(On Running) #12 Sub-5:00 Mile?
Throughout the summer, I have been attending Sugarloaf Mountain Athletic Club's summer track workouts at the UMass Amherst track complex. These coach-led sessions have served as my weekly workout in my Baystate Marathon training plan. Undoubtedly, keeping pace with a group of "fast" runners has built my confidence that I could run short distances competitively.
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| Sunrise at the UMass track |
Unlike many of the "fast" runners I have met, I didn't run XC or track in high school/college. I enjoyed running on the soccer field far more than running on trails or in ovals repeatedley. I didn't understand or respect the sport of running for what it was.
I have since discovered that running is one of the hardest sports both physically and mentally. There are times when my whole body is begging me to stop, to satiate my emptying glycogen reserves, and all I can do is keep going. Keep going, or I won't meet my goal. Keep going, or I will fail. The responsibility lies entirely with me.
Oftentimes, my self-talk determines my outcome; especially at shorter distances. There are exceptions; it seems that running with a group unlocks untapped speed, a communal adrenaline of sorts. But, when I run alone, all I can do is repeat keep going, keep going, keep going in between every breath. Because I know if I don't will myself forward, nobody else will.
This Wednesday, I committed to doing my first ever mile time trial. After what I thought was the final track workout of the summer (I recently learned they will continue until the end of August), I knew I wanted to test my speed. Had my summer speed training been paying off?
I arrived to the UMass Amherst track early, around 5:50 AM. I went through the full pre-track workout routine: a 1.5 mile warm up, stretches, a 800m tempo, and strides. Then, as I stepped to the line, my rational brain pleaded for me to see reason. Nobody was making me do this. I didn't have to run an all out mile—to feel the burning in my lungs, the aching in my hamstrings, the barrage of self-doubt with every step. But, I had determined that I must run a sub 5:00 mile; and so, I must.
Prior to this, I had thought running even a sub 6:00 mile was immensely impressive. I remember the first time I recorded a sub 6:00; in a March 2025 5K a few months before I started running consistently. I ran on pure adrenaline, and remember being overjoyed when I saw my Mile 1 split. But, when I realized I still had 2.1 miles to go, I blew up and ended up finishing around 21:00.
Now, I consistently split three-sub 6:00 miles in 5Ks, with a PR of 17:28. Still, I knew the difference between even a second or two was immense in short-distance racing. To go sub 5:00 would mean giving everything I had to give.
As I stared down the starting line, I thought of all the runs that had come before this. Through the pouring rain, blizzards, sweltering heat; giving one last push at the end of an interval workout; the mindless miles at 5 AM before my brain was even awake. My training had prepared me for this. All I needed to do was believe.
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| Start line, UMass Amherst track |
With that, my brain jolted my body forward, and I took off. The first 100m were breathless, my legs surging powerfully forward, my arms locked into a pendulum-like rhythm. I looked down at my watch and saw Pace: 4:45/mile. I could do this, if I could maintain this pace. For the first lap, I checked my watch every 100m. I sustained 4:45/mile pace throughout.
3 laps to go. For a moment, I thought I could sustain or even speed up, but that notion evaporated quickly. Lap 2 resulted in a steady, subtle decline in pace, and I came in at the 800m mark around 4:52/mile pace.
Two weeks prior, I completed a 3 x 3 mile long run track workout. Each mile (4 laps) got progressively faster. During this workout, I developed a strategy; if pace began slipping in Lap 2, then I would pick it back up in Lap 3. This system worked well, as adrenaline usually carried me through Lap 4.
I learned, however, that the all-out mile is a whole different beast. I tried to pick it up on Lap 3, but "picking up" resulted in me slipping to 4:59/mile. My goal was within reach yet slipping away all the same. In a normal workout, this would be the moment when I would be prone to giving up on myself, that I begin to believe my goal wasn't achievable.
But I hadn't trained this hard to not reach my goal.
After my pace slipped further to 5:00/mile, I gave everything I had to speed back up. Just one more lap. Keep going, keep going, keep going. I could do this. I will do this. I won't back down, I won't give up now. It was so close. All I had to do was...
Keep going. And I did, until I was staring down the last 100m, my lungs burning, breath heaving, legs cramping. I could picture crossing the finish line now, every stride momentous. I gave one last push, everything I had left, and then it was over. Immediately, I checked my watch: 4:57.9.
I couldn't believe it. I had done it. A sub 5:00/mile.
A little over a year ago, I wouldn't have believed that this was possible. Running has shown me that I can achieve anything I set my mind to. All it takes is consistency, discipline, and focus: three things I now carry with me into all areas of my life.
Week 9: Training Summary (Baystate 2026)
55.62 miles | 6h 59 min workout | 1,788 ft elevation
(E) = Easy | (W) = Workout | (L) = Long
Monday (E): 5.06 miles | 7:40/mi | 351 ft elevation gain | 6:26 AM
This was a run I simply had to do. It was less mileage than I intended, but the goal was to get any run done in the morning. I have found that doing something is always better than doing nothing at all.
Tuesday (E): 7.00 miles | 7:30/mi | 341 ft elevation gain | 6:14 AM
Again, I simply had to do it, although less than intended. Importantly, I could feel my routine shifting back to the status quo, which had been disrupted while on vacation in Acadia last week (and honestly for multiple weeks prior).
Wednesday (W): Mile Time Trial | ~5 miles | 6:01 AM
Ran 2.0 miles total for the warm up.
Mile time trial = 4:57.9 (Personal Record, and first attempt)
2 mile cooldown.
Thursday (E): 7.55 miles | 7:31/mi | 397 ft elevation gain | 6:09 AM
At this point, I had completed a morning run four days in a row. The wake up felt easy, and the run felt natural.
Thursday (E): 5.02 miles | 8:09/mi | 125 ft elevation gain | 6:36 PM
My first double in a while. I needed to recuperate the mileage I had lost earlier in the week. Ran at the local Marathon Sports run club.
I also played basketball for over an hour after work at a high intensity. By the end of this run, I felt nauseous for the first time after a run. To think, I had planned to run even further after the group run had finished!
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