to attack a race course. I'd put this knowledge to work at local races. I'm super competitive, and I mostly knew who I should beat and who I wanted to beat.
I start out fast and it takes about a mile for my breathing and stride to stabilize. That mile is uncomfortable, but I knew it would pass and that I didn't need worry about it. I found out that I am not a great climber but I am a moderate consistent climber and usually have a tiny kick as I approach the top. Always a great place to pass people. Again my breathing gets wonkie, but I know it will settle. The big one that I learned is I had a lot of self doubt. I seem to to think I'm going to die (fail) and I stop like 100m before the finish. If I let myself stop, it was never for more than a few seconds. Not enough to recover, just enough to let a few people pass me (damn!). If I'd needed to stop longer it might have been because I had kicked too soon, but that wasn't it. I was just afraid of failing or disappointing people. Silly but true. I've stopped in 5k's all the way up to half marathons in view of the finish, for no apparent reason. I learned through practice at these mostly local races to push through that doubt/discomfort and finish strong.
Always remember that discomfort is ok, pain is not.
It all takes time on the road, track or path. I'm currently trying to rediscover the drive I had then. Typing this out reminds me how much I enjoyed the challenge and thrill of racing. Hope you can take something from my experience that helps.
Thanks for your account on training! I'm pretty strict about my diet as well, though mostly due to being in the tail in bulk of my marathon training. It does make a difference. I didn't think about running different types of hills. This is poor logistics on my part. I do hill sessions about once every month, but I hadn't changed up the venue. That is an excellent point you make, because I have become somewhat adapted to the current hill I'm running on, even at various effort based sessions.
Appreciate the time you spent sharing this! Very intriguing and helpful information!
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