Masters ultra runners who can break 5 minute mile

How about masters with the best mile/marathon combo. Ultras are cool and all, but there is too much variation between courses, kind of like xc.

There would be a very long list there.

Rob Krar might be the only one who could go out the door and run that time today.

Max King would be there too I assume when he gets over 40.

I thought masters runners sub 5:00/mi are super common?

Like 75% AG performance or so or am I wrong?

I follow a guy on strava who is 49 and threw down a 5:11 in a meet, but he's just an AG tri person

Don't get me wrong he frequently podiums at the shorter stuff, but at the longer ones not so much

Low 18 5k guy, known to take 3rd place in his AG at charity 5ks

(Almost 2 minutes faster than me heh)

Are we talking 'Masters' as in 40 years old? A 5:00 min mile would be fairly common (approx 78% age grade). Among ultra guys I would think about the same as shorter road racers. If you are talking 50 and older, much less common.

I was thinking it's about 80% as well for 40 and 85% for 50 years old. The question is can they still run that after years of 100 mile races at slower speeds?

Isn't Jurek retired? He would have been a close call even at his peak winning WS (ran 5Ks about 17:00).

Bob Shebest / Jesse Haynes

not certain i understand the question, but are you asking about the existence of people over 40 who can break 5:00 in the mile and have run any ultra?

that's got to be an awfully long list. I did both at age 50 [complete a 50 miler, break 5:00 for mile], and i'm on a good day 3rd best in my local club in my 5-year age group

if you mean who are the best ultrarunner/miler combos among masters, that's of course a different issue, and i wouldn't know

cheers,

Dave

dhaaga wrote:

not certain i understand the question, but are you asking about the existence of people over 40 who can break 5:00 in the mile and have run any ultra?

that's got to be an awfully long list. I did both at age 50 [complete a 50 miler, break 5:00 for mile], and i'm on a good day 3rd best in my local club in my 5-year age group

if you mean who are the best ultrarunner/miler combos among masters, that's of course a different issue, and i wouldn't know

cheers,

Dave

Yeah cuz every "local club" in America has at least four or five 50+ guys that can run sub-5:00 and run a decent ultra. Yawn.

dhaaga wrote:

not certain i understand the question, but are you asking about the existence of people over 40 who can break 5:00 in the mile and have run any ultra?

that's got to be an awfully long list. I did both at age 50 [complete a 50 miler, break 5:00 for mile], and i'm on a good day 3rd best in my local club in my 5-year age group

if you mean who are the best ultrarunner/miler combos among masters, that's of course a different issue, and i wouldn't know

cheers,

Dave

What was your age degression of mile PRs and what was your timeline of Ultras?

Is the 50 mile race a one off or a regular thing?

50-miler a one-off to celebrate turning 50, though it's now been six years and i'm considering trying another.

sub-5 mile at 50 was just barely (4:59.2 about a month after turning 50).

don't have a detailed trajectory of mile times handy, but lifetime PR of 4:41 from an all-comers meet in college, maybe age 20. 4:42 at 16

long period of not running track meets ages maybe 21 to 38

comeback -- worked down from about 5:07 to IIRC 4:47 in mid-40s and then slowed, gradually but of late precipitously. haven't run one in a year or two but most recent something like 5:21

To the person above who thinks i'm humblebragging..... not on purpose anyway. The reference to my club was just a shorthand way of saying i'm not a national-level runner or what have you. Mark Neff and Jeff Duyn are the M55-59's in my club [montgomery county road runners, in maryland] who are much better than I am at all distances.

i was more trying to clarify the question in the thread. "Ultra runner" i take to mean just "has finished an ultra", which obviously takes patience and training but is not IMO a remarkable accomplishment. if the OP means good or excellent ultra runner, that would narrow it down, and some clarification could help.

thanks,

Dave

So in fact, your club currently has no 50+ guys who have run sub-5:00 in the past year? That is quite different than implied in your first post.

This is why posts can never be taken at face value on here.

BTW if you still score above 80% WMA than you are national class.

Yes, looks like sub 5 at 40, if it is 80%, is indeed National Class.

https://www.usatfmasters.org/fa_agegrading.htm

Frankenberry wrote:

Able...

Rob Krar

Potentially able...

Jeff Browning

Others who were potentially there...

Scott Jureck

Can anyone confirm these abilities?

Who are others?

Are these the only three masters ultrarunners you even know? And why would you pick Jurek and Browning? those are guys who only ever excelled in mountainous longer ultras and would be the least likely to run a fast mile.

Sorry, I forgot Dean Karnazes

simply having finished a 50 makes you MORE likely to be able to break 5 in the mile. The mile is what 75 percent aerobic? 80 or more? being over 40, if we look at 5k times often this age group is even the winner, is their mile that much slower? I wouldnt expect manh 40 plus guys to have a great kick, but plenty of strength if theyve been running over a dozen years.

so how about someone over 50 who has been running ultramarathons since they were. 40. now theyre really less likely to be able to break 5.

How fast was Karl meltzers mile when he was known as the speedgoat?

I suspect that this may turn out to be a fairly long list. There are a couple in my small local running club that would fit the description (run a ultra and broken 5 in the mile at age 40+). They are good competitive club runner, but definitely not world-class.