This is the 3rd monthly update on my goal to run a 5 minute mile (see post here). I’ll keep track of my training and progress here.
Training
I ran a little less this month as I was busy with real estate (4 closings in September) and life (kids). I joined Planet Fitness because they just opened up in walking distance to me. I’m hoping to go at least twice a week. Aside from that, I’ve been trying to incorporate a little bit of speed into some runs.
Progress
I didn’t make much progress this month. My mile time improved by a second to 6:12. Strava is saying my mile pace was 5:57, but I think the GPS is a little off. As the weather cools even more, I hope to see some faster times.
Here’s my progress for this month. I didn’t take any other splits this month yet other than the mile.
| Date | 400m | 800m | 1 mile (1609m) | 5k | Other | Approximate vdot |
| June 2021 | – | – | 6:36 (baseline) | – | – | 43 |
| July 2021 | 1:11 | – | 6:23 | 24:17 | 1k: 3:50 | 45 |
| August 2021 | – | – | 6:13 | – | – | 46 |
| September 2021 | – | – | 6:12 | – | – | 46 |
Tracking progress by VDOT
Here’s a VDOT table, another way to track running fitness.
As of the end of August 2021, I’m at a VDOT of around 46. I’ll need to get up to a VDOT of 60. I’ve read that, with consistent training, one can expect to increase VDOT by 1 roughly about every 6 weeks. According to this calculation, it will take a minimum of 17×6 weeks, or 102 weeks. That’s about 2 years at a minimum.
Life update
The kids are back in school. I thought real estate would slow down a bit, but it’s busy again. I took 3 weeks of leave from my day job last month to keep up with my real estate work. Luckily, I had some leave saved up, but I’m starting to more seriously consider cutting back even more on my government job.
I’ve begun my last course in the UVA CFP program. This is the Capstone course, where we go over some mini-cases and some comprehensive cases. I’ll be done in December with the coursework. It’s been a long road, so I’m glad to be finishing this up.
I ran the Ragnar Sunset this past weekend. I enjoyed the team aspect of the run (relay) and the ambience of the Ragnar event (music and fun people). I’ve also been playing softball again. I used to be pretty good at softball, but it’s humbling to realize that I’ve aged and am not so good anymore. My reflexes are slower, and I think my night vision isn’t as good.
I’ve heard from a reader that these running posts are boring. Sorry! He said to bring back the money posts. I think, until I have more time, I’ll stick to semi-annual financial updates though.
Oh yea, I celebrated my 36th birthday this month and my 9th anniversary. We tried out Clarity for lunch for our anniversary. The warm, crusty bread and the olive oil were really good there. I thought the food was really good too, but I think I enjoyed it more than my wife.
That’s all for now!