A Guy I Work With Claims He Ran A 1500m in 3:45. How Believable is this?

100% of 75-year-old former track athletes? Former subscribers to T&FNews? Because as it stands your statement is nonsense.

I once had an argument with a guy about the longest track race at the Montreal Olympics. He had been in the stands watching Viren, Lopes, and Foster, and recounted his enjoyment of the men’s 25,000m to this girl we were both trying to impress. I politely (maybe?) explained he was confusing 25 laps with 25,000m but he would not back down. He had *been there.* I recited the names, the times, probably their 1k splits, but he was adamant his attendance trumped my “book knowledge.”

As recently as 1973, when today’s 75-year-olds were 22, the US Track and Field Championships races were in yards, including the mile. Americans do not know what a 1500m is and many of them probably think it’s just a mile measures in metres.

What are you even talking about?

Another way to confirm the legitimacy is to just talk to the guy. Ask him about cross country/road racing. If he's legit, he could actually be a good friend/resource.

Tell him, in a friendly not challenging, way that you Googled him and couldn't find anything. Then ask for context.

He could be full of crap. I had someone tell me that her brother was a section champion in high school and how great he was.

She had no idea that I had access to section results even before the social media age.

Not only did he not win but, at that time, no one from his school had ever won!

I once shared my 1500M PR with an older gentleman name Steve (High 50s). Told him my 3:54 time and he said his was a 3:45 but he was better in the 800. If its the same guy he's at least consistent with the time.

Just pointing out that 3:38 today ranks about the same place as 3:45 40 years ago. This guy would have placed about the same in his conference as a 3:38 today.

Agree, 3:45 1500m time is pretty specific/accurate for someone not knowing track times. But it’s also possible that he ran track but wasn’t great. More difficult to check than nowadays but still doable. Ask where he ran it and what college. Chances are, he would still be on their top 10. If it’s one of the bigger schools, ask who he ran with. Or, who was in the race.

Since y'all are boomers, the solution is different. 5 min pace won't tell you much.

He might not be mentally sharp enough to even know what time he actually ran as a kid.

You need corroborating evidence. Other times. Other than that, observe his athletic poise. Observe his cardiovascular fitness and respiration.

if one were to do the same analytics on me, one could come to a conclusion that I'd be capable of much faster times than I have posted on the athletic net.

You could triangulate pictures of me, of my forward head mouth breathing posture, the lack of athletic poise I had in high school, the 16-20% bodyfat level.

for Coach Intravaia, I'm sure you could do the same assessments. Does the physiognomy check out? Does his poise truly resemble that of a 13:30 guy?

the 13:30 pace is bold and dignified. There is power and movement efficiency that one must have. For the gracile, like the East Africans, there is a bit of visual hunching or curling in, but it's supported by extremely efficient cardio and musculotendinous energy return. While the East African guys are gracile, they are graceful; while the their heads seem pitched forward a bit, it's because they have large heads that balance just the right way over their center of mass, not an inherent movement inefficiency.

Look here: https://trackattic.xyz/

my sister was sharing to her husband about my son's hs mile time and my brother-in-law chimes in stating he routinely ran a 4 min mile in gym class. This guy has never run a day in his life or played a sport. People are either straight up liars, running a 1200, or oblivious...

I did run 3:45 ... in the marathon

Intravaia looks like he would struggle to go under 13.3-13.4 or so for 100m, and despite his endurance bend, would struggle with sustaining for a 51.xx 400m.

I watched a video of Intravaia working out with some guys. Jason hits a 3k rep to start. I estimate he's running at around 20 feet per second by looking at the ground and scenery passing.

later it is confirmed that he ran a 9:30 ish rep, which meant that he was actually running more like 18 feet per second, about 10% slower than my estimate.

They followed that 800m rep with an 800m rep at just barely faster - 2:24 - and then after another 2 min or so rest, another 3k.

on that third rep, we hear Jason laboring in his breath. His heart rate is up to the 160s and slowly climbing. They're only a fraction of the way through the workout.

This is a fit man, but not one whose ability sits in the 4:0x territory for a mile, and not a man who befits the lofty crown of a 1:03 HM or a 13:30 5k, a feat that used to rock NATIONS

Stories like this happen all the time. My coworker says his son runs 3 miles every day, typcially in 18 minutes. Saw his 5k at the local race a few weeks later, was like 23 or 25 minutes, I want to say 25 to be honest.

That being said, my old friend ran 3:45 in college, but he's very talented and seems like he kinda hates running as an adult- career, kids. He's still pretty thin, but if he was my coworker and said he ran 3:45, I might not believe him.

I'm 54 and I do, and I know a lot of people my age or older who do.

I'm 68 and I've never even heard of the 1500 until this thread. And I'm a fake coach too like Dahl.

Coach FLINT

Yeah, but a 3:38 runner is far better than a 3:45 guy and there now being more depth doesn’t change that.

I used the World Athletics website. It is not 100% accurate but pretty close. The further you go back, the less reliable it becomes. For example, I looked up 1977 and the only Americans listed under 3:42.90 were Steve Scott (3:36.13), Mike Slack (3:37.46), Phile Kane (3:39.37), and Richard Schwartz (3:41.8). The 1986 list looks fairly complete. Even if some times are missing, there are far more than just 35 men who ran faster than 3:45 like the other poster stated.

World Athleticvs website --> "Stats" --> "Top Lists: --> "All-time Top Lists" --> change the date range to whatever year you want to see (i.e., 1 January 1986 to 31 December 1986)

Why not ask for some training tips. It should be easy to tell if he knows what he's talking about

WAC lists top runners globally each year. If Ameicans don't make the global lists then they aren't listed. If you want a list of the top Americans you have to go to TAFN. As a generalization TAFN lists the top 50 times, then lists top Americans and Foreign collegians to whichever depth level they think is interesting to their readers.
Understand rubberband?