Go out and run a 4:45 and we will give you credit for not having a pacer/super spikes...
If you have been doing 20mpw with some quality, I have no doubt it is doable for someone who was say a 4:20 guy earlier. If you have run a 70s 400m in a decade, you might find it shocking.....
I don't have a readily-accessible pair of regular spikes either. I've regularly done 18-20 mpw but with little quality. Just some occasional strides and maybe a fartlek or hill run once or twice a month.
I've never run a sub 4 1500 or a sub 4:20 mile but did get close on the few times I raced those events. I still maintain that I could run a 4:36 by December 31 if I had the motivation and opportunity.
So what? Go run a mile in trainers on Dec 31 and let us know how you do... Otherwise we are just debating how delusion you are...
So I went to the track today, and I will admit that I'm less confident than before.
I spent maybe a minute trying to find my old spikes before saying "f*** it" and deciding to do a solo time trial in trainers. I did my usual warmup, followed by a 100m stride at 4:36 pace. Not tiring, but uncomfortably fast. Bad sign.
I went out in 5 flat pace and realized halfway through that I wouldn't be able to crack 5 today. Dragged my butt across the finish in 5:08 and felt my legs burn like crazy. Superspikes, competition, and workouts would drop my time by quite a bit, but going from 5:08 to 4:36 in a month wouldn't be easy even though I still think it's barely doable.
Oh well, I'm off to take a shower.
Change your deadline from Dec. 31 to Jan. 31, and your chance will jump from zero to "possible but not likely".
I could spend more time showering than running and still be able to run a 4:36 on a month's notice. Seriously, how hard can it be for a lean ex-college runner to run one mile at WR marathon pace? That's not even 4% of the race.
Well, considering how hard it is for a large percentage of current college athletes to run 5k at marathon world record pace... pretty hard for a mid-thirties guy who has mainly maintained weight to run that pace, even for a mile. 800 meters at that pace is a completely different story - if you have jogged, done strides, and played any rec league sports, you should be able to maintain that pace.
The thread is a bit old, but you nailed it. I did a solo 800m time trial today in trainers and got a 2:18.1, which is right at 4:36 pace. I upped the mileage a bit to 23-25 mpw and did some sprints at around 95% effort, but I haven't done any mile-specific workouts.
I'm not entirely sure what this would equate to if I did a mini-taper and ran in an actual race with superspikes. Maybe 4:45, but I'll admit that 4:36 is probably out of reach by December 31.
Youre doing way better than I expected. 218 ain't terrible for the training you've described. 508 is a bit worse than 218, but that's expected.I thought you were trolling tbh. Don't see 436 happening that soon. But in a few months, maybe. And that ain't too shabby. You obviously have some talent.
You can shower as long as you want, this will not happen.
I could spend more time showering than running and still be able to run a 4:36 on a month's notice. Seriously, how hard can it be for a lean ex-college runner to run one mile at WR marathon pace? That's not even 4% of the race.
There's been some truly great and epic threads about people posting a goal and giving constant updates all through to the end. There's been mostly false starts where we got some updates and then nothing. I guess we will file this one under DNS.