Haven't run the 800 in years, can I go PR and go sub 2?

Why don't you run an all out 400 and then get back to us.

No. You spend high school and college proving that you don't have any speed and your recent marathon says you might not even like running.

You make a fair point. I think that my 800 PR is very good considering how slow I am in the 400. So why can't I drop 1 second and go under 2?

Maybe you can, but the biggest obstacle will be whether your dream of breaking 2:00 will consistently provide enough motivation to go run intervals after a day of work.

Can and will are two very separate ideas. If you went like all in on training and focused on improving speed to a much higher level then with the right amount of time its definitely possible. But at 28 most people are too devoted to other aspects of life to go "all in" on something like that, not a bad thing, its just a part of life. Since you were never able to drop anything that fast in the 4,8, or even the 15 in college when most of your time could be devoted to training, its probably not very likely. Plus, your body has changed a lot over the years. Most mid D/distance runners move up in racing distances as they age, so training more focused on 5k 10k would probably be more worth your time (and involve a less complex training style). If you run 4:30ish in your road mile then I'd say youre pretty close to 2 flat shape and it'd still be worth a shot to go for it this summer. Either way, best of luck.

You’re 28, not ancient 😄. Go get that 400 down to 55 FAT and then make a run at the 800.

FWIW, I could run 54 low and couldn’t get below 2:05, while my 1500 was 4:17. You must have had the 800 perfectly dialed-in to hit 2:01 given your other PRs.

lurker wrote:

You’re 28, not ancient 😄. Go get that 400 down to 55 FAT and then make a run at the 800.

FWIW, I could run 54 low and couldn’t get below 2:05, while my 1500 was 4:17. You must have had the 800 perfectly dialed-in to hit 2:01 given your other PRs.

55/2:00 is equivalent to being able to run a 4:20 mile which a lot faster than his 4:19 1500 PR.

If you could really run 25 low FAT, you could definitely run in the 53/54 range. If you can get that speed back through weights, drills, plyos, strides, and hills, you're 60% of the way to breaking 2:00. If you can simultaneously build up the capacity to run things like 10–12x400 @ 75, 6x800 @ 2:30, etc. followed up with a handful 150–300m reps/hills @ mile–800 effort, while maintaining and building that speed, you're there. Might need a few a few sharpening sessions like 3x400 @ 59, 600/400/200/200 @ 1:29/58/28/27, and a couple races to do it.

I attempted something similar a couple of years ago. My Pr is 1:56 and a 400 in 52.6 from my college days and a few years ago I wanted to see if I could get sub 2 with about 3-4months of training. I had been running fairly consistently before this but nowhere near the level of training I did in college.

My experience was that pure speed came back surprisingly easy, I was able to run 4x200m with 6min rest in 25sec within 2months. Speed endurance on the other hand was really tough to get back. Running 300s at goal pace just effing hurts and you don't really feel awesome afterwards either. So I did end up running 2:01 that season but I felt like I didn't have the strength at the end of races like I used to. I also felt that I just didn't want it bad enough either, I wasn't particularly disappointed at the end of bad races, more just glad that it was over.

So my advice to you would be: Don't underestimate the speed endurance requirements of the 800, it is a big part of it. Also you have to want to grind those hard track sessions, I would suggest finding someone to train with, makes it a lot easier.

I agree that my 800 is definitely an outlier based on other PRs. But during that season when I was running 2:02 and 2:01, I never really raced a 1500. My 1500 PR is from 4 years after college when I was training for the 5K and just decided to hop in a 1500. So I could definitely run a faster 1500 if I trained for it. I would probably attribute my 800 success to running the event so many times. Regardless, I think I would need maybe a year to build my speed up again to even get close.

I appreciate all the advice! I totally agree with GrapeSon that hard interval sessions are not very fun alone. Depending how the next month training for the mile goes will probably make my decision for me.

Someone said it already, but get very, very, very warmed up, and do an all-out 400.

You'll know then.

SDSU Aztec wrote:

55/2:00 is equivalent to being able to run a 4:20 mile which a lot faster than his 4:19 1500 PR.

Agreed; but not sure what you’re driving at. I was trying to say the 2:01 is impressive given the other PRs. Maybe that didn’t come through.

OP I absolutely believe you can do it , fwiw

based primarily on you remaining in shape recently, your speed in your later 20s probably hasnt diminished much, but you may have to approach the 800 as a strength runner even more so than you used to