Guess what WR for 800m in the M50 age group is

The other Tony......Tony O'Brien from the 'pool!

A ton of people run 1:44 a year. Yeah it’s hard but if 1:44 were the current WR it would be soft.

Where's Jim Sorensen? Wasn't he tracking well as a master 800/1500 guy?

For some reason, I think Wilson Kipketer or Vebjorn Rodal could break the WR if they tried, as they both still seem to look really fit nowadays.

The main question remains though: what for?

Oh man… at 46 I did a 2:02 solo on the track. This would be a fun target, but by the time I get to 50 it will be 1:54 and we’ll out of reach.

Master of LolIy wrote:

ligma wrote:

Clearly you are wrong since the WORLD RECORD for that age is 1:58

Well, the 400m WR for that age is 50.51 and the 800m WR for M45 is 1:49.86. So clearly I am NOT wrong, if one is familiar with a definition of hard and soft records. It is a fairly soft record, about 3 seconds slower than it should / could be.

50.51 is probably worse than 1:58 (as would be expected in the over 50 group). The women's world records are 47.6 and 1:53.43.

vtob wrote:

Oh man… at 46 I did a 2:02 solo on the track. This would be a fun target, but by the time I get to 50 it will be 1:54 and we’ll out of reach.

Still a very admirable goal!

BTW, the M45 WR is 1:49, which surely is strong.

It's maybe not likely, but in the NYC area, we have two guys turning 50 this year - Peter Brady and Mark Williams, who have a shot at the WR this year. They've each been running 2:01ish for a year or two...but maybe if we get a full slate of meets post covid and they get pumped by the birthdays....

vtob wrote:

Oh man… at 46 I did a 2:02 solo on the track. This would be a fun target, but by the time I get to 50 it will be 1:54 and we’ll out of reach.

You're saying you ran 2:02 at age 46, but the record will be several seconds faster by the time you reach age 50, so that 2:02 must have been fairly recent. Even staying at 2:02 for 4 more years past the age of 45 would be extremely impressive. That's why the record isn't as easy as some people seem to think. Running 4 seconds slower than the record when you are 4 years younger does not give any indication that you are remotely capable of challenging that record. If you ran 1:56 or 1:57 at age 46, maybe the record would be a realistic (albeit still unlikely) target.

1:49 at the age of 45 is completely out of the world. Tony Whiteman did only 1:45,81 during his prime. To slow only 3 seconds between age 29 and 45 is crazy. I have personally run well under 2 minutes being 41 years old and feel like in theory I can go under 1:55 yet. But to do that one needs to be healthy. It is not easy even at my age, trying to cover all the little training things needed to run a decent 800m. As for now, I slowed 10 seconds between the age of 25 and 41 and had many years of achilles issues. To run 1:55 at 50... it is very, very difficult. Probably more difficult than 1:44 at 22, because of all the health related issues.

But there is another thing - masters usually compete at small, local meets - no competition, windy, run at 4 pm. Put somebody in a meet like Monaco, with the rabbits, no wind, 9 pm - and you can easily find 2-3 missing seconds.

Just turned 47, 4 1/2 years into recovery from serious cancer/chemo/surgery.

Whelp ... gimme 3 years ;)

mid D guy wrote:

The problem is that runners tend to break down or lose motivation around age 50

You need to summon fight or flight adrenaline, not easy after doing the same thing for decades.

If the immortal Bernard Kipchirchir Lagat would find a bit of motivation, he could run a sub 4 mile at age 47 and keep running sub 2's until he's at least 60.

the old man 71 year old 400m wr is a 57, equivalent to a 2:05

Noerthoest wrote:

It's maybe not likely, but in the NYC area, we have two guys turning 50 this year - Peter Brady and Mark Williams, who have a shot at the WR this year. They've each been running 2:01ish for a year or two...but maybe if we get a full slate of meets post covid and they get pumped by the birthdays....

Peter Brady and Mark Williams are incredible master runners and have been aging well, but they were not breaking 1:58 at age 45 and I doubt they can at age 50. I'd be happy to be proven wrong.

What are examples of stabilization exercises?

I woulda guessed the record was low 1:50s. Compared to the late-40s record, it is soft. I imagine a guy in his late 40s moving up will break it soon.

Les wrote:

I woulda guessed the record was low 1:50s. Compared to the late-40s record, it is soft. I imagine a guy in his late 40s moving up will break it soon.

... do you understand what aging does? There is a reason why the 50+ record is what it is.

SHEESH some of these masters WRs are ridiculous.

65-year-old 4:56 mile???

80-year-old 5:57 mile?!?!?

75-year-old sub-40 10k????

60-year-old 2:30 marathon??

70-year-old sub-3 marathon?

85-year-old 4 hour marathon?

Respect to these fellows

I ran sub 2 at 44yrs and have continued to train hard with the goal of sub 2min at 50yrs. The 800m has the least depth of the masters flat races, and I'm sure from the outside appears to have seemingly 'soft' records.

As a half miler and a coach, I can guarantee it's very difficult to combine the energy systems for an ageing body. Somebody will come along and smash the record, but it'll be someone late to the sport or a former top class athlete.

Whoa!

I was making a prediction based on nothing but a general understanding of running, age, and human competitiveness. I got nothing to back up my feeling that a 800 m record of just barely under 2 is not unassailable and that there are probably a dozen or more 50+ guys out there who will break that very soon and eventually get to 1: 55. Prediction. Crystal Ball. Just my guess. Watch for it.