Shaving Time Off Your Mile

Hey All--

Never have I ever actively tried to shave time off my mile!  I talked to a few runners and consulted the internet to bring you this post, BUT this would be a great time for someone with more expertise to chime in.  Here are some general things I learned:

1. Depending on where your starting point is, just going out and running and training in any way shape or form will probably improve your mile, particularly if you haven't done a lot of running to train before.  So there is no need to be intimidated or over-think this!  Hooray!
2. Setting a goal for your mile is an integral part of training.  Not only does it help motivate you, but it also is really important for bullet point number three...
3. You should do interval runs at the pace you are striving to achieve or faster.  I'll use the indoor track at Grinnell as an example we are all familiar with: Start with running the straights (55s) at the pace you need to achieve your goal, and walk or jog the curves.  Work up to running longer distances at that faster pace and increasing the speed at which you run your "off" intervals.
4. You'll need to run more than a mile sometimes in order to get your mile time down.  You shouldn't need to go much more over 5 miles, and anything you can do will help.  
5. Make sure to keep track of your progress (actively time your mile every once and while to see how much harder you need to work), but don't get frustrated by little differences.  I know I personally vary a tremendous amount in my mile time, and this can be caused by hydration, sleep, the air quality, temperature, etc.  

Missing from this post that other people should contribute: 

• Is there a good schedule people have used to improve their mile (ex: the rotation between "long" days, "short" days, "on" days,  and "off" days?)
• Any suggestions for doing useful intervals without a great way to measure distance (for people who are just running outside)?
• Any more specific interval suggestions besides "do them"?  ex: Are 400s more useful than 800s, etc.

Love, love, love!

Paigey