Mo Farah, Asbel Kiprop, David Rudisha, and Kirani James all run a 54s 400m. Who is LEAST out of breath?

Pretty interesting question, I like it!

Remember Mo just ran a 3:28, so he really isn't that far behind him in terms of speed. I think Mo is being overlooked here. I would he would have the easiest time. Mo -> Kiprop -> Rudisha -> James

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What! It would be between Kipop and Farah! James and Rudisha do not have the range? 54 would is not that far off the formers 1500 pace. The later two would be more stressed at 54?

the 400m runner is not going to be fresh after 400m. The 800m runner will easily win the next lap if they do two. Kiprop, already a low 1:43 guy years ago) will be second, Farah third, and James fourth. If they do a mile, the miler will dominate. Farah will be second, Rudisha third, and James fourth. For 5000m, Farah, Kiprop, Rudisha, James. etc.

The man that wins, because he would be the one celebrating on a post-race high, whilst everyone else is in pain and just lost. Hence: Kirani James is the winner.

Your answer to your example is wrong. What makes you think for one second that the person who has the easiest time producing the 54 second or whatever time the OP posted, wouldn't be the least out of breath? The harderit is for them to get the time, the harder they work and will be more out of breath. Take an athlete's aerobic capacity out of this its not far enough to matter.

Rudisha! Since this is a hypothetical question and we can't actually measure who will be out of breath, we can use another metric, such as noted before, by asking who could do two of those 54s back-to-back with most ease. That gives you the best clue as to who is most winded after the first 54!

162430 wrote:

Neither Farah nor James could run a 4-second negative split (with the one of the fastest second laps in known history) on their way to a 1:44.0? No sh*t!

What I'm saying is that Rudisha and Kiprop could.

all you distance runners can shut it. kirani easily wins this. mo is clearly last. rudisha and kiprop would be close but i'm going with rudisha. as a 4/8 guy i can tell you that every 8 i ran, the first 4 was a jog. you run the 8 using your speed and you want it to feel slow so you can make it through. unlike a distance runner (15/8 guy) who tries to hold a fast pace and feels the pain of the 8 for the whole last 4, the sprinter doesn't feel anything until maybe 2 to go. most of the guys i trained with were distance oriented 800 runners and we all had similar pr's, but in a slow 4 they wouldn't stand a chance. a 54 for kirani is like a warm up lap, he might not even break a sweat. for rudisha it's pretty slow, but that's only 3-5 seconds slower than what he usually comes through. kiprop can easily handle it because he usually opens up his 15 at that pace, but he isn't jogging the beginning of his 15. for farah that's close to hauling a$$. keep in mind his hauling a$$ at the olympics was only a 52.

Octa wrote:

Rudisha! Since this is a hypothetical question and we can't actually measure who will be out of breath, we can use another metric, such as noted before, by asking who could do two of those 54s back-to-back with most ease. That gives you the best clue as to who is most winded after the first 54!

You call this logic & reasoning? Simply changing the question to who could run the easiest 1:48? The answer to that question, I think, is still Kiprop--because Kiprop could run 54s the longest, operating most efficiently at that speed. Farah vs. Rudisha is a toss-up for second (who could hold 54s the longest? I suppose Rudisha) and James is clearly last.

1. Webb

2. Regina

3. Rexing

4. Mykytok

Rudisha could run 54s all fvckin day long.

If we define "least out of breath" as consuming the least amount of oxygen in the minute after completing the 54s 400, I'd go with Farah. That is because his lungs and circulatory system are so well develop and efficient that he will consume most of what he needs during the 54s and have a relatively minor "dept" to recover from.

more than anything else, this is an awesome question because it puts on display the wide range of perception of what the reality is.

it would be interesting to see these 4 guys race against each other at 800m.

i'm confident that if James was motivated and had a month to train specifically for it, he would surprise a lot of people.

it's tough for most distance runners to even try to fathom that a 200/400 guy could also crush an 800, but remember this HS athlete...

michael granville's HS PRs

200m - 21.35

400m - 46.15 = 216% of his 200m time

800m - 1:46.45 = 498% of his 200m time

kirani james

200m - 20.41

400m - 43.94 = 215% of his 200m time

800m - (1:41.64 in theory) = 498% of his 200m time

michael johnson

200m - 19.32

400m - 43.18 = 223.5% of his 200m time

at 223.5% he's clearly not going to step up to 800m well

with a bit more thought, my list goes like this now...

