If I run 4:57 is that good? How many masters runners have the same question? I can't see running more marathons, but the mile is a perfect race and the training may agree with me better. I am in pain every step I take but I am driven to breal 5 like it was the 4 minute mark 50 years ago. How many of you over 40 guys can still break 5?
There was a Master guy at Chapel Hill a few weeks ago. He ran 3:49 for 1500.
I am 41 and ran 3 x 1 mile in 4:52 with three minutes rest in between each mile.
John Hinton I'm going to guess. He was a 3:40 guy in his day.
It would be if you were a girl.
master wrote:
I am 41 and ran 3 x 1 mile in 4:52 with three minutes rest in between each mile.
I am 47 and this winter I ran 2 x 1 mile in 4:53 with two weeks rest in between each mile.
That's real funny because there has been only a handful of masters women that have broken 5 in the mile.
yes 5 minutes is a good time at 40+.
Tony Young and John Hinton are definitely in a different and then the next tier generally runs between 4:25-4:40. But there are not many that can do that. A handful around the country.
Back in the mid sixties, I remember my dad, who was not a big track and field fan, watching wide world of sports one weekend. I asked him what was on and he said "there are some 40 year old guys that are going to try to run under 5 minutes for the mile." I sat down and watched with him and he can only mutter "this is amazing." I can't remember who it was or what their final times were, but it was obviously a big deal back in the day when everyone retired at 24-25. Herb Elliot even sooner.
Now we have more and more high school kids that think 5 is an unbelievable time and masters runners that are running repeats under 5. Strange how the sport has turned.
Ray, Even more recently I can remember how announcers talked that Carl Lewis, Merlene Otty, Gail Devers, Mary Slaney, and others were competing on borrowed time because they were approaching 30. I guess Lopes kicked that door in and others have shown that you have to prepare a little more carefully, but age is not the barrier once thought.
my chart of wava age grading will at least give you a comparative idea as to how good a sub 5 is:
http://www21.brinkster.com/sturman/ag/AGChart.html
running above 90% for your age is pretty good.
Male 47 1 mile 83.09 percent = 4:59.66
Male 25 1 mile 83.05 percent = 4:30.31
While lots of masters guys can run sub-5, lots of masters guys can't, too! And the great thing about masters competition is that the over and under guys are equally welcome.
We masters guys recognize that the best among our age groups are "lucky" as opposed to "superior," and we also recognize that everyone goes through the same thing in training and races no matter what the end result is according to the stopwatch.
It's more about doing it than how fast you do it.
So come on out to the races. You'll find a lot of encouragement from your peers, whatever your goal!
Oh, and it was John Hinton who ran the 3:49, trailing only Tony Young's 4:48 on this year's masters list.
Um ... I meant Tony Young's 3:48.
Here's some US records for the 60-65 age group:
800 m 2:14.75 Sidney Howard NJ (60) 2/26/99
1500 m 4:43.75 James Sutton PA (61 )3/7/93
1 mi. 5:01.76 Dan Conway MN (60) 3/27/99
Running under 5 as a master's runner is a nice accomplishment, for sure! That said, a lot of us can run pretty far under 5:00, and routinely run sub 5 miles in track workouts. A lot of masters runners capable of good mile times don't race on the track very often, because it takes a special effort to search out and travel to the races, compared to trail or road opportunities.
John Potts - Indoor 1500 - the progression
male 45 - 4:03.69 (1990)
male 50 - 4:14.73 (1995)
male 55 - 4:27.01
male 58 - 4:41.57