How fast can the top marathoners run a mile?

Probably no slower than 3:57.

mile-a-thon wrote:

What kind of mile/1500 time could a guy like Kipchoge, Bekele, Rupp, etc. run during their peak marathon fitness?

You do realize that the runners you mentioned all come from the TRACK!...so they are not JUST marathon runners.

...which means you question does not make sense ....just go look at their 1500 times when they were on the TRACK.

scorpion_runner wrote:

mile-a-thon wrote:

What kind of mile/1500 time could a guy like Kipchoge, Bekele, Rupp, etc. run during their peak marathon fitness?

You do realize that the runners you mentioned all come from the TRACK!...so they are not JUST marathon runners.

They aren't on the track anymore. They are no longer track athletes and can not run their PR anymore. They have lost speed with all their marathon training

Jimmy21 wrote:

scorpion_runner wrote:

You do realize that the runners you mentioned all come from the TRACK!...so they are not JUST marathon runners.

They aren't on the track anymore. They are no longer track athletes and can not run their PR anymore. They have lost speed with all their marathon training

Dude their running 4:30 min miles in some of their mile splits during a marathon race! ...they didn't lose that much speed. ..now imagine if they had to just go out and run a fast mile. It would be close to sub 4.

again, mile splits should answer the question...

scorpion_runner wrote:

Jimmy21 wrote:

They aren't on the track anymore. They are no longer track athletes and can not run their PR anymore. They have lost speed with all their marathon training

Dude their running 4:30 min miles in some of their mile splits during a marathon race! ...they didn't lose that much speed. ..now imagine if they had to just go out and run a fast mile. It would be close to sub 4.

again, mile splits should answer the question...

So they were only 'close to sub 4' runners when they were on the track?

Rupp ran 3:50 in the mile

scorpion_runner wrote:

Jimmy21 wrote:

They aren't on the track anymore. They are no longer track athletes and can not run their PR anymore. They have lost speed with all their marathon training

Dude their running 4:30 min miles in some of their mile splits during a marathon race! ...they didn't lose that much speed. ..now imagine if they had to just go out and run a fast mile. It would be close to sub 4.

again, mile splits should answer the question...

You're an idiot, Scorpion.

Bekele ran 3:32 1500Kipchoge ran 3:32 1500Rupp ran 3:34 1500You think they could match those times while training for a marathon?

scorpion_runner wrote:

Jimmy21 wrote:

They aren't on the track anymore. They are no longer track athletes and can not run their PR anymore. They have lost speed with all their marathon training

Dude their running 4:30 min miles in some of their mile splits during a marathon race! ...they didn't lose that much speed. ..now imagine if they had to just go out and run a fast mile. It would be close to sub 4.

again, mile splits should answer the question...

I'm sure all of them right now could all run a mile in the 3:55 range, give or take a second or two.

Jimmy21 wrote:

Bekele ran 3:32 1500

Kipchoge ran 3:32 1500

Rupp ran 3:34 1500

You think they could match those times while training for a marathon?

scorpion_runner wrote:

Dude their running 4:30 min miles in some of their mile splits during a marathon race! ...they didn't lose that much speed. ..now imagine if they had to just go out and run a fast mile. It would be close to sub 4.

again, mile splits should answer the question...

I didn't say it would be sub 4...I said it would be close to sub 4. Again, SOME of their mile splits on a fast course are fast as hell, and that is doing a marathon. And we are talking about former track stars who have always had speed, and still use that speed in the marathon, which is why they are the best ..bekele, kipchoge, etc.

And they are still doing 400/800 meter repeats, and mile repeats in their marathon training. I'm just saying they are not going to turn into turtles and just lose a great deal of speed..... ..there were pictures of kipchoge not too long training on the dirt track in kenya doing fast repeats.

Bekele and Kipchoge if they had to go out and run a mile distance..they would go out and do it in about 4:00, and I wouldn't be surprised if they did it lower than that.

This is 2017. 4.00 is 17 seconds slower than the WR.

mile-a-thon wrote:

What kind of mile/1500 time could a guy like Kipchoge, Bekele, Rupp, etc. run during their peak marathon fitness?

In this thread Renato Canova, who I think trained him at the time, if not then previously, talks about what Wilson Kipsang could do for a mile. 4:03-4:05 he estimates Wilson could run while in top shape for marathon. Bekele and Kipchoge could most likely run a bit faster as they were previously good in shorter distances aswell, but I don't think they would beat him by alot because I think training for marathon even the grounds a bit.

sub 4 still man wrote:

Probably no slower than 3:57.

Many top marathoners could not run 3:57 at any point in their lives.

I wouldn't have thought marathon training would dull a 10k runner's ability to run a fast mile and then I saw six people outkick Rupp--who has run 3:49 indoors--in the 5k at the US olympic trials. Maybe the guys with the fastest track PRs go sub 4 (10+ seconds slower than they have run off 5/10k training) but I think plenty of top marathon specialists probably more like 4:10.

link to thread wrote:

mile-a-thon wrote:

What kind of mile/1500 time could a guy like Kipchoge, Bekele, Rupp, etc. run during their peak marathon fitness?

http://www.letsrun.com/forum/flat_read.php?thread=5418923&page=1

In this thread Renato Canova, who I think trained him at the time, if not then previously, talks about what Wilson Kipsang could do for a mile. 4:03-4:05 he estimates Wilson could run while in top shape for marathon. Bekele and Kipchoge could most likely run a bit faster as they were previously good in shorter distances aswell, but I don't think they would beat him by alot because I think training for marathon even the grounds a bit.

Exactly!

test2 wrote:

I wouldn't have thought marathon training would dull a 10k runner's ability to run a fast mile and then I saw six people outkick Rupp--who has run 3:49 indoors--in the 5k at the US olympic trials. Maybe the guys with the fastest track PRs go sub 4 (10+ seconds slower than they have run off 5/10k training) but I think plenty of top marathon specialists probably more like 4:10.

That's different though. That's a 5k race, so speed endurance in that situation is not going to be the same, because they are no longer 10k or 5k specialists....We are talking about a mile race on fresh legs...again, I say around sub 4 ( 3:58 - 4:05 ) for Bekele or Kipchoge

Scorpion_runner wrote:

test2 wrote:

I wouldn't have thought marathon training would dull a 10k runner's ability to run a fast mile and then I saw six people outkick Rupp--who has run 3:49 indoors--in the 5k at the US olympic trials. Maybe the guys with the fastest track PRs go sub 4 (10+ seconds slower than they have run off 5/10k training) but I think plenty of top marathon specialists probably more like 4:10.

That's different though. That's a 5k race, so speed endurance in that situation is not going to be the same, because they are no longer 10k or 5k specialists....We are talking about a mile race on fresh legs...again, I say around sub 4 ( 3:58 - 4:05 ) for Bekele or Kipchoge

I agree with your estimate for those guys. What I was trying get across is that guys who have never run a sub-3:50 mile dropped Rupp at the end of a slow 5k. Rupp's ability to close a tactical, slow 5k appears to have been eroded by his marathon training. For a distance runner, the ability to run the last mile of a slow 5k and the ability to run a mile when fresh are related talents--that's why Lagat won that race and why Mo Farah is so dominant in championship 5ks and why even Bekele couldn't beat El G in the 5.

A question I've always wondered is is there any Olympic trials marathon qualifiers who can't break 4:20?