I’m not going to lie. When I hear the term “speed training,” I throw up in my mouth just a little. I haven’t been a fast runner in a few years, and the competition aspect of running has never been a good mindset for me to be in. The last few years, I’ve been focusing on distance because you can always use double digit miles as an excuse for it taking forever. However, something had to change. I needed to challenge myself in another way again, and not for anyone else but just for me, to see what I could do again. I have all my clients work with tempo and speed play, so it was time for me to put the sneaker to the track LEGIT again.
I found a great opportunity with Under Armour. Under Armour has never let me down, with great clothes and challenges and my personal favorite celeb associated with them, Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson. Can you hear me Mr. Johnson? I loooovvveee yooouuu. Okay, that’s out of the way. Awkward. Moving on. Anyway, UA is hosting this great challenge called the UA All Out Mile Challenge. It’s just a mile. Most anyone can run a mile. That’s honestly the best part of the challenge, because anyone can try. But it’s “just” a mile where you’re going to push yourself to be your best over an entire month.
Here’s how it works. Participants sign up for this challenge and they link their MapMyRun profile to FitRankings. From there, you’ll find a time between 8/30 and 9/5 to run a true 1-mile benchmark effort. You want to run your hardest to see what you’ve got and it will be over before you know it. It’s a great chance to gauge your current fitness level and to set a goal for your UA All Out Mile, which I’m getting to in two paragraphs.
After you’ve completed your best mile by September 5th, you have until the end of September to work on improving that mile time. This is your training month and you’ll get a full training calendar and weekly workouts and videos from UA athletes and UA Human Performance to motivate you and make you stronger. This is the point where you’ll be hearing your real human-life soundtrack going through your head.. Think “Eye of The Tiger” or something equally motivating. The goal during this timeframe is to prepare.
Lastly, it’s time to pound the pavement and get real. October 1st thru the 11th will be your window of time to push for your fastest mile and to see how much you’ve improved in a month. Here’s where you can compete against athletes around the world and you’ll see where you land in comparison. Or if that makes you get too in your head, it’s just you competing with the you from a month ago. “Just” a party of one, but the most important one on the track that day.
Okay, not that you know about the UA All Out Mile, here’s where I’m at. I just ran my benchmark mile and it was harder than I thought. It’s not that it’s a hard distance. I already made it clear above that most people could probably run or walk a mile without too much trouble. But here’s the thing .. it’s short and it’s easy to get all pumped up, but it’s just long enough to get you into trouble if you don’t pace correctly. It’s still 4 laps around a track. Not 1, not 2, but 4. That’s enough to throw up after you stop. That’s enough to pass out while you’re doing it. I mean, ANYTHING can happen in a mile.
So I did it. I walked a bit, did a few warm up laps around the track and then I went for it. At one time, I could run a mile in 6:22, but those days are LONG gone. For this challenge, I ran an 8:12. I could have probably run a little faster, but I’m easing in. Meb Keflezighi once said you should leave something on the track, and that’s what I did. It was still hard.
Next comes the training. Stay tuned..
Details:
What: 2021 UA All Out Mile Challenge
When: Aug 30th thru October 11th, 2021
Where: Anywhere you can run a mile!!
Cost: Free
Register: Here
