Fast Mile Summer WEek 3 recap

Last week was the third week of the Fast Mile Summer. We had two workouts similar to the week before - one session of short 100m runs and one session of slightly longer, but still short, 200m runs with a 200m recovery.

Workout 1

I did the 100m workout on the hill in my neighborhood like I did the week before. I couldn’t believe how much faster I felt. I was about 2-3 seconds faster on each rep and felt great. On week 1, I needed to hold back on these because I was nervous about really hammering up the hill - it’s just not an intensity I’m used to, and therefore the classic way to pull a hammy. That concern wasn’t there on week 3. I focused on stay tall up the hill and not letting my gaze drop down to my feet or the road.

I kept thinking, I need to slow down, these are too fast. But every rep went the same, I felt like I tried to run slower and would just equally as fast. I think that’s a good problem.

Workout 2

For the 200m day I headed back to the track. I ran the 200’s several seconds faster than the week before, even though I had to slow down my recovery jog a bit. I think that was the right trade off as this workout felt awesome, and I felt really strong. My main focus in this workout was to find a good breathing rhythm. A pattern I could settle into when running hard. I was taking a breath—full inhale/exhale— about every 3-4 steps on the hard 200s, and that felt pretty good. Managing my breathing during the fast mile will play a critical role.

Week 4 plan

This week is race week for me, Loon Mountain Race on Sunday.

My plan is to do week 4 but to change the order. I’m going to do the 400m workout today and the 300/200/100 workout on Thursday as a shakeout before the run. I like the breakdown-style workout the week of a race, and tried it (with 600/400/200) the week of Mount Washington so we’re going to try something similar this week.

If you’re on the fast mile plan be sure to let me know how it’s going this week!

—Justin Miner

@justinminergain