1. James

2. Rudisha

3. Kiprop

4. Farah

Farah runs least out of breath. Process of elimination:

James is running his event and therefore will be tired out

A 54 for Rudisha in terms of effort is probably like 80%, and by then he has ran half of what he competes in. He will be winded.

Kiprop and Farah are close, IMO. Judging by the race in Monaco, Farah and Kiprop are not too far off from each other in the 1500. Farah's endurance is superior to Kiprop's, so he is less winded.

In other words, Farah is a beast.

I don't believe anyone has pointed out a poignant question related to HOW they run this 54 second 400. Are we talking about an evenly paced OR positive/negative split effort? The way in which these guys run it, from my perspective of analysis, is more indicative to their fatigue than simply looking at a 54s 400 in a vacuum.

Nappy Roots wrote:

I don't believe anyone has pointed out a poignant question related to HOW they run this 54 second 400. Are we talking about an evenly paced OR positive/negative split effort? The way in which these guys run it, from my perspective of analysis, is more indicative to their fatigue than simply looking at a 54s 400 in a vacuum.

If they all run it in a vacuum they will be equally, and COMPLETELY, out of breath.

I would say they all run it whichever way they feel comfortable as long as they all finish together and the lap is run in 54 seconds.

If they were all to run 47, then Kirani would just cruise and shut it down and feel comfortable.

Rudisha would be pressing a bit more. A minute later he would be fine, but at the line he would feel more stress.

Kiprop would have to be working a bit in the end.

Farah would be all out if he could do it.

Change it to 65.

Easy for Kirani James but right after his pulse would be up a bit as would his breathing.

Farah would be completely conversational crossing the line at that pace.

54 is a nice middle number.

Maybe you could compare their max pulse rate to their pulse rate for the minute after completing the lap.

Wow, he should step up to the 5k then. his time would be under 11:30.

Wise-Up Charlie wrote:

Rudisha could run 54s all fvckin day long.

domestic pro wrote:

Nappy Roots wrote:

I don't believe anyone has pointed out a poignant question related to HOW they run this 54 second 400. Are we talking about an evenly paced OR positive/negative split effort? The way in which these guys run it, from my perspective of analysis, is more indicative to their fatigue than simply looking at a 54s 400 in a vacuum.

If they all run it in a vacuum they will be equally, and COMPLETELY, out of breath.

LMAO

You would NEVER get this on sprintzone.

Great question.

Think about this: which of these athletes could run the greatest number of successive 54-second 400's? Or which could run at 54-second pace for the longest?

Wouldn't it be the athlete who is able to go 54 and have the greatest energy contribution from aerobic sources?

Sure, a 54 will be easy for James, but what energy systems will he use at that level? Let's assume a steady pace to 54.

Because Mo's aerobic engine is probably huge compared to James' and Rudisha's in relation to body mass, I would think that he could go 54 almost completely aerobically, since he can apparently go sub-50 nearer to 100%.

Kiprop, OTOH, probably also has a huge aerobic engine, but not as great, I would think, as does Mo, per unit body mass.

Again, think about this: which of these athletes could run the greatest number of successive 54-second 400's? Or which could run at 54-second pace for the longest? Surely each of them is capable of a 1:48 800m.

Kiprop's recent 1500 in Monaco averages out to 55.4 pace for 3:27.72

So clearly the answer for each of them is somewhere between 800 and 1500m

I still think the person who has the greatest contribution from aerobic sources will be the least winded, and I think that would be Mo.