my friend thinks u. bolt could run a sub-4:30 mile

3200guy wrote:

I wonder could he break Michael Johnsons's 30.85 300m world record right now doing nothing different in his training? I think he could do it fairly easily.

29.99

oh that's just crap.

I guess i wished i believe that a 4.30 mile was such an impossible goal but i don't I don't think an average high school runners time should be put on up a pedestal its still 4.30. A world class athlete could easily run that with light and or very little training.

Shaq is a world class athlete. Can he run 4:30? Ever?

You people are very very stupid.

4:30 is also not an "average" high school time....

Old stats but:

Less than 550 high schoolers ran sub 4:30 in 1996

http://www.cs.uml.edu/~phoffman/nats/topb16.htm

1999, barely 930:

http://www.cs.uml.edu/~phoffman/nats99/topb16.htm

Just because you are a world class athlete in one thing does not mean you can even be mediocre at something else. Your body doesn't work like that.

If Bolt went out and did 4:30, would everyone go incredible range even better than Geb! he is truly a legend now. Ummm no.

Sprinters, especially 1/4 milers are runners. Usain bolt is one of the best 1/4 milers in the world. Shaq is among the worst conditioned basketball players. How can you compare him to Usain Bolt. How many of the 550 high schoolers ran 45 seconds for 400m?

843 in the morning wrote:

We had a 48.3/1:52 guy come out for xc one year. In preparation he'd been running about 35mpw. He ran one mile all out his first day just to see where he was at and he ran 4:58. If you think a 100/200m guy could run under 4:30 without any specific training, you're crazy. Completely different energy systems.

That guy probably ran most of those 35mpw SLOWLY. If a 400m/800m guy starts running a lot of slow miles, he's going to get SLOWER. If he had run that mile while still training for the shorter races, he would've likely broken 4:30, and Bolt probably could as well. And the energy systems are not COMPLETELY different. Anaerobic AND aerobic energy contributes to both distances even though the shorter distance is mostly anaerobic.

KUFI wrote:

My argument is that you guys don't give 1/4 milers enough credit for their endurance. To you guys (generalization), if someone isn't putting up huge mileage then they can't run fast times in distances over 800m. Now i'm not sure what Bolt/Wariner/Merritt's training methods are. But i'd put my paycheck on all of those guys going under 4:30.

But Bolt is not a quarter-miler. He's a sprinter, a 100/200 guy. Yes, he can still run 45, but that's all that special in and of itself. It's only impressive when you consider that the 400 is not his specialty. A good comparison would be Geb in the 1500. I think his PR is 3:32, which is nothing spectacular in that event, but considering he was a 5l/10k guy at the time, it was a great time.

So, because Bolt is not a 400m guy, and because his "endurance" obviously dips as he goes from 200m to 400m, it is not at all a given he can run a 4:30 mile. True 400m runners don't have huge dropoffs in their performances from 200m to 400m because they have the endurance necessary for the event. Bolt does not. Or at least he has not displayed it because he has not trained for it. It's certainly possible he could run a 4:30 mile, but it's far from a given.

It would be close, but I think he can do it.

400 - 45/lap

800 - 56/lap (+11 seconds)

mile - 67/lap (+11 seconds)

If he can run 1:52 in an evenly paced 800, then he could probably carry over to 4:30 for the mile.

Your friend is a retard, a sprinter who uses fast twitch muscles could not possibly run under a 4:30 mile. I already had this arguement with a stoner in my school who said that usain bolt could beat my mile time of 4:42.

Jonathan Eastwood wrote:

Your friend is a retard, a sprinter who uses fast twitch muscles could not possibly run under a 4:30 mile. I already had this arguement with a stoner in my school who said that usain bolt could beat my mile time of 4:42.

I'll forgive you for bumping this old thread, but 4:42 is not even a good mile time. Think about it: people run that fast for TWENTY SIX MILES WITHOUT STOPPING.

Bolt being a great athlete and a soccer player, I'm sure he could run 4:42 with no problem. 4:30 also. Probably not right away, but with 2-3 months definitely.

