I’m 6’0 250 lbs 13-15% BF. I need to get my mile and a half run time down to 11:58. I’m currently running it in about 13:30. What training methods would you recommend to decrease this time as quickly as possible? I’ve been running about 3 times per week and I started at 16:55. I’m plateaued at my current time, however. I’ve been doing 400m runs with about 2 minutes rest in between and doing time trials pushing myself as hard as I can. Any recommendations for a brick shithouse?
I’m guessing you are preparing for some sort of testing since it’s a 1.5 mile run. I would stay to running 3 days a week. I would vary to intensity of the runs. Make sure you can get the full distance regardless of how long it takes. Watch your diet, prioritize sleep, and keep carbs to running days. I have prepped for a timed 1.5 mile run before. Trust me and don’t lift.
Interval running, first. Do the 1.5 mile. Start by running. When you get too tired, walk. Once you catch your breath, pick an object in the distance and run to it. Walk. Repeat til you’ve hit the 1.5 mile. Beat your time each time.
Besides getting the distance in, which is most important, uphill sprints are great for improving your capacity for fatigue.
I prepped for a 3 mile in boot camp (18:30) and a half marathon after boot camp, while lifting. Lifting within reason will help him build muscle, contribute to a caloric deficit, and strengthen his tendons and supporting muscles. I’m not insulting you, but I wholeheartedly disagree. I DO agree with varying intensity in runs throughout the week.
Learn about strides, you will get far more carryover into a 1.5m race than intervals.
You definitely have some fair points. The main reason I was advising the poster not to lift is that this situation sounds like short notice. I would imagine there are also other aspects to whatever testing the poster has coming up and it would be beneficial to use other days to train those aspects.
2 steady state runs of around 30 mins.
1 interval session based on your target time trial pace. If the target is say 12 mins run 6x400m reps in 2.00 mins each. 200m jog recovery. Then say 4x800m each in 4 mins.
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Agreed with a few steady state runs, I usually went 30-45 seconds slower than goal pace for 4-6 miles when training for a 5k.
1.5 miles is a bit shorter but I think of it like building a base before peaking, similar to a strength phase before peaking. I like 12x400 with 1:00-1:15 rest. And 4x800 for peaking
They suck compared to intervals but they work. Also teaches you how to relax when working hard
Yes I would normally do a greater volume of 400s for 5k type of training than the 6 I suggested.
But I went for the 6 reps as a way of practising his 1.5m race pace which is the specific target for someone who does not consider himself a natural runner. 12 reps at 1.5 mile pace is a bit too many.
That’s a good point, always forget most people aren’t natural runners
I used 2-3 sprint sessions, 1 timed miles, and 1-2 4+ mile steady state jogs a week to train for the 3 mile test in the Corps. I would reduce the distances for the 1.5 mile test. I wasn’t exactly lighting the world on fire, but I was running *7ish minute miles back then.
*Over 3-miles. I could run a 6 minute mile.
I would forget about intervals or “sprinting” since you are only going to need to run at an 8 min per mile pace. You need to get fitter not faster. Run 3 miles several times a week and don’t kill yourself.
I agree sprinting is if little relevance in this 1.5mile situation. Sprinting is primarily anaerobic efforts of less than say 100m with adequate recovery. But Intervals of 400 to 1000m with short recoveries are a staple to increase sustained hard running speed. But need to be combined with longer lower intensity runs.
Ignore body builders metabolic conditioning stuff for a specific middle distance type of event.
I presume this guy is aiming for military type of selection which means he will be doing push ups and all the strength related stuff. He needs most bang for his bucks in 3 runs per week
Mile & half mile intervals at a faster pace than your 1.5m time is what I’d recommend.Plus doing a 2 mile run about once a week should also be useful.
I would agree with using intervals to increase a harder or fast pace but 8 min a mile pace is not that fast.
All things are relative. 8 min pace is ‘fast’ if you are currently running at 9 min speed.
I could run sub 9 mins for 1.5miles in my younger days (fast?) Now I am at about 11.20 speed (slow?) but aged 61. Which is fast and which is slow…
I wouldn’t call 6 min per mile pace fast either. I think interval training is used by some as a way to avoid running longer distances and getting in better shape.
6 min mile pace will put you in something like the top 1-5% of a public 5k pace.
What is your competitive or coaching background in Endurance running. Have you done military selection like some of the other posters here… ? You demonstrate little understanding and provide no serious insights to the original poster.
I ran a 13 min 2 mile run while in the military at the age of 40.
In high school track my best mile time was 4:40. This was not a good enough time to finish last in the state meet. I ran a 10k while still in HS, at the age of 16, in under 40 minutes. Not a great time but I never raced that distance before. After HS I continued running and would do 10 mile runs in under one hour.
In track we didn’t run a couple of miles to prepare for the 1600, 3200, 5000. We would do training runs of 6 miles, sometimes more. In the military I wouldn’t think about distance and just go running for 45 minutes. I would do this about a month before a test. When the PT test was close I would test myself to make sure I was able to run a good time. The only time I would do sprints and intervals was when there wasn’t a test coming up since distance running and lifting are not that compatible.
I’m not sure how this didn’t resonate with me at first, but 6’0 250 at 13% is FUCKING MASSIVE. 218 pounds of LBM at 6 foot. Arnold competed at 235 putting his LBM around 220ish, and he’s 2 inches taller. Safe to say we’re looking at an optimistic estimate here.
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And Arnold wasn’t even trying to run ! I was too polite to say the same thing - I described it as not being a natural runner…
But hey, the original poster has not responded to a single post here so I guess he’s not too ambitious about his goals.
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