Assuming El G was in top shape, how many 3:59.99 miles could he have run in a day?

Accomplished on if my lifelong goals of getting a hot right now thread

1600/800 guy wrote:

fdsfasdfasdf wrote:

Is he riding the pace cart? That's the only way it's happening. Otherwise you're getting lots of 3:59.9x-4:00.0x.

Also even a finely controlled pace cart isn't going to be precise to the hundredths of a second.

In reality, yes, that is true, but this is LR. I'm just assuming that he will without fail hit 3:59.99 on the nose. In practice this would not happen but let's just assume that it does

It's a ridiculous assumption. Would have been more interesting if you'd just asked how many sub-4 miles.

Basically I'm asking how many sub-4s he could have done with the least expenditure of energy on each one so he would be able to do more. 3:59.99 would be the least taxing of sub-4s. This is purely speculative so we don't need to get nitty gritty about whether nailing 3:59.99 multiple times is feasible

Even with a pace car, hitting a specific time to the hundredth of a second would be nearly impossible. Doing it once would basically be a miracle. A second would be so unlikely as to basically be impossible.

Ok, I kind of just said that doesn't matter, but let's say 3:59.x for all the pragmatists out there

Here is a double workout Saif Saaeed Shaheen did back in the day. I imagine he could have repeated the 4x1600 workout in place of the 300 workout if he absolutely had to. So if Shaheen could have theoretically managed 8 sub 4s between two workouts, I think it's plausible that El G could have done 10 or more if spread throughout the day.

Taken from Something New in Training: The Methods of Renato Canova, Written by John Davis

A specific block, as the name suggests, incorporates a significant amount of work at race-pace.

However, a “specific block” need not be confined to only repeats at goal race pace. Canova provides us with the following “specific block” workout done by Saif Saaeed Shaheen (Stephen Cherono) in 2006:

Morning: 4x1600m, 4:30 recovery:

3:56, 3:59, 3:58, 3:58

Afternoon: 2 sets of 5x300m, 30sec between repeats and 2:30 between sets

avg. 38.3 for first set of 5, then 39.0, 37.3. 37.2, 37.3, 37.0

Technically that's only 3 sub-4s in the morning as the second one converts to 4:00+. I feel like he probably could not have done those exact splits later in the day even if motivated to do so, I feel like Shaheen probably could have done 5-6 sub-4s. My original estimate for El G may have been a little low, I'll revise it to 8.

So, about 26 seconds slower than his PR?

My mile PR is about 5:30 right now. I bet I could run at least 10 5:56 miles in a day, spaced out properly. I'm sure Hicham could do more of the equivalent (3:59).

Actually that sounds pretty hard. Make it 6 for me, 12 for Hicham.

Slow Bro wrote:

So, about 26 seconds slower than his PR?

My mile PR is about 5:30 right now. I bet I could run at least 10 5:56 miles in a day, spaced out properly. I'm sure Hicham could do more of the equivalent (3:59).

Where are you getting 26 from?

3:43 -> 3:59

16 seconds

10-14

One every 70 minutes for 9 hours (8 reps)

Eat+Sleep 6 hours (4-5 sleeping in reality)

One every 90 minutes for remaining 9 hours (6 reps)

I think the best approach would be to run them with maybe only 15 to 20 minutes cool down/rest in between. Keeping them as relaxed as possible without having to go deep.

So lets say he gets 6-8 done in 2-3 hrs. Then rest/massage/sleep/whatever for 6-8hrs (now you are at hr 11).

Do same set again. Maybe get in 4-6 in 1.5 to 2hrs. So now at 10-14 by hr 13. Then rest/massage/sleep/whatever for 6-8 hrs.

Now at hr 21 get up and bust a nut, knock out 6 more. Total is 16 to 20. I will conservatively say he could do 14.

Not sure if this is the best strategy for El G but if I were to do something similar this is likely how I would go about it. And I rock so...

This is the way to go. Pretty sure he could have managed this routine four times for a total of 8 with a bonus attempt at a ninth before the clock runs out.

El Gromit wrote:

I'm thinking the optimal way to do it is to do 2 with maybe 10-15min breaks in between and then have 3-4 hours to recover. This way he doesn't have to constantly warm up and cool down which is draining. My bet is 6-7 in a day.

1600/800 guy wrote:

Basically I'm asking how many sub-4s he could have done with the least expenditure of energy on each one so he would be able to do more. 3:59.99 would be the least taxing of sub-4s. This is purely speculative so we don't need to get nitty gritty about whether nailing 3:59.99 multiple times is feasible

It would be incredibly mentally taxing to try to hit 3:59.99 knowing that 4:00.00000 invalidates the entire effort. Running relaxed would be key, so targeting 3:59.85 would better optimize El G's efforts.

Interesting and widely varying responses on here. Keep 'me coming

Not an American wrote:

This is the way to go. Pretty sure he could have managed this routine four times for a total of 8 with a bonus attempt at a ninth before the clock runs out.

El Gromit wrote:

I'm thinking the optimal way to do it is to do 2 with maybe 10-15min breaks in between and then have 3-4 hours to recover. This way he doesn't have to constantly warm up and cool down which is draining. My bet is 6-7 in a day.

This seems reasonable

El Gromit wrote:

I'm thinking the optimal way to do it is to do 2 with maybe 10-15min breaks in between and then have 3-4 hours to recover. This way he doesn't have to constantly warm up and cool down which is draining. My bet is 6-7 in a day.

El Gromit sorry didnt see your response. Obviously I basically agree with the strategy. I do think mine is slightly better though ;-)

probably not even one wrote:

Even with a pace car, hitting a specific time to the hundredth of a second would be nearly impossible. Doing it once would basically be a miracle. A second would be so unlikely as to basically be impossible.

Just because you say something is unlikely or impossible does not mean it actually is. A 100th of a second accuracy is within the ability of a human. Especially if there is a pace car to follow.

Ososk wrote:

probably not even one wrote:

Even with a pace car, hitting a specific time to the hundredth of a second would be nearly impossible. Doing it once would basically be a miracle. A second would be so unlikely as to basically be impossible.

Just because you say something is unlikely or impossible does not mean it actually is. A 100th of a second accuracy is within the ability of a human. Especially if there is a pace car to follow.

+1

seems like the best way to do this would be to do the majority in the first session. say, 4-5 over 2-3 hoursthen try to do 1-3 after full recovery/sleep/massage etcdoing one every few hours doesn't make sense, because you'd tighten up and lose the adrenaline. maybe that's just me, but my first rep never feels the best/smoothest, so i'd bundle

1600/800 guy wrote:

24 hours, peaked, full mile outdoors. Perfect weather, no wind, sea level. Has something mechanical like a pace car to pace him in exact even splits, and has a huge crowd watching him to hype him up. Has good fueling in between.

Additionally, what would have been the optimal way to space them out? 1-4 hours in between? I bet someone will say Daniel Komen spacing and run them back to back.

I say he could have run 5-6 with a possible seventh depending on how long a day he wanted and how badly he needed sleep. Has about 2 hours each in between since he likely does not need 4-ish hours to recover and he would not be running sub 4 after being awake almost 24 hours on tired legs.