What is a 4:08 mile in the 80s worth today in super spikes?

4:05.9

3:52

My PR of 4:04 was from 2020. I haven't managed it in New spikes so I woukd say 4:08 equals 4:08.

if they were injury prone then maybe 405-406. if not, then 408.

4:08

Interesting question.

I'm thinking 4:00 - 4:04.

Most definitely an improvement to be had.

I ran a 4:16 in the early ‘80s. I think with the new shoes and improved tracks I could have broken four!!

Back in 2005/2006 we had the Miler series and shoes of that nature no super spikes obviously. In order to get max potential some of us just used sprint spikes. I wore Nike Max Cats in the Mile and ran 4:04 in the Mile back in 2005 in Max Cats and 4:01 in 2006 wearing Max Cats. I would estimate both performances would be 4:01 to 3:57 today.

I don't believe some of the talk about "miracle" shoes or super tracks, but my first set of spiked shoes were leather w 3/4 inch spices. Our h.s. track was cinders and dirt. It was such a rustic track that they had to "describe the course" before races.

I think in this case a 4:08 then and there guy coulda nailed just below 4.

4:08

Ha, solid Dyestat throwback there. I remember the Max Cat craze. Loved the Milers. Still have my re-realeased Vents and Zoom Kennedy XC 

3:55 according to Letsrun

Hilarious. I can't wait to claim I would've run way faster in 10 more years when a new shoe comes out. Who the heck is Max Cats? If he was equivalent of a 3:57 today in high school then I would've heard of him. The new spikes don't make you multiple seconds faster in a mile. We should've seen a ton of 3:25 1500's the past 18 months if that's the case, and a bunch of sub 3:30 Americans. Last year our top American was 6th at the olympics and our top American time of the year was 3:31 and a total of 6 guys in the world went sub 3:30... Pretty typical numbers in the years right before 'super spikes'. If they make you 3 seconds faster in a 1500 then a sub 3:30 of last year is a sub 3:33 from 2019. In 2019 there were 18 sub 3:33's. Why didn't we see 18 sub 3:30's in 2021? It's because they don't make you 3 seconds faster in a 1500, not even close. I'd give you a second at best.

What's it worth? Exactly nothing.

Here are two follow up questions:

1. What kind of track/surface were they running on?

2. What kind of shoes were they running in?

The answer to your question could be pretty easy to convert based on how different one of those were when the 4:08 was run compared to surface/shoes of today.

Given the differences in training methods and shoes in the ‘80s, I think it entirely possible that had he been a 2023 graduate, trained with the Newbury Park team or Nick Willis, had the benefit of both supershoes for training and racing, he could have been close to a sub 4 runner.

Unless of course he was already training like a collegiate runner with basically current techniques. Then maybe just a couple seconds faster.

4:08

It is hard to quantify.  Track surfaces were different then too.  Training is a little different too.

But if we look at indoor NCAA times from a few years ago, there were typically around 30 runners sub 4:00 mile and only a few below 3:57.  This year there are around 30 sub 3:57. Before there were around 30-40 sub 8:00 3000m.  This year there are more than 30 sub 7:50 runners.  The tracks have not changed. There was no drastic turnover in NCAA track coaches. The shoes became much more available this year. 

You can view the NCAA times by year here.  Keep in mind that some are converted for altitude and different styles of track, so the actual times are usually slower if there is a character beside the time (@ or #).

https://www.tfrrs.org/lists/3492.html

First the Max Cat was a shoe that Nike made from 2004 to roughly 2008. It was primarily a 100m to 400m track spike.

Second he never said he was a high school runner when he ran 4:04 in 2005 and 4:01 in 2006.

Third he is not making claims that he would have been 10 seconds faster. He mentioned right around his 4:01pr to a 3:57 not very crazy.

Also are you even a runner as you didn't know what the Max Cats where also it is none of your business who he is.