It's possible. My pr in the 800 is 1:58.0 set in college at age 19. I ran 1:58.02 as a 35 year old. I ran 52 in the 400 in high school. 53.9 as a 35 year old. I'm hoping to run 1:57 as a 36 year old this winter. Hill sprints, lifting and higher mileage than college are the keys for me with sensible speed workouts. (Not all out races like in college). Good luck. It'll take hard work and smart training.
I'm thinking of taking a crack at it at age 39. I haven't raced in 13 years and I am optimistic I can do it. Good luck. Anyone want to post good workouts to help gauge it?
I did a mix of workouts ranging from Daniel's R pace stuff to I paced stuff + 5k, 3k, mile, 800 and 400 races. Leading up to my 1:58 I ran 6x400 at 64 with 400rest + 4x200 at 30-29 with 200rest. Daniel's R paced workout. I found I could go faster but purposely held back in workouts to save it for races. It worked. I was also doing 6x8sec hill sprints all out on a different day with 55 mpw average.
Bump. I'm old too and find this interesting.
I'm going to say it is unlikely.
I ran 1:55 in HS, 1:51 in college, and 1:59 as a 30 year-old. This year, at 31, I feel like I was probably in 1:57 shape (ran a 1:23 600m TT), but only was able to fit in one race and ran 2:00.
I wasn't really training hard or running a lot, but I was getting some pretty fast, quality workouts in over the period of a couple months. Even with that, my 400m speed has slowed to about 52 low (MAYBE 51 high)...compared to 48 mid at my peak.
I agree with the people saying you get stronger as you get older, and the cumulative fitness you've gotten will help. But unless you've managed to not lose any speed I think it will be tough to get under 2.
An old teammate of mine had similar HS PRs to you, and ran around 15 flat for 5k in college. He has stayed in decent shape over the years, and he struggles to break 2:14 in the 800 now. It's just a different beast. But good luck.
Pisgahtwin wrote:
I did a mix of workouts ranging from Daniel's R pace stuff to I paced stuff + 5k, 3k, mile, 800 and 400 races. Leading up to my 1:58 I ran 6x400 at 64 with 400rest + 4x200 at 30-29 with 200rest. Daniel's R paced workout. I found I could go faster but purposely held back in workouts to save it for races. It worked. I was also doing 6x8sec hill sprints all out on a different day with 55 mpw average.
I hadn't read this reply yet. I'll say if the OP is willing to put in this kind of work then it might be possible.
Daniel Radcliffe?
Pisgahtwin wrote:
I did a mix of workouts ranging from Daniel's R pace stuff to I paced stuff + 5k, 3k, mile, 800 and 400 races. Leading up to my 1:58 I ran 6x400 at 64 with 400rest + 4x200 at 30-29 with 200rest. Daniel's R paced workout. I found I could go faster but purposely held back in workouts to save it for races. It worked. I was also doing 6x8sec hill sprints all out on a different day with 55 mpw average.
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