is a 56 sec 400m too slow for a 4 min mile?

[quote]not too important wrote:

...if you're able to run relaxed at 59 second quarter pace,...

I think this idea is key. If you can run 59 "like a miler", i.e. without strain, rather than all-out in an inefficient way.

I suppose if we could know a runners oxygen use during a fast 400 maybe we could make a prediction. But I don't know if anyone has tried to do that to get any data.

Tom

56 seconds for 400m is RIGHT ON for a sub-4 minute mile. You are where you need to be.

Look at the 4 minute mile. It is really only a 3 lap race because the last lap is a sprint no matter what has transpired in the first three laps. Knowing it is the final lap you can overcome fatigue to make a hard sprint to the tape.

The first lap is a settle in lap. You hit a comfortable 60 second pace and concentrate on relaxation. If you can run a 56 second 400m the 59-60 seconds of the first quarter should not cause you any real concern. So, it is really only a 2 lap race.

Lap two is really where a 4 minute mile begins. If you try and just easy through the second lap as you eased through the first lap you will probably not keep a 4 minute pace. You have to pick it up on this lap just a bit. Try to maintain form but ease into a slightly faster leg turnover.

The third lap is where a 4 minute mile is built. You will be tired and it is still a long ways to the finish line. Most of the times sag on the 3rd lap and the opportunity for a 4 minute mile is lost. This lap has to be run AGGRESSIVELY. You have to GO for it on lap 3. If you can hit the end of this lap somewhere between 2:58 and 3:02 you can run a 4 minute mile off 56 second speed.

No matter how tired you are when you hit 2:58-3:02, you are on the final lap of the race now. A 58-62 second final lap is not only possible but doable

i ran the 800 in who gives a shit!!!!!!!!!!!and the mile wtf cares.

bloob wrote:

ok for me. 51.6 in the open 400 and i cant even break 2. so how do u expect someone to break 4. granted i only ran the mile once in teh last 3 years im only at 4:52

i agree that a 4min mile is impossible with 56 400m speed, but bloob, you need to do some taining dude. cant break 2:00 with 51.6 speed? either youve not done a proper 800, or are a 200/400 runner. even then a sub 2 should be easy. i did a 2:01 off about 56 speed, and that was with very low mileage and a 2 race season. heres another hypothetical: if a guy does a 58.0 on his own with no competition and average speed work, but not sprint speed work, how much could he improve on that?

Living in the Past wrote:

You can run 400 meters in 56.5 secs. And you can run 800 meters at 58.45 secs per lap.

You obviously have a lot of endurance, since your 10k is significantly better than your 5k. (A 30:35 10k is equivalent to 14:29 under IAAF scoring tables.) So it\'s not surprising that you wouldn\'t slow too much by adding another lap to a 400 meters. But still, slowing only two seconds per lap from 400 to 800 seems unusual, even for a strong endurance runner like you.

Does anyone else have this type of profile?

I have a 400 p.r. of 57.3 in a 4x4 relay split..That was all out I was dead after. But i have gone 158.9 in a 4x8 split. Going through the quarter in 58...but that was with three other guys right around me, that i was trying to hold off. I basically have no speed but really good endurance.

slowwhitekid wrote:I basically have no speed but really good endurance.

You certainly do. I would guess that your best distances are 10k and longer.

I have run 4:12 and can run a 54. I would think to break 4:00 you need to be at least 52 high or 53 low. I could see that happening.

Hey Gerr

You be at the Pre? Need another box of books.

Since we spoke last, all my cartilege vanished; the best

I can do now is 3 mile race walk at 2:50 per lap; or 11:20

per mile. What a bummer man! But trying to go under 10 for

a race walk and then might go competative. Still is pretty painful!

In grade 10, one afternoon indoors at 4000 ft. alt. I ran secoond in a 56 400; 2nd in a 2:06 800 and second in a

4:23 1500. By the end of first year in small college I'd ran a 4:16 mile, a 52 quarter at the end of training and a 1:56 800. Thats as far as I went and lament because of it.

What might I have run is my daily question pal.

I don't how old you are 56 second quarter man. But if you are in grade 10 you are in good shape; cuz you will improve lots

in this speed. If you are in third year of U, its kind a doubtful that you will break the ole 4 minute mile. How old are you? My best 400 was far less then I could have run; because I ran a 23. something in a 200 in training; and all I did was a shameful 4:16 MIle. Although once in Coos Bay, pumped because we was gonna see Pre run later that day in Eugene; (and he ran a 3:56 mile and a 12:56 3 mile in the same afternoon that day), so I went out in 58; tied up and limped home in a 4:21.

Get your 800 under 1:54 and you'll be getting pretty damnationable close pal.

Q

I am an old timer by you guys standards and ran close to sub4 years ago. Anybody remember a guy named Kerry Pearce from UTEP? I shared an apartment with that nut one time and I would bet my a-- he could not break 56 in a 440. But could he run a 4 sub? You bet. How does a WR indoor 8.17 or so sound. On a 178 track 11 times around. Speed helps but guts are better.

55.3

1.56.9

3.49.2

Beleive I can go faster for both 8 and 15. I think it possibly could be done by the right freak but that would be truly incredible.

What a load of crap! If your 400 PR is 56, then 60s isn´t exactly relaxed! Look at world-class 800m runners. They run the first lap 4-5s slower than their 400 PB and how relaxed do you think they look with 100m to go? Then you should keep going for another 2 laps...

ive always trained for the 800 though. but ive ran 2:01 3 times....so ya something is wrong

56.2 400m

4:05.3 mile

and, 4:05.3 is actually a real long way away from 4 minutes.

i always thought you had to be around 52 seconds for 400m , at the the slowest, for 4 min mile.

400m is a real hard distance, it takes a long time to master it.

I would be more interesting to hear Sheister's and nuge's 200m times. It gives a better indication of your speed.

If you are middle distance oriented runner, then yes you ned better than 56 second 400m speed to break 4:00.

BUT a true distance runner, aka 5k to 10k type, may be able to run very close to 4:00 with only 56 400m speed. What type of guy? Well I know Mark Curp NEVER ran as fast as 56 in 400m but I saw him run 4:07 by himself on a snowy March day at the HS track. Well I saw him from 80 yards back. He ran 2:00/2:07 in 39 degree weather. He never broke 2:00 either I believe.

Also Mark only had 27 second 200m speed which made him become a 800m kicker, anything shorter and he was toast. If Paul Cummings could stay on Mark until last 400m, it was goodnight for Curp.

Interestingly enough Gerry The Jogger has the same 4min strategy as Rojo! Don't let Acosta get ahold of that!

It's also interesting that niether of them could break 4 minutes for the mile.

not for your final lap.

OP: NO.

Has anyone just said NO yet?

The answer is NO.