Who wins if all the best US milers from the last 50 years could race each other in their prime?

Whoever can acquire the most TUEs

LRC scribe wrote:

You guys are trying to argue with a guy that:

1) Was aggressively wrong about Iguider's 1500m being legit as opposed to short

2) Was aggressively wrong about the 2012 Olympic 10000m tactics/time

3) Was wrong about Kiprop's 800m performances early this season

and a thousand other similar examples.

It's like trying to explain love to a desk.

Maree ran his 3:29 in Rieti 86!

Centro was going to run 1:43 or faster tonight!

Rudisha in 1:42 flat shape!

The list is endless.

Miler/1500m wrote:

So you did your research and came up with an 800m which he also was afraid to attack from the gun and ONE mile when he ran the first lap in 58. You're research proved my point.

I was a 3:59 miler and went through 400m regularly in 58. These are common first lap times for hacks like me. My fastest first lap ever was a 56. It's telling that Ryun, a 3:51 miler and a million times more talented than me, never ran a fast first lap and it's his glaring weakness.

Clearly, he was a first lap snoozer and afraid of the full distance he was racing. His reluctance to attack from the gun ruined his Olympic ambitions and clearly several American milers would bury him early in a hypothetical race.

Or maybe he wasn't an idiot and didn't kill himself on the 1st lap, say he goes out in a 58, that's 3:53 high/3:54 low pace for a full mile if you include the change. His PR is 3:51.1 (57.4 pace) so excuse him for going out .6 seconds to slow, which is only 4 meters in distance compared to his average time. The ideal way to run any distance race 1500 meters (maybe the 1200 or the 1000 is included in this but they are not raced enough to be studied like the 15/16/mile and up) and above is to run perfectly even splits. Say you want to run a 4:00 1600 (just to make the numbers very easy) the first lap should be run in 60 seconds at say 85% effort (Or whatever the number is) the next lap should be at 90% effort, the next lap should be at 95% effort and the last 400 should be at 100% effort. Each lap should be the same time but it should require more and more effort to maintain that pace until you feel like in the last 50 meters you are in an all out sprint but are really only running 15 second 100m pace. If you are all out sprinting on the last lap and you run a 55, that means you weren't spreading out your effort over the race and you would have a faster time.

In reality Jim Ryun was a genius racer and isn't afraid of the distance because he didn't kill himself on the 1st lap.

First off, you are claiming every lap should be the exact same split ideally for all races mile and up without offering a single shred of support.

Secondly, the point is that in this hypothetical race, Ryun isn't going to the front to try to run away from everyone, based on his history,and he ain't outkicking Lagat.

Ryun a genius racer? You're kidding right? He ran an Olympic semi, when he was the world record holder and up to 20 seconds faster than guys in have race, dawdling at the back of the pack. Consequently, he gets tangled up, and guys he can easily outgun man handle him like a prison yard biotch.

He should have front run that race and buried those fools.

He wouldn't out kick lagat over 400 or even 600, but, taking a lap to feel out the race and gain good position and then use the next 1200 to break the field would not result in a sit and kick race.

As for the pacing its common sense, your training should allow you to have a base big enough to sustain a certain speed over your goal race distance that will leave you completely spent at the end. So let's say because of your training, and/or a time trial, you know your max effort is a 4:00 1600, if you run a lap at any point during that 1600 under 60 seconds that is going to induce more significantly more lactic acid buildup then a 60 second lap would, which you will pay for later in the race. If you start off slower and attempt to negative split, you are not expending significantly less energy than running a 60 and it would be worth running a 60 rather than a 62 because you get an extra 2 seconds without expending significantly more energy.

One race, i'm sure bekele, geb, Gerouj, coe and all of the other greats have messed up tactically in at least one race. Let me know if you can find someone who hasn't had a bad race tactically.

Sydney Maree followed by Lagat. Both barely catch Steve Scott in the last 5 meters. Scott still rocking his sub4 singlet. Wish I had that singlet. Jim Ryan 4th followed by Centro and Webb cramped up with 600 to go because of his Big Mac attack