Run Your Fastest Mile

If you want to run your fastest mile on the treadmill, my advice is to run 3 miles.

Your fastest mile will be the second mile of these three. You'll be sandwiching your fastest mile in between two slow ones.

I was never a very fast runner, but using this method, I bested my own mile time by about 14 seconds.

If you just hop on the treadmill and go as fast as you can out of nowhere, it's going to be difficult to do your best time. Even with a few minute warm up, I don't find the body is really ready to take on the high speed yet. A good slow mile will prepare your body for what lies ahead. You need to work out the kinks! You will get your blood moving, your heart rate up gradually, and your body better prepared for the taxing fast mile.

Another reason this method works well is because you already have your miles per hour up. So when it's time to run that second mile, you won't waste precious seconds pressing the speed button to get up to a fast mph. You lose a lot of seconds pressing that button when you just run a fast one first thing. With this method, your speed is already up, so you won't waste as much time.

When you're finished your fastest mile, I recommend running one more mile slow. The fastest mile is so taxing on your body that it's best to cool it down sufficiently afterwards.

Consider the first mile a warm up, the second mile your sprint speed, and the third mile as a cool down.

Let me know your fastest times!

D

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