Is there a limit to the human body in the mile.?

Acording to theory of relativity, nothing in universe can exceed the velocity of light (186,000 mps) so there is finite limit to posible one mile time and it is 0.00000537 seconds !

Actually, if you want to get metaphysical, you could practice bilocation and pull it off. But, that is believed to be impossible according to the current laws of physics (no two objects can occupy the same space at a given time and it's corrollary inverse, no one object can occupy two positions in space at the same time.)

ACtually, I rethought that 3:38 prediction. We might be approaching a turning point in human performance where a discovery is made that greatly increases a human's athletic capabilities (not drugs). Then the mile times might start dropping by great amounts again. Then they will start slowing down again until another discovery is made that creates new athletic possibilities. So, that 3:38 limit might be high. Maybe it's closer to 3:00...or even faster. I guess there is no real way to predict what can happen in the era's to come.

redmeansdead,

Thank you for saving me the explanation.

What was the last breakthrough?

flavored gu.

just wondering wrote:

What was the last breakthrough?

Spe wrote:

No...the adaptability of the human body allows it to be infinitely capable of improvement.

Since performance is related to a multitude of internal factors (aerobic enzyme configuration and density, hemoglobin configuration, RBC count, etc.), let's analyze one of them as an example. A common problem is the blood (under the influence of excessive EPO) becoming too viscous for the heart to pump it, negating it's amazing O2 carrying capacity. Likewise, changing one bond angle in an enzyme will increase functionality until it begins to decrease it.

All of these factors, although they can't be put into one pretty equation, have their limits; consequently, the human body should also have a limit.

just wondering wrote:

109m in 14 seconds. That's not 3:26 pace. Sorry, math must have been your weaker subject.

3:26 pace = 109M in 14.9693333333333333 seconds

So, continuing pace would yield a mile of 3:40.97

3:40 < 3:40.97

In that case, Michael Johnson's 19.32 and any other brother's 19.99 are essentially the same.

just wondering wrote:

109m in 14 seconds. That's not 3:26 pace. Sorry, math must have been your weaker subject.

Ahhh... anonymous condescension. 3:26 pace is 0.137333... per 1 meter. 0.13733... times 109 is 14.9693333333 which means holding the 1500m WR for another 109m would yield a 3:40.96933333 mile, which is what I stated. Now, a mile is 1609.34m, so in reality the 1500m WR would have to be stretched 109.34m and by keeping the same pace that would give us 3:41.016026666.

So, all one would need to do is run the 1500m WR pace for another 109.34m AND have a .016027 faster reaction time to the gun to run a 3:40 mile.

You just got served.

distance guy wrote:

3:40 < 3:40.97

In that case, Michael Johnson's 19.32 and any other brother's 19.99 are essentially the same.

Who said that?

A 3:40.9999 mile is a 3:40 mile.

A 19.99 200m is still 19 second 200m.

Speed Kills wrote:

And as soon as you say that it is not possible to do X:XX, it just gives athletes something to shoot at. Just like the 4 minute mile or Pietro Mennea's 200.

If you take 19.32 * 2 + 4 sec = 42.64 (potential 400 time)

42.64/.87 = 49.0 (potential mile 400 pace)

So a mile in 3:15 is potentially possible with today's athletes (but this is predicted from a sprinter's 400)

Can someone ever run something "out there," like a 3 minute mile? Of course not, any more than someone can run 200 in 19.32.

Is a 1 minute mile impossible? That would be 4 15 second quarter miles. The answer is.....DUH! Of course that is impossible. What about 200 in 1 second (not 19.32)? Or a marathon in 10 minutes? Therefore, there does exist an unacheivable time greater than 0 for 1 mile (or any distance) by a human.

Can any world record be exceeded? The answer is ... DUH! OF course that is possible, always (better circumstances or conditions or shoes or genetic outliers, or all of the above).

Therefore, the rate of improvements in world records must ultimately decrease in magnitude, otherwise someone would eventually run a 1 minute mile or a 1 second 200 or a 10 minute marathon.

Afterthoughts hitting you hard. Everyone knows that the ordinary conversion from 1500m to the mile is 17 seconds...16 if you are extremely strong. Extending pace is not realistic. In that case, why not extend 400m pace to run an 800 in 1:28?

distance guy wrote:

Afterthoughts hitting you hard. Everyone knows that the ordinary conversion from 1500m to the mile is 17 seconds...16 if you are extremely strong. Extending pace is not realistic. In that case, why not extend 400m pace to run an 800 in 1:28?

Doubling the distance from 400m to 800m not only adds twice the distance (duh) but changes the systems needed to run a good time.

Adding 109m is only about 7% of the total distance, not 100%. It would be like a 5k runner holding his pace another 360 or so meters. Sure, it's a big difference, but not impossible.

I'm just saying all that's needed to run a 3:40 mile is to hold onto 1500m WR pace for another 109m. Sure it'll take some time and be hard, but it will be done.

.

You have broken one of the posting rules. You can not use duh twice in the same post.

Back to the gene pool. The total gene pool as it relates to running ability is probably worse than it was 200 years ago because running is no longer a necessary trait for survival. But now that both male and female runners with superior genes are being identified (through competition) and many of them are mating - there is a much better chance of producing genetically superior runners.

Mtn Dew wrote:

Who said that?

A 3:40.9999 mile is a 3:40 mile.

A 19.99 200m is still 19 second 200m.

So a 4:59 is 4 minute mile?

obvious point wrote:

Mtn Dew wrote:

Who said that?

A 3:40.9999 mile is a 3:40 mile.

A 19.99 200m is still 19 second 200m.

So a 4:59 is 4 minute mile?

Awesome! I've been lying about once being a 4-minute miler for years. Now I have proof.

And it was easier than I thought.

No! There's no limit at all and pretty soon the world record in the mile will be 0

If you look at straight physiology, a 3:15 mile projects a relative VO2max of roughly 97. Some here might call that impossible, but I believe 94 or 95 has been measured for cross country skiiers in Norway. The number might be exaggerated and the mechanism's calibration might be somewhat questionable, but I don't think that the endurance (oxygen) part of the issue is really out of line with what is actually possible with the human body. The speed part is where the issue rests: You either have to figure out how to break Horwill's 4-second rule...or you have to figure out how to run a 41 second 400.