Who could run 12 sub 50 second 400's in 12 hours?

hypothetical wrote:

Could be any athlete from any sport and any time period.

My votes would be Mo Farah and David Rudisha.

Too close to Mo's top speed for him to have a shot.

Rudisha is a good pick. I think a quick miler with good endurance would be a solid pick.

Kiprop?

El G would likely be a good choice considering the 'help' he probably had, though I think his 400m PR might be too close to 50 so idk how 'easy' it would be for him.

Actually, I think most professional 800m runners could manage this as well as most world class milers.

2nd choice: Felix

umm have you heard of Alysson Felix? wrote:

https://www.flotrack.org/articles/5065910-watch-fred-kerley-destroys-collegiate-400m-record-in-4370

2nd choice: Felix

A 400m runner wouldn't be my ideal choice for this challenge. Sure, I bet many of them could do it, but I bet world class 800m runners have a much easier time with it / finish it much more quickly.

if the hypothetical were :52s 400s

at :50? You basically need a 400 guy, especially when a 'fail' is to click off a 50.03, and you get to re-do it

at 48/9 in practice, just not enough headroom, unlike a 400m runner

I might agree with you wrote:

if the hypothetical were :52s 400s

at :50? You basically need a 400 guy, especially when a 'fail' is to click off a 50.03, and you get to re-do it

Most elite 800m runners can run a 45-46 (some faster than that). A lot of elite 800m guys regularly go out in 800m races under 50 seconds. I'd bet a lot of money on a solid 800m guy getting 12x400m in sub 50 done a lot quicker than a 400m guy.

Didn’t Cento do 8x400 with the first 7 in 51 and the 8th in a mid 49 a few days before his Olympic win? I’m sure this workout was done in an hour or under, so surely given 12 hours Centro could have done 10 400s in 49.9 or faster, and if centro could have done it then surely the likes of Lagat or El Gourouj could have manged this without much difficulty as well.

Sorry 12* not 10

an elite 800m person can go 45/46, which is exactly my point [+3s easy for a workout]

it will be easier for the 400m guy

Sir Farah can't run a single 400 in sub 50 let alone 12... my vote is Emmanuel Korir

VIPAM is the only one in history who could have done it.

yea, in a race setting wrote:

an elite 800m person can go 45/46, which is exactly my point [+3s easy for a workout]

it will be easier for the 400m guy

A 400m runner is going to have more trouble replicating 49's than the 800m runner who can run 45s. 400m runners rarely run that far, that fast in practice. While they certainly could run 49s in practice, doing it over and over is going to be much tougher for the 400m guy.

Just because it's one second closer to race pace for the 800m guy doesn't mean its harder. 800m guys likely click off sub 50 second 400s without a second thought in practice. Heck, Symmonds, when he wasn't even at his peak, did 3x400m in ~50 seconds with the Brooks Beasts, and that was with much shorter than the hour rest allotted. And he is certainly not a 400/800 guy.

Wayde Van Niekerk when he was in peak condition maybe. Rudisha probably could have. Elijah Manangoi probably. Wilson Kipketer. There are probably more 800m runners who could as well.

Just about any elite or sub elite 400 runner can do that eating a sandwich. 1 hour is plenty of recovery time.

Make it a beer 12-sub-50-400's-in-12-hours, with the beer not part of the 50 seconds, and then it might be interesting. But I still think any 46 or better runner would have no trouble at all.

I would guess slightly over a (total)100 collegiate to world class (a few) 400m men, numerous 800m, several milers could do that session.

almost every elite 400 & 800 runner can do this. an hour is a lot of time for a sub maximal effort.

when i was running 1:51, i could do 4 400s at ~54 with 4 minutes recovery and i was only a 50r 400m runner.

so a 45-46 runner, with more strength than me, can prob already run 5 x 400 at 50 w/ 4-5 minutes recovery.

now, stretch that rest out to an hour.

i'd venture to guess that for some people, this would pose very little difficulty.

I was not elite, but I could probably have split about 46 high at my best (and my 1500 PR was sub 3:40).

I could not have run 8, much less 12, sub 52's in a day. (Which would be about the difference from my years ago best to world class guys running sub 50's).

You are all forgetting that you have to warm-up and cool down for each of these 400's if you are giving an hour rest. The best way to approach this would be to give about the max rest before you have to cool down; maybe 20 minutes between each. Maybe try to split it into two workouts, but you're going to be completely fried for the second one, even if you only have to do one on that second one. So, if I'm being very optimistic (and talking about 52's), my max would probably have been 4 or 5 w/ 20 min rest in the AM, and 2 in the PM.

800 guys DON'T LIKE THE KIND OF MILAGE YOU'D NEED TO GIVE AN HOUR REST IN A SINGLE DAY.

The only people I can imagine doing 12 sub 50's is Kiprop or one of the North African dopers. Or maybe Ryun. And I'm not sure any of them could.

You couldn’t run that many sub 52s in a day yet you managed sub 3:40 and we’re a 47 or so guy?

That doesn’t make any sense.

I only ran 1:52 and split 49.high and I managed 4x400m in around 53 with 8min rest.

You don’t need to run 2 miles every time you do one of these 400s. You make It seem like the person who does this workout will run 20+ miles in the same day.

This would not be crazy hard for an elite 400/800 guy.

The answer is obviously Rudisha. The man averaged 50.45 in his 800 WR.

Can you run repeat 400s at half a second faster than 800 pr? Of course you can. Take 10 minutes between reps and this will feel very manageable and you’re done in 2 hours.