How to Race a Road Mile

Thinking about running the Virtual New Balance 5th Avenue Mile Powered by Strava, or already signed up to run your mile anytime, anywhere from September 4 to 13? NYRR coach Annick Lamar shares tips on how to have a great race.

Learn more about NYRR Volvo Virtual Racing, use Strava to map your course and record your virtual race, and stay tuned for more inspiration.

In a running community filled with marathoners, I am a miler. I am impressed with the 26.2-mile challenge, but it is the one-mile race that excites me. Those who have raced a road mile can tell you it is incredibly difficult—and often painful—to reach top speed and is for those exact reasons that I love to challenge myself by racing it.

As a professional runner who has raced in the USATF 1 Mile Road Championships, I enjoy racing more than training. Because a runner can quickly recover from a shorter distance race, I can race multiple times a month. As a coach, I love to have my marathoners race the mile, as it helps them increase their speed and strengthen their running form.

Like any distance, racing a mile well requires practice, along with advance planning of your race strategy. It does not matter if you’ve ever run a road mile before! Knowing just a few key things about race strategy can help you plan how to expend your energy accordingly. Even if you are racing against only yourself or your previous best time—as most of us are in these times of socially distant running—these racing strategies can make your road mile faster and more fun.

Find Your Splits

Every race can be broken into four parts. Conceptualizing a race in four parts allows you to focus on a different goal for each part. For the mile, these four parts are each a quarter of a mile, which is very close to 400 meters or one lap around a standard running track.

To determine your goal times for each quarter of a mile, known as your quarter-mile splits, take your goal mile time and divide it by four. For example, if my goal is to run a 10-minute mile, I know I should target 2 minutes and 30 seconds for each quarter mile. To ensure you run an even race and expend energy efficiently, target a 2:30 split by checking your watch after each quarter mile to see if you are on pace.

First Quarter Mile: Keep Your Cool

For your first quarter mile, you want to avoid the most common error of starting the race too fast. Take off the start line strong and confident, but controlled. No mile road race was ever won in the first 400 meters, but many were lost by runners burning out too early.

Second Quarter Mile: Settle In

Coaches will often yell to their runners, “Settle in!” during a race, which roughly translates to “Get comfortable being uncomfortable and find a strong pace.” If you paced your first quarter mile correctly, this second quarter mile is where you will start to feel uncomfortable. As the discomfort of moving at a fast speed starts knocking on your door, try and tune it out by focusing on form and getting to the halfway point on pace.

Third Quarter Mile: Stay Strong

Congrats! You’ve just passed halfway and you’re on pace. That’s the good news. The not-so-good news is you have halfway to go. It is this third quarter of a mile that earns the mile its tough reputation and has runners gasping “Never again!” at the finish line. The pain that was quietly knocking on your door a few minutes ago is now threatening to smash it down. The best milers are more than physically strong, they’re also mentally strong. Ignore the discomfort by fixing your eyes on the horizon and breathing evenly, and be sure to keep up the pace.

Last Quarter Mile: Give It All You’ve Got

You’ve endured a deeply uncomfortable 1200 meters up to this point. As a coach, I tell my runners to view this last part of the race as a gift. Despite the pain and exhaustion, you must channel some excitement for a last burst of speed, known as the kick. Save your kick for the final 60 seconds of your race and see if you can push your effort into top speed. It’s also important to try and maintain your form during this time, even though it will become extremely difficult to do so.

Congrats—you did it! Enjoy that deep sense of accomplishment that comes from executing a race plan and thriving while uncomfortable. We milers don’t love this event because it’s only one mile, we love it because it forces us to push through and achieve while enduring the very real discomfort of running at top speed. A good race strategy can make all the difference between “I can’t believe I did that!” and “Never again!” Be sure to know your splits, start out controlled, and give it all you’ve got into the finish.