How do I run a fast mile?

How Can I Run Faster? (mile)?

• Hey, I'm a 7th grade girl, and right now I'm at a 6:44 mile. My goal for this summer is to run a lot and increase my stamina so that I can drop a lot of time. Right now, my plan is to run two miles almost every day so that when I run one mile, I have a lot of stamina. Here are some questions I have: -Is it a good idea to run two miles as my workout? or should I focus on running a 400,800, and then a mile? (btw my 400m time is 77 seconds) -Is it possible to drop half a minute or so over the summer if I do the correct running exercises? or is that too much to drop? -Based on personal experience, is it really easy to drop time from middle school to high school? For example, would I be able to run a sub-6:00 mile in high school? -Also, if it's possible to find this info, were the world-champion milers today born with natural speed? Like, did they run super fast miles as kids my age? Or did they train hard to earn success? Thanks SO MUCH:) I'm really developing a passion for track and I want to be the best that I can be at the mile!

• Answer:

  First of all, your time is pretty good for a seventh grader not putting in many miles. Increase your mileage will help a ton, especially if you never have really trained for the mile before now. Once a week, put in a four or five mile run for distance. Work in some 400-800-1600 workouts and the rest do the 2 miles. Its not the ideal training plan but it will be great for starters. As for me, I ran a 5:55 mile in seventh grade. By the time I got to sophomore year, I was running a 5:00 mile, and now even lower. You'll drop time even if you didn't train to much every year as your body matures. And as for world champions, I know an ex-Olympian named Marcus O'Sullivan. He ran for Ireland in four Olympics and ran a sub 4:00 mile over 100 times (Only 2 other guys have). In middle school, he was the slowest kid in gym class. In high school, he didn't even make the cross country team. He simply trained hard to get where he got, with little natural talent.