Magic Mile

Why the Magic Mile?

After working with over 300,000 runners over 40 years, I’ve compiled hundreds of performances and established a prediction formula based on a one-mile trial. In other words, every two weeks or so, you can run a measured mile (at a good, hard pace) and use the time to predict what you could run at longer distances.

This assumes that:

The calculation uses the formula below.

• Add 33 seconds to your magic mile for your pace for a 5K
• Multiply your magic mile time by 1.15 for your 10K pace
• Multiply your magic mile time by 1.175 for your 10 Mile pace
• Multiply your magic mile time by 1.2 for your half-marathon pace
• Multiply your magic mile time by 1.3 for your marathon pace

Here’s how to do the one-mile time trial:

1. Warm up with a slow one-mile run
2. Do a few acceleration gliders.
3. Pace yourself as even as possible on each quarter mile.
4. Run about as hard as you could run for one mile–but no puking! (finish feeling that you couldn’t have run more than a football field at the same pace)
5. Keep walking after the time trial for 5 minutes, and jog a slow 1-6 miles, as needed for the mileage for that day.

Recommended Run-Walk-Run Strategies

Pace/mi Run Walk

7:00 6 min 30 sec (or run a mile/walk 40 seconds)
7:30 5 min 30 sec
8:00 4 min 30 sec (or 2/15)
8:30 3 min 30 sec (or 2/20)
9:00 2 min 30 sec or 80/20
9:30-10:45 90/30 or 60/20 or 45/15 or 60/30 or 40/20
10:45-12:15 60/30 or 40/20 or 30/15 or 30/30 or 20/20
12:15-14:30 30/30 or 20/20 or 15/15
14:30-15:45 15/30
15:45-17:00 10/30
17:00-18:30 8/30 or 5/25 or 10/30
18:30-20:00 5/30 or 5/25 or 4/30

Pace/km Run Walk

4:30/km 5 min 30 sec
5 min/km 4 min 30 sec
5:30/km 2 min 30 sec
6 min/km 90 sec 30 sec
6:30/km 75 sec 30 sec
7 min/km 60 sec 30 sec
8 min/km 30 sec 30 sec
9 min/km 20 sec 30 sec
10 min/km 15 sec 30 sec
11 min/km 10 sec 30 sec

Should I Use Walk Breaks During the Magic Mile?

Great question—and the answer is yes, you can… but with a purpose.

If using walk breaks will help you achieve a faster overall mile time, then we absolutely want you to use them. The goal of the Magic Mile is performance—not forcing yourself to run continuously if it slows you down.

That said, the Magic Mile is designed to give you a snapshot of what you’re capable of when you step slightly outside your comfort zone. Because of that, if you choose to use walk breaks, we recommend adjusting them from your normal training ratio.

Here are a few options we commonly suggest:

Think of this as a chance to safely push your limits for a short distance and discover what’s possible.

And one more important rule…

No puking.