Cross Training Questions

can anyone tell me the most effective workout to imporve your mile time?

im a freshman and well i know i am a good runner cause im the only freshman on varsity for cross country and well i this might seem a little bizarre, but i wanna try to break the world record for the mile im my senior year, i run a 5:42 now and i want to break 4:45 by the end of track season this year , i know thats possible if i work hard but after that, what is the best speed training workouts cause the world record is 3:43 and well im still a far cry from that even at 4:45, so can anyone help? running it is not the problem, i laugh at it, its a piece of cake when we ran it for the physical fitness test, i was the fastest in my class and the dude who cam in 2nd was over a minute behind me but my problem is the speed i could probably run like 15 miles on a nice cool day, but im not saying im gunna be flying, im perfect at pacing myself when we run the 400m all my 400's were within 1 second of the last and i didnt even have a watch on me to make sure i would make it perfectly, i just need more speed

Public Comments

1. you're crazy! Just continue running every day, run a few miles though every single day and it will eventually get easier! Good luck!!!
2. Yes, run faster and faster each day until you achive thetime you want. You can do it.
3. Yea, I am a sophomore (girl) and what I do between cross country and track is run about 30-60 straight minutes each day, but since ur just wanting to improve your one mile time sprints will help u alot!!! I am doing a 10 week program I got off the internet at www.halhigdon.com/crosscountry it has really helped by making my pace stronger! See and what u do is each day is different things, one day u do a tempo run for about 30 mins, the next day u will do noting but sprints like 10x 400 but any way what I do the most and get results is when I run every minute or two I will surge for about 20 seconds and that helps alot... Well go check out that website it will help u alot and open your varieties on training for the mile! Good Luck!
4. If you want speed than you will have to do fartlek training. This is what Roger Bannister did to become the first sub-4 minute mile runner. You run cc so you should have an idea of what a fartlek is so really no need to go into detail on that. If you have live in a mountainous area than try fartleks going up it. For about 3 mins. go hard and 3 mins. easy till you reach the top. It seems crazy but going up a mountain will build your endurance and the speed up want. It will also help with your oxygen supply while you run due to the pressure up there. You could just do a simple pyramid. One lap medium pace One lap fast pace, two laps medium pace, two laps fast pace. You can keep the pattern until whatever you want but remember that this workout includes no breaks between the fast and slow laps. Also try going to the gym and working out. Work on your arms, abs, and for speed the thighs. Final note: Do not forget to add long runs to your work out schedule. It helps relax the muscles and for the heart.Best of Luck.