Flojo was the world's best 100 meter sprinter ever (still has the world record, even in death) and switched to distance. She ran some 5K road races in 21+ minutes. And she trained. She's not as fast as Bolt, but it is a pretty good comparison. I don't know what her mile time was with the 21+ minute 5K but it obviously wasn't very good.A lot of people have already said this, but it really is about your muscle fiber type. Sprinters can transition into distance runners but they will not be a shadow of themselves as distance runners. I know a few guys that were able to transition from 400/800 meters to mile and 5K relatively well, but these are rare. Others guys could make the switch to distance but weren't as good as they were at sprinting. This hurdler friend was one of the best in the state and switched to distance and was a sub 18 5K guy, which is good considering he only did cross country for a year.4:30 is pretty good for a HS runner. At our large school which did pretty well at states, we would have one guy run 4:30 and then the second and third guys be at low 4:50s and high 4:50s. At some smaller schools, a 4:50 or so mile is actually the fastest in the school.I think Bolt could do about a 5:30 if he had like a month to just run some miles. Its not that we distance dweebs are arrogant; its actually the opposite. We are humbled by how difficult running is and how a lot of it is just God-given talent for certain events/distances.

KUFI wrote:

Sprinters, especially 1/4 milers are runners. Usain bolt is one of the best 1/4 milers in the world. Shaq is among the worst conditioned basketball players. How can you compare him to Usain Bolt. How many of the 550 high schoolers ran 45 seconds for 400m?

*will be a shadow of themselves

KUFI wrote:

No you wouldn't. Bolt is also a 45 low 1/4 miler. Not too many of the 100/200 guys can say that. Basically that means that he can stride a 60 second 1/4. Even accounting for any psychological difficulties 4:30 is definitely within the realm of possibilities.

Now I know as distance runners you guys think that your events are the holy grail and lowly sprinters cannot hope to achieve it. But, I ran a 4:46 1500 on my first attempt while out of shape. I was a d3 1/4 miler with nowhere near Bolt's speed. 4:30 is possible.

Yes, we are distance guys. Does that mean we think every 2:05 marathoner can break 11 (or even 12) for the 100m after all high school runners can do that! No, you just don't know what you are talking about

somebody that talented definitely could run 4:30 with maybe 15-20 miles a week easy. i ran 4:55 in 8th grade with basketball and football being my only training. the fastest sprinter in the world definitely could run close to 4:30 pretty easily, especially usain bolt, because he isnt a huge hulk of a man like walter dix.

The fastest sprinter could not "definitely" do it. Why did Flojo suck at distance? Answer: genetics. Bolt may or may not be able to, but most likely would not be able to.Why do all letsrun people (well, almost all) think that every professional athlete could do a 4:30 mile? "Nadal grunts for 6 hours in a game, he could do that!""Those b-ballers have so much endurance, they could easily run a sub 4:30!"Etc, etc,

heres the deal yo wrote:

somebody that talented definitely could run 4:30 with maybe 15-20 miles a week easy. i ran 4:55 in 8th grade with basketball and football being my only training. the fastest sprinter in the world definitely could run close to 4:30 pretty easily, especially usain bolt, because he isnt a huge hulk of a man like walter dix.

There is absolutely no way.

Bolt would be really lucky to run 5:30 for a mile.

Just like Rupp would be really lucky to run 13 seconds for a block-start 100m, Bolt would suck at the mile.

Yo Geez,

I have a skinny distance runner on my team who could barely break 55 sec in 400 last year. We're talking skeletor skinny, 6'1" 145.

In 3 weeks of some sprint training to improve his speed we got him down from 13.5 standing in the 100 to 11.9 in blocks.

He ran 52 in the 4 the same day and went on to pr in the 800, 1600, and 3200 that season.

I would ruppstimate rupp could probably hit 11.2-11.5 in blocks.

I would also say that men can sprint even off distance training if full distance composition, within 15% of the fastest elite times for men if they are putting in the effort.

For 10.00 thats 11.5. Geb, Bekele, Lagat, Rupp all could hit that easily given 1 week of sprint form work and block work and some starts.

But virtually no 10.00 100m sprinters could even come within 30% of a 3:50 mile.

That tells you what the human body was designed to do, run long distances. Now not everyone is designed to run far, or has the mental fortitude, but we evolved to run marathons, not sprints. Thats why distance runners can easily come within 15% of the best sprints, but sprinters can't even come within 30% of the best distance times.