The mile world record could easily be broken

even if being chased by a lion or in some life or death situation, the only humans capable of running faster than the mile world record are the worlds best milers/1500m runners.the human body just cannot move that fast for that long without immense talent and conditioning to handle the lactic acid, oxygen debt, and muscle fatigue.the world record is like 55.75 pace per 400m, right?! i don't even think many non-runner humans could run that if being chased by a lion or a murderer or something.you're way off, in my opinion. if you can't run a 1:51.5 800m in a non life-or-death situation, you have zero chance of running that pace for double that distance.i ran 4 years of college and could only a muster a 1:50.8 at my very best in ideal conditions, and have natural speed (sub 49 relay split)your question is kind of like saying a 5'-5" accountant could dunk a basketball if put in a life or death situation. NOPE

thedub wrote:

Surely there is someone that has run faster than a 3:43. I confidently believe that at some point in history a person has crushed the world record while being chased by a mobster, or lion, or something of the sorts.

This is not as far fetched as you may think, if El G had his life on the line he would have surely gone sub 3:30. Sub 3:40 is a certainty.

Discuss.

This has been discussed many times and the articles pertaining to it are readily available online.

thedub wrote:

Surely there is someone that has run faster than a 3:43. I confidently believe that at some point in history a person has crushed the world record while being chased by a mobster, or lion, or something of the sorts.

This is not as far fetched as you may think, if El G had his life on the line he would have surely gone sub 3:30. Sub 3:40 is a certainty.

Discuss.

You're greatly underestimating the intrinsic motivation found in World Record Holders. It already is life and death to them.

Even if all that I've said previously is wrong, I disagree with this.

I don't care how motivated they may think they are, they will find something extra when forced with a severe consequence. Just go watch the world record mile, and notice how El G just walks off the track as though he just went for an afternoon jog. I understand that he was in phenomenal shape, but I want to know how fast he could run if he literally RAN himself to DEATH.

If you have been around horses at all, you will know that if they're bein pushed by a predator, or the person riding them, they can actually run themselves to death. If we could put a human under a circumstance like this we will see someone smash the world record.

I propose that we conduct a mass kidnapping of all professional athletes around the world, and take them to mile long airport runway, and unleash an assortment of wild, untamed beasts behind them. Sure, the slower runner might die, but that's their fault. If any of the athletes make it out alive I expect to see them beak 3:30. This may seem a bit extreme, and I agree, but I think it is necessary for the future of our sport.

i still very strongly disagree with you, but i really like your experiement idea. Farah would just sit there and pout though, so don't take him.El G walked off the track unphased because he was likely pumped full of oxygen from a substantial EPO regiment. a bunch of EPO era guys did this (it's interesting watching Daniel Komen after one of his 2-mile, sub 8:00 attempts go his knees breathing very hard though...)humans have a self-preservation gene or something where we don't want to die. plus, i don't think we can handle the pain of what that run means like, say, a horse canlike i said previously, if you cannot run 1:51 normally, there's no physical way your body can handle 3 and a half minutes at 16+ mph.i think maybe someone could run 800m at that pace running for their lives, but not a mile. it's psychology to a point, then its scientific, physical limitation.Lastly, even a pro capable of a 3:40 mile in the midst of a heavy block of training would probably be too fatigued to do it

Have you ever raced a mile? If you race it all out, but then continue past the finish line your legs will stop working very quickly. It's not a matter of willpower at that point, just physiology.

I believe Kiprop could do it now in Monaco if they change the diamond league race to a mile race and he catches the slipstream.

So instead of rabbits at the front of the race, we should have mobsters and lions bring up the rear?

or this.. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nDayHxCNbcI

Do you honestly think a lion is going to chase someone for a mile?

Better yet ....

A mobster? Please provide a list of all mobsters who run a sub-4 mile.

Mr. Doritos wrote:

There is evidence, in the form of fossilized footprints, that prehistoric men could run faster than the peak speed of Usain Bolt

Did they find fossilized training logs, newspapers, or GPS watches?

fifif wrote:

Mr. Doritos wrote:

There is evidence, in the form of fossilized footprints, that prehistoric men could run faster than the peak speed of Usain Bolt...

Got any evidence of this?

PaleoRunner wrote:

Mr. Doritos wrote:

There is evidence, in the form of fossilized footprints, that prehistoric men could run faster than the peak speed of Usain Bolt

Did they find fossilized training logs, newspapers, or GPS watches?

They analyzed the stride length of the footprints and did some math.

PaleoRunner wrote:

Mr. Doritos wrote:

There is evidence, in the form of fossilized footprints, that prehistoric men could run faster than the peak speed of Usain Bolt

Did they find fossilized training logs, newspapers, or GPS watches?

A cave in Ethiopia was found with some colorful paintings. It depicts a prehistoric saber tooth tiger hunting group where one group member tells the group he ran a mile under a minute in his mastadon hunting class. Its unofficial since the teacher started the sun dial a little late.

See John Colter's escape from the Blackfeet. He ran so hard he bled from his lungs.

Here is the best all out chase you'll ever see. flat out for over 4 minutes.

thedub wrote:

If you have been around horses at all, you will know that if they're bein pushed by a predator, or the person riding them, they can actually run themselves to death. If we could put a human under a circumstance like this we will see someone smash the world record.

Horses are prey animals that got hunted by big smilodons and dire wolves and such. They have a reserve of extra blood cells in their spleen for when the shit goes down. And their nervous systems probably let them run themselves to death because if they're in that much danger they might as well take the risk.

Humans are predator animals with spears that don't normally have to run from other animals, and if we did they would catch us no matter what our endurance level. And the stakes aren't high enough for a predator to risk running itself to death. Cheetahs can overheat their brains and die if they run too long, so they don't.

I know we aren't used to running from danger, but dispite that, humans should be capable of much more. The added adrenaline that comes from being forced with death should be more than enough to break the WR. Hell, that one guy chopped his arm off when it got crushed underneath a rock. I saw it in a movie. I'm not really sure how that applies to running yet, but nonetheless we are capable of much more.

The WR has dropped by almost a minute since timing began, but you think people ran FASTER before that?