I'm only a 1:32 half marathoner but just clocked a 4:24 mile. What happened?

I will answer all 3 of your questions.

1. Is this good? Yes.

2. Could I potentially have some talent at lesser distances? Yes.

3. What happened? I don't know.

Your welcome.

Pretty similar PBs and was going to say, if I ran 1:16 and 4:44 I bet you'll go a lot faster in the half when you start putting in some real miles and/or workouts. Lots of upside! Not to mention you didn't train for the 4:24 either so yeah you might just have some natural speed or are a great troll. (But do your mile on the track not road)

Unfortunately, 4:24 is not good. thousands of high schoolers run this every year. In fact, a lot of middle schoolers as well. It seems like you might have potential though but you haven't run anything fast yet.

Unless it's on a track, it doesn't count. Sorry.

And this thread is a nice little trifecta.

Go run on a track and see what you get. Online mapping tool would not be accurate enough to tell the difference between .85, .9 or 1.00M.

There is a world where some guy could run sub 5 after not being well trained. There is no world where someone could run 4:24 on their own their first time running a mile. The pain you have to inflict on yourself to hit that time would prevent you from holding that pace. 4:24 untrained for hard running would equate to a 4 minute mile with proper training.

Why is anyone responding to this obvious troll?!

No chance.

Maybe 5:24

3 pages, impressive!

Can you share a link to the measured route, e.g. on Google Maps or Strava?

While there are a number of talents who can run a decent mile but couldn't finish a decent marathon (e.g. certain NCAA basketball players and their time trials), it would be quite unusual to be good for a 4:24 mile solo but not a 1:30 half (7:15/mile pace).

A decent natural runner can 'fake it' even with limited training and break 1:30, and if you are running 30mpw and have 4:24 speed there should be no reason you can't do so.

Maybe you're just mentally weak?

Unusual but could happen.

Don't forget, pro coaches didn't want Usain Bolt to EVER do the 100 because he was just too tall to ever be any good at it. Stick to 400s, you're good there, and sometimes we'll let you play and fail in the 200.

I reached similar (bit slower) mile pace as a master with limited running mileage, total and weekly. For me, 1500s were on the long side already, although I actually did more 5Ks.
Long distance, I'm just slow. Once in more or less my best form, I did a 10K in just around 40 min, but that was a suffer fest. No fun was had.

I'd say, go to a 400 meter track, hit it at a time when it's dry, cool enough and not too windy.
Do a test training to figure out your short pace.

I usually considered my 8x300 meter (2-3min standing rest) pace to be about equivalent of 800 m race pace. 6x600 would be like 1500/mile pace.

Find a steady pace you can repeat, gets progressively harder to do, but the last one isn't an unhealthy mess with sloppy technique.

Might take a few these trainings to get comfortable running at that pace as if it's normal rather than feel hasted.
Then eventually do a full warm up (20 min run), drills and any stretching you subscribe to, and hold that found pace for a full 800 or 1500 race. Stopwatch doesn't lie, track length doesn't lie.

You might even be a gifted 400 or shorter runner and not know it.

A teammate of mine is a skinny master, he likes to do (half)marathons but in track competition he does sprint distances. Mid distance he's not even decent. Somehow, his muscles do it. Doesn't necessarily look pretty the way he does it, but he sure does it faster than I can. Longer distance I could match or beat him, if only I liked suffering.

What happened? You lied, that's what happened

You just need to increase your mileage. A lot.

Not necessarily. When I was in HS i ran a 4:24 mile/9:30 2mile as a junior and in the middle of that summer only managed a 1:27 half-marathon. To be fair, I did go through the first 10km in 32 high before my legs could take no more.

It's FOUR laps. Don't forget that last one.