The Mile Distance – how to use it | Running Coach Ireland

The World Championships in athletics are on and today our “Masters of Running” graduates are running their first “Technical Mile Time Trial“, so what better time to have a close look at the mile distance. It is not a distance that get’s much attention in these marathon-days and most of our own clients are not too familiar with it, nor would they feel any inclination to run or race over the distance.

Why is this? Perhaps it is because the distance is associated with “the track” (this was not always so) but more likely the explanation comes from a deep-rooted perception of the mile being the domain of “speedsters” in an era where the ability to endure seems to capture the public imagination more.

We suggest, that the mile continue to serve as a useful training instrument for almost every runner. When run flat-out, the race requires the runner to have developed a skillset delicately balancing endurance and speed. The event is much too long for a sustained sprint but it can also not be mastered on endurance-style training alone. In theory, it’s a perfect meeting ground for runners who favour speed and those who favour steadier work . If evenly matched, both can win depending on the tactics employed and the way the race is run on the day. In other words, using the mile as a training tool is the perfect excuse for not becoming a one-dimensional runner. Mo Farah, who ran 3:28 for the 1500m (to smash Steve Cram’s strong record) only weeks before winning the 10000m world championship, will probably agree…

Old school distances

At the turn of the century, the common distances run where the half mile, 2000 yards, 1 1/4 mile, 1.5 miles, 1 3/4 mile, and 2, 3,4,5, 6, 7,8, 9, 10 and 11 miles as well as the 1 hour record (in 1904 Alfred Shrubb of Great Britain held all but the half and one mile record!). Today, the mile has been displaced by the 1500m (the metric mile) in major championships while it’s other Imperial cousins the 2, 3, 4, 5 and 10 mile hang on grimly as popular distances for club races in Ireland and Britain. While most other distances have faded out of history, the mile remained strong for a very long time but now it’s halcyon days are perhaps behind it.

The Mile has been celebrated in books such as “The Perfect Distance” and “The Golden Mile” and those who mastered it are legends of our sport such as Nurmi, Hägg, Bannister, Landy, Delaney, Elliott, Liqouri, Snell, Jazy, Ryun, Bayi,Walker, Coghlan, Ovett, Coe and current record holder Hicham el Guerrouj (whose time is 3:43.13 – 2:18min/km pace!).

More than any other distance perhaps the mile imprinted celebrated battles into the public consciousness – Bannisters sub-4 minute mile and his “Mile of the Century” against Landy, the Morton Mile of 58 pitting Elliott against Irish Delany, Snell’s demolition of an equally talented field in Santry a few years later and so many other great contests. This is no coincidence – the Mile consists of three stages that match the “Three Act Structure” of any good story: Setup, Confrontation and Resolution. The first 400m is the setup, the middle two laps the confrontation and the final lap serves as the Resolution.

The three acts of the mile

In the mile, unlike the 800m, you have time to break away yet evenly matched runners never get too far out of contact (as they might in a 5000m race) so the psychological battle stays intense until the end in most cases. There is just enough time to recover from errors and plan different moves. Let’s study the three parts:

Act I – 0-440 yards (1st lap): The first lap is often run fast and you have to make a decision whether to stay with the leaders and/or the group at all costs or whether you are happy to allow a small gap to open. Saving energy and staying out of the initial hustle and bustle is the benefit of a conservative start. Runners with strong endurance can usually claw back small deficits by the end of the 2nd lap through a gradual acceleration whereas powerful athletes can force back breaks by throwing in a sustained sprint. Several world record miles saw lethargic first laps followed by very fast subsequent laps so be prepared for everything. Peter Coe summarised the advice for the first lap as “Establish good position and maintain contact”. Remember that “maintaining contact” does not need to mean “on their heels” but simply within your physical and psychological striking distance.
Act II – 440-1320 yards (2nd-3rd lap): The conflict phase of the mile tends to be a passive-aggressive one where runners try to set themselves up for the final lap. Throughout it’s history the mile has often been won by the savvy “waiter” more so than the gallant “front runner” . Because wind resistance becomes a bigger problem the faster you run, it can make a substantial difference in a mile race where paces are very high. To establish a break-away on the 2nd and 3rd lap therefore requires that you have substantially more in the tank than the rest of the field. The steadier you can keep your pace on these laps the more you will have left for the final confrontation. The best opportunity to upset rivals here is to take over and disrupt the rhythm set by runners who are clearly planning for a schedule. Whether they are too slow or too fast. Mo Farah demonstrated this early in the 10000m final on Saturday past – taking a brief lead from the Ethiopians and Kenyans, baiting them into passing him out again (which they did). Don’t underestimate the value of irritating and unnerving your opponents here. The last thing you want is other runners going into the finale thinking “everything is going to plan”.
Act III- first 1320-1760 yards (4th lap): Peter Coe likewise points out three main tactics employed to win the mile race. As distance running has become more and more competitive and differences between athletes smaller, you will generally see the late sprint used by Ovett into the final straight as the most popular. Steve Cram utilised a long surge from 300m to take the sting out of the sprint-monsters. To copy this you need to be in possession of a very long powerful finish and the quickness to get the jump on your rivals early during the last lap. Finally, “Lord Coe” trained himself to accelerate out of other runners surges (whether long or short) and used this technique to latch onto the first attacker, stay in his shadow for as long as possible and then accelerate to victory. He famously employed a “cone drill” to refine this – which we’ll look at in later instalments on the mile.

In 1968 when Bruce Tulloh wrote “Tulloh on Running”, the mile was a different beast with the classical “front-runner” still more common. These runners had a realistic chance of breaking away. Tulloh identified the crucial point as being between 2.5 and 3.5 laps. Keep the gap open during that window and a front-runner would often hold on to win. When you first begin running the mile hard and fast, you will likely not be able to exert a lot of these options and your best option is to simply stay at the right place of your group, keep an even pace and hit for home when the opportunity arises.

When to mile

Racing over the mile distance is best done early in your running career while you’re learning the ropes but it can also be a good “change of scenery” if you came into running late and have only ever done endurance training for long distance events such as the marathon. Because the technical demands of the mile are different, you will be forced to develop a broader skillset and become a more well-rounded runner.

Training specifically for the mile is not compatible with most other race distances (except traditionally the 800m) and if you are training for the marathon, we don’t suggest doing mile-specific training. In such cases the mile serves primarily as a useful distance to conduct time trials over (remember time trials are not all-out, so you do not have to recover from the extreme intensity of a “proper” mile if you use the distance this way).

In Ireland today there are few races left except club races and the Graded Meets in Dublin and some Fit4Life and other leagues organising races of the distance. But most of what is said in this article can be applied to the 1500m – the finale is simply more truncated. Within our training system we use many of the traditional distances to do “technical time trials” as this allows us to assess how well people can maintain proper quality of movement at their best effort over distances. The mile obviously is a favourite of ours as it has history and tradition increasing the fun of doing it and giving runners something to compare against.

One way to support the mile is to setup a “Mzungo Mile” – guerrilla style free events held by like-minded individuals. We’re keen but feel free to beat us to it!