Sub 11 sec 100m runners who can run a sub 2:30 Marathon ?

a young Steve Ovett & others wrote:

During important developmental years of Coe's training, he was a low mileage 800m specialist who also raced other events. The intensity of training for 800m was buring Coe out. Coe did switch before 1984 Olympics and began training for 1500m but also raced other events. [The Lydiard fans on here love to point to Coe's training leading up to 1984 Olympics to state Peter Coe's low mileage statements were fraudulent.] S Coe, circa 1997 raced Twin Cities Marathon, about 2:50. He said he was only jogging 25 to 30 miles a week in 1997. [I hope the Lydiard fans do not state S Coe was secretly running 100 miles per week in 1997.] Wasn't there a MN high school girl from Woodbury, MN who raced Twin Cities Marathon, circa 2018 in 2:40? I cannot image 2:30 Marathon is that difficult for any sub-3:30 1500m man who wants to do it.

I agree. I was probably not clear: what I meant was that there is no evidence (equivalent to Ovett's half marathon for instance) that Coe ever actually was in a position to run a sub 2:30 marathon. What 5km performances there are indicate that his endurance was not as strong as Ovett's; whether it is was still strong enough is guesswork. That he could have run a sub 2:30 marathon if he had chosen to focus on his endurance a little more I 100% agree with it, but this is still conjectural.

I think a guy built like Erik Sowinski could probably pull it off but over the course of his life, not in the same season

c$ wrote:

I think a guy built like Erik Sowinski could probably pull it off but over the course of his life, not in the same season

As I stated, I believe a lot of sub-1:47/sub-3:50 800m/1500m guys could do it. The training would be so strange. Power lifting, plyometrics, sprint coordination drills, working on start, plenty of 50m & 150 metres repeats with lengthy recover. One would have to adhere somewhat Feed the Cats Theory. One would avoid doing 200m, 300m, 400m, 500m, 600m, 800m, 1000m, 1200m, one mile, 2000m and two mile repeats. One would avoid tempo runs. It would be 100m sprint training and slow jogging twenty mile runs. Almost exaggerated boxer training.

Who was the German runner who was originally a marathon runner then became a medalist in the 400 meters?

2:30 is a quality time and running that fast is inductive of being a good distance runner. Sprinters are not good distance and whether they are good athletes is irrelevant. If an 11:00 guy was capable of running 2:30 later in life he would have been capable of sub-4:00 in his prime.

This guy ran 2:30 as a 47 year old. I think he was 46 or 47 and 1:4x in college.

https://www.athlinks.com/event/3241/results/Event/891887/Course/1723361/Bib/2398

2:30 is a quality time and running that fast is inductive of being a good distance runner. Sprinters are not good distance and whether they are good athletes is irrelevant. If an 11:00 guy was capable of running 2:30 later in life he would have been capable of sub-4:00 in his prime.

Usain Bolt could run a 2:07 800m in training without training for it (doing little to no aerobic work). If someone told you they run a 2:07 800m, would you ever say they definitely cannot run a sub 2:30 marathon at some point in their life?

Much of being a good but not elite distance runner can be achieved through hard work. Thus it is as much psychological as anything, and one needs the opportunity. Apart from that, the main ingredient is...some speed! It is much easier for a fast runner to become slower than the other way around.

Exactly I don't care if Usain bolt was running 120 miles a week he would still go run sub 11 and he is athletic enough with the right training to go sub 2:30 easy

I had some stupid teammates say he wouldn't be able to break 5 in the mile lol

This guy could have been close wrote:

This guy ran 2:30 as a 47 year old. I think he was 46 or 47 and 1:4x in college.

Found a recent podcast interview of him from before that 2:30:24 at CIM at age 47. Looks like he's going for 2:28 or faster this year at London and Berlin. The interviewer didn't ask about his college PRs, though he says had a bunch of school records at his high school in Barbados (he was born in Jamaica), and at Drexel. His college times are off memory of his posts in the defunct RW forums many years back, something like 46 and 1:48. I don't know if the 46 was relay or open, but just took a look at all the sub-47 open runners for CA high schools last year, and all of them that have a listed 100 time are also sub-11.

teambolt wrote:

at which point in time wrote:

Usain Bolt could run a 2:07 800m in training without training for it (doing little to no aerobic work). If someone told you they run a 2:07 800m, would you ever say they definitely cannot run a sub 2:30 marathon at some point in their life?

Much of being a good but not elite distance runner can be achieved through hard work. Thus it is as much psychological as anything, and one needs the opportunity. Apart from that, the main ingredient is...some speed! It is much easier for a fast runner to become slower than the other way around.

