My magic mile

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I started week 05 of the 100 pushups challenge yesterday.  Week 05 is a bit of a massive jump up from week 04.  For day 01 I was required to do 40, 32, 30, 25 and a max set (min 40).  Well I managed the first 40 but that was the only ray of sunshine in this workout.  I did another 20, then another ten then though Bugger this and went off to do my run.  I did a comfortable 5K in about 26 minutes.

Today I wanted to do another 5K run as I’m planning on doing 8 on the 8th tomorrow.  However, I was reading a post by David over at Running because I can where he was talking about running a mile as fast as you can and then I read another post that directed me to Jeff Galloway’s Race Prediction Calculator.  (Apologies to whomever it was.  I just can’t remember.  Leave me a comment and I’ll link to you.) This calculator predicts your HM time based on how fast you can run a mile.

Anyways, as you probably guessed by now I decided to see how fast I could run a mile today.  I did a kilometer at 10 minutes a mile pace just to warm up then I ran as fast as I could for a mile.  I did it in 6:45 which is faster than I thought I could do.  Now I only need to knock off 2:45 and I’ll be seriously fast!

When I plug my time into Jeff Galloway’s Race Prediction Calculator that predicts a half marathon time of 1:46:07 which I personally think is rather unrealistic.  That’s an 8:06 min/mile pace and I’m not too sure I could maintain that.   Just for comparison purposes I also plugged my time into the McMillan running calculator and it gives me 1:48:05.  So maybe a sub 2 hour half is not that far fetched.  Food for thought anyway.

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16 Responses to “My magic mile”

  1. 6:45 for a mile is terrific! Good for you.

    Week 5 sounds like yuck.

    Felices last blog post..Day 1 of Week 4, Day 3. Huh?

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  2. Sounds like your doing really well with your running. I think that your predicted times are probebly within your reach, just set your sites high!

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  3. You are selling yourself short - you will kill a 1:45 HM in the very near future. As I’ve said before, if I can at my age, you surely can!

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    AndrewENo Gravatar reply on August 8th, 2008 11:37 am:

    I hope so!

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  4. sounds like a fast mile to me :) I am finishing week 4 of the push up challenge……..nervous about week 5 but I love how much stronger I feel……so empowering!

    Annettes last blog post..Leaving Today for the Country Life

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  5. 6:45 a mile, I’m jealous! Me so slow!

    Kates last blog post..

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  6. You are doing fantastic! A positive attitude is contagious! Great job! :)

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  7. I don’t think that sounds unrealistic at all. I think you could do a half in the predicted time. You are a speed demon!

    Carlys last blog post..20 Minutes

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  8. That’s fast! Lightning fast! Blurry fast! Congrats!

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  9. A sub-7 mile is GREAT!! High-five!!!

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  10. That week 5 got me too! it’s a tough one! Great job on the run!

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  11. Thanks for linking to me. I have found that those racing calculators can be quite intimidating. An all-out mile or something close to that in no way reflects what you could do for a half-marathon. A 5k or 10k time is a better judge of that.

    Davids last blog post..8 on 8th in 2008

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  12. Just had a look at your HM prediction using Jack Daniels Running Formula (http://www.amazon.co.uk/Daniels-Running-Formula-Jack/dp/0736054928) (also see http://www.runbayou.com/jackd.htm for an online calculator) based on your mile time and he predicts 1:42:17 to 1:46:27.

    I’m still at the outer limits of his method, but would put a fair bit of faith into his approach.

    Also, regarding David’s comment about the mile not really representing what you can do in a HM, I would disagree. Most of these approaches work by assuming that your working at a given % of your maximum for a given distance and then solving for whatever distance you are interested.

    Lets say for example that 1 mile pace all out represents going at 95% of your max (lets say 100m sprint) and that HM represents 75%. Naively, 6m 45s * 95 / 65 = HM pace per mile * 13.1 miles = 112 mins = 1hr 52 mins. Now considering I plucked these figures completely out of the air, I still hope that this give some credence to their methods.

    Chriss last blog post..Weight Milestone: 105kg

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  13. Andrew, it is totally posible for you to get in the 1:46 range on the half mary. The times you are reporting are very close to times I have accomplished in the last 9 months, so it can be done. I’m living proof. And since you are training now, you may improve even more before your next races.

    Keep up the great work!

    Nice Blog … I love the maps!

    Spartan7s last blog post..Everyone Else was Racing

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  14. Andrew, good effort on the push ups. I have let mine wane a little (well, a lot! Steve would be most disappointed.) But doing 40 in one go is a heck of an effort! You gotta be pleased with that.

    How are you feel in strength terms by doing this? I know when I do it I feel good.

    Bill Wallaces last blog post..Day 125 - Solution for Snacking

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    AndrewENo Gravatar reply on August 10th, 2008 6:17 pm:

    I’ve felt quite good doing them but I’ve been having a few days off since failing with week 05 day 01.

    AndrewEs last blog post..The Volcano Challenge Race Report

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