“To quote Running Times magazine: ‘Sixty years after Roger Bannister first broke 4 minute mile, the barrier remains a landmark achievement for runners.’ GO FOR IT…”—email from my Dad.
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I stuck with what has become my routine today and ran at the gym before picking up my daughter. I’m probably not stretching as much as I should be, both before and after I run, but the pain has been minimal. I decided to switch things up today and watch Netflix on my phone while I ran instead of listening to music, so I started watching “Prefontaine” with Jared Leto (again, he starred in the movie, he wasn’t watching while running on the treadmill next to me), a biopic of the collegiate runner Steve Prefontaine. However, I quickly realized that it is really hard to watch something on an iPhone while running because my head wasn’t steady so it looked like the picture was jumping up and down, so it was back to Spotify. Thankfully, my wife wasn’t listening to Adele.
Ha ha, joke’s on YOU Brian, I can already do a mile in under four minutes in my car, and I’m pretty sure I can do it on a bike (or at least get close.) Write lyrics and music, record it and I’ll run to it.
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I started my run with the treadmill at a 2.0 incline and increased it to a 3.0 incline at two tenths of a mile. I stuck with the 3.0 incline until I had run six tenths of a mile and then set it back to a 2.0 until I hit eight tenths of a mile. I ran the last two tenths with no incline and then continued on for about another quarter of a mile. I’ve notice two things in the short time I’ve been running with speed (again, speed being a relative term):
1. I’m definitely getting used to the distance and to running it as opposed to jogging it; and
2. What was I thinking? I don’t know how in the world I’m ever going to get my time down to the four minute realm.
Before I ran today, I asked Facebook for song suggestions. Specifically, I wrote “I’m looking for suggestions for loud, fast rock songs to run to. Go.”
I received a lot of suggestions, so I’ll need to sift through them. I listened to some of them and dismissed a few out of hand (Sorry Mike, no Five Finger Death Punch for me. And Adam, Blinding Light Show by Triumph is too slow and sounds too much like Pink Floyd). One friend from college wrote “I will write you a song goes something like ‘I will never break 4-minutes except by car or bike.’”
Ha ha, joke’s on YOU Brian, I can already do a mile in under four minutes in my car, and I’m pretty sure I can do it on a bike (or at least get close.) Write lyrics and music, record it and I’ll run to it. Hell, it might even motivate me to train harder and break the four minute mile. I mean, maybe not as much as the offer one of our friend Jen made tonight when we were waiting to get our kids from school: “You break a four minute mile,” she said, “and I’ll buy you a six pack of beer.”
Now THAT’s motivation.
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Picture: Getty Images