Exactly I don't care if Usain bolt was running 120 miles a week he would still go run sub 11 and he is athletic enough with the right training to go sub 2:30 easy

If you two would have been willing to place money on a young Usain Bolt being able to race sub-2:30 Marathon, it would not have been a wise bet. It is not due to muscle twitch ratio. It's Bolt's size. You guys state Bolt did not train for 800m. He did train for 400m. Bolt was significantly worse as a 400m man compared to his 200m performances. Bolt clearly was worse at 400m than 200m. Ignoring VO2 formula when evaluating someone's potential 1500m to Marathon is not wise. Bolt in his prime was a much larger man than Alberto Juantorena. What makes you think a 6'5" 207 lbs. man like Bolt would have been able to even run 60 miles a week of road mileage without breaking down? A 2:30 Marathon is roughly equal to a 4:35 one mile. Due to Bolt's size, in order for Bolt to be able to race sub-2:30 Marathon, Bolt would have to also be a miler significantly faster than 4:35 since Bolt would get worse as distances increase. If you want to look for a hidden sub-11 100m talent, a man like Miruts Yifter may have been able to sprint sub-11 100m out of the blocks. He was able to do a legit sub-49 400m TT at 1972 Olympics on 5000m/10000m training.

We did a 100m dash at the end of track season my freshman year in college and I ran 11.1. It was two weeks after season had ended and I hadn't run that whole time. I did hard strides during season but never all-out sprinted other than at the end of 1500s. If I practiced for it, developed technique, learned how to use blocks, etc.—while I am not sure what I would run—it would definitely be below at least a couple tenths of a second below 11.

And a 2:30 marathon... That'd be annoying to train for.. it might take 3 full months. But to do it wouldn't be spectacular. It would just require 3 to 4 times of extending the long run over 10ish weeks and doing some half marathon paced stuff.

at which point in time wrote:

At different points in time: definitely possible. Anybody who has sufficient neuromuscular abilities to run that fast can train their cardiovascular system sufficiently to run a sub 2:30 marathon if they chose.

At the same time is much more questionable.

I have had sub 11 sprinters at the high school level. None of them could EVER run under even 3:30 for a Marathon. You have much to learn.

Like Really Bro wrote:

We did a 100m dash at the end of track season my freshman year in college and I ran 11.1. It was two weeks after season had ended and I hadn't run that whole time. I did hard strides during season but never all-out sprinted other than at the end of 1500s. If I practiced for it, developed technique, learned how to use blocks, etc.—while I am not sure what I would run—it would definitely be below at least a couple tenths of a second below 11.

And a 2:30 marathon... That'd be annoying to train for.. it might take 3 full months. But to do it wouldn't be spectacular. It would just require 3 to 4 times of extending the long run over 10ish weeks and doing some half marathon paced stuff.

Right. Let us know when either will happen

If you two would have been willing to place money on a young Usain Bolt being able to race sub-2:30 Marathon, it would not have been a wise bet.

What makes you think a 6'5" 207 lbs. man like Bolt would have been able to even run 60 miles a week of road mileage without breaking down?

We are all speaking in hypotheticals, but yes, forced for my life to bet on whether Bolt under some circumstances could eventually run a sub 2:30 marathon, I would say yes.

An 800m is about 70% aerobic! Again, I don't think anybody could say that a 2:07 800m runner could never run a sub 2:30 marathon. And that 2:07 is without any significant aerobic training!

Of course he could build slowly up to 60 miles per week. He is an athlete! A sprinter can jog, cycle, swim, ... as well as anyone.

There was a thread here, possibly by Sprintgeezer who commented earlier, about a former sprinter in his 50s I think who wanted to run a sub 20 5km. He did so despite very little, relatively speaking, aerobic training, I think he mostly just ran frequent 5km time trials.

That most sub 11 sprinters would never run a sub 2:30 marathon I agree with, but the reasons are more psychological.

Ovett didn't run 21.7. He ran 22.8 a few times, so 22.7 is more realistic. He was definitely NOT a sub 11 100m guy. Sub 2.30 marathon, yes, he could have done that.

You appear foolish stating Bolt was a potential sub-2:30 Marathoner. As I stated, it is not because of muscle twitch ratio. If you would have used a sub-155 pound sprinter like Noah Lyles, then you would appear reasonable.

a young Steve Ovett & others wrote:

If you want to look for a hidden sub-11 100m talent, a man like Miruts Yifter may have been able to sprint sub-11 100m out of the blocks. He was able to do a legit sub-49 400m TT at 1972 Olympics on 5000m/10000m training.

Don't be ridiculous. Yifter did not have sub 11 100m potential.

akfakdjfadjfkj wrote:

a young Steve Ovett & others wrote:

If you want to look for a hidden sub-11 100m talent, a man like Miruts Yifter may have been able to sprint sub-11 100m out of the blocks. He was able to do a legit sub-49 400m TT at 1972 Olympics on 5000m/10000m training.

Don't be ridiculous. Yifter did not have sub 11 100m potential.

I was discussing Bolt. You know it would have been more likely to train Yifter to sub-11 100m than to train Bolt to be a sub-2:30 Marathon man.