I was reading some articles online about running and came across an article on Runner’s World HERE that talked about a Magic Mile… What in the world is that?! and … why is it so magical?! Of course I was intrigued and opened the article to read more…
Apparently, you can run a mile, as fast as you can and predict your race finishing times and find out what paces you should be training at. According to Jeff Galloway anyways… ;) From THIS ARTICLE:
The Magic Mile will help determine:
1. If the goal pace is realistic.
2. How much improvement can be expected, and whether someone is on track to
meet the goal.
3. Running the Magic Mile takes the guesswork out of goal setting. This often
involved putting the reins on the ego, which will talk the person into goals that are
not within their current capabilities.
4. These formulas will allow one to predict race time by running a timed mile.
5. During the training season, the group will run a Magic Mile on a set schedule,
depending on the training goal.
Well now of course I just had to try it… DUH! ;) And if you want to try it too… here are some articles you can read and a video of Jeff Galloway explaining it to you:
Article #1
Article #2
Article #3
Basically, you run a 1 mile warm up and then complete some strides and then run around the track for a mile (4 laps in case you’ve never been to a track before) as fast as you can and time how long it takes you. Afterwards you can run how many ever miles you have left to run that day or a 1 mile cool down, then plug your results into THIS AWESOME TOOL and voila it gives you a list of paces to expect for training and races…
Last night, it was too dark and too late by the time I was able to workout to go to the track, so I decided to try this Magic Mile on the treadmill… even though the articles I had read said that a treadmill was not the best option… I started out with a .60 mile warm up and then ran my first Magic Mile in 8:07. Not what I wanted… but it’s a reality check… also I'm blaming the stupid treadmill for needing to slowly increase it’s pace at the beginning ;) lol… Afterwards, I did some weights and for my “cool down” rode the bike for 20 minutes.
Here’s what my results were:
Have you ever run a Magic Mile?
If so, do you think the results are pretty accurate?
Do you think this is a training must? Why or Why not?
If you haven’t, do you want to now? You know you do… it’s magical! ;)
