Ultramarathoners' mile time

I ran a 3:55 1500m once in college during 10km training....got my butt kicked, but it was fun

of course i'm pretty slow though...

I believe Rob Krar (who just won Western States 100-miler) ran about 3:44 for 1500m and 1:50ish for 800m.

the ultramate question wrote:

How fast could the top ultramarathoners do a single mile time-trial?

I watched Unbreakable the other day and afterwards I talked over this question with some friends. We eventually settled on about 4:40.

It seems like Sage´s answers spoiled all your ultra bashing fun.

Yeah, Max King is a 4:40 guy. I completed two 100s, about 8 50s and a bunch of 50ks when I was doing ultras. Two weeks after my first 100 I did a 4:37 mile. So I know the good ultra runners can manage a simple 4:40.

I was in Chamonix this last week as a rep for Salomon during the Chamonix marathon/80k. I saw 3 top professional UM's do 3x 4000m together on the track at the Chamonix Sports Centre (they were not racing the weekend). The last was done in 11.50 for the best one. Remember that this is also at high elevation (it was also very hot). Perhaps you can extrapolate from there?

S. Canaday wrote:

of course i'm pretty slow though...

I believe Rob Krar (who just won Western States 100-miler) ran about 3:44 for 1500m and 1:50ish for 800m.

Did he run those times in the same season as the 100-miler? OP didn't specify a timeframe.

pat smyth won and set the CR at the way too cool 50k and ran a 63:xx half last weekend. i think he could run just a bit faster than 4:40!

I wasn't bashing ultra runners.

I was specifically talking about when you are in a ultra training block/about to do an ultra.

With so much mileage and little to no real speed work, I was just curious.

I won a few ultras. Mile PR of 4:19 as a 19 year old sophomore.

Depends on what type of ultra one is training for...Hardrock 100-miler requires a lot of powerhiking skill at altitude (very different from running fast on a flat, uniform surface).Smooth runnable trails in the 50km-50-mile range and you're talking about more traditional running mechanics.For sure specific ultra distance and hill/mountain training takes a bit of a toll on flat running economy and Vo2max type of speed/running velocity. For example, I can tell you that it is not easy to get my road marathon speed back very quickly when training for ultra-mountain races (i.e. I've struggled to qualify for the Olympic Trials Marathon 2016 standard and failed a couple times now). You build up muscles in your legs differently when climbing that hurt running economy for the track/roads. Last year about 5 days before speedboat 50km (pretty extreme mountain/skyrunning type of ultra). I did a little tune-up workout of 3 x 1600m on the track and easily coasted sub 5:00 min miles...it didn't feel as easy as it used to in college but I was dialed to run 9-10min mile pace at 10-15% grades at 9,000-12,000 of altitude for 31 miles. I'm pretty confident that any given day of the year I could go to the local hs track in Boulder (at altitude) and at least time-trial a sub 4:30...a sub 4:20 would for sure take specific training and maybe a sea-level track for a runner like me...but then again I'm pretty slow-twitch!

the ultramate question wrote:

I wasn't bashing ultra runners.

I was specifically talking about when you are in a ultra training block/about to do an ultra.

With so much mileage and little to no real speed work, I was just curious.

You should just try doing a time trial at the track . . . it would be cool for us to find out this answer for real.

*typing from my couch*

I'm quite sure Max King could run much master then a 4:40 mile......

jojoji wrote:

Yeah, Max King is a 4:40 guy. I completed two 100s, about 8 50s and a bunch of 50ks when I was doing ultras. Two weeks after my first 100 I did a 4:37 mile. So I know the good ultra runners can manage a simple 4:40.

**faster**

Well, Alex Nichols happened to win the Chamonix 80K, and he ran DII I believe and was a 9:10 3000m Steeplechaser.