A sub 4 1500 friend of mine raced against a 4x400 team composed of random co-workers and got smoked

Here we go again. No random person runs 55 and no random non-runner trained for a whole year to win a 100 bucks nevermind getting 4 to do it. Take your bs elsewhere.

-100/10

Indigo fly wrote:

no random non-runner trained for a whole year to win a 100 bucks nevermind getting 4 to do it. Take your bs elsewhere.

Last time I checked, "last fall" to Friday, January 25 is considerably less than a whole year.

And who knows what their training was. Maybe they just ran a hard 400 every other day and called it good enough.

I know the guy who ran the 55. He ran 49 seconds in college at Georgia. Don’t be fooled by this so called random group of guys. A 55 makes many high school 4x4 squads.

Next time try "sub 5:00 1500 runner" and splits of 75 seconds.

average guys are fast wrote:

None of them had any track or cross country experience.

. . .

One of them didn't even wear spikes.

:)

Indigo fly wrote:

no random non-runner trained for a whole year to win a 100 bucks nevermind getting 4 to do it.

1.) A few of them played recreational sports before the challenge started, so they were already active. Perhaps they used the race as an opportunity to improve their speed to get better at basketball, football, ultimate frisbee, or whatever their main sport was.

2.) A year was given "if needed". They knew they wouldn't need to train for anywhere near that long. For all we know, they were ready to race within a month, but the race was postponed due to bad weather or because one of the guys got injured.

3.) Don't underestimate the motivational effects of ego and teamwork. It's embarrassing for 4 people to lose to one guy, and you wouldn't want to let down your team and get the blame by not training enough.

Avocado's Number wrote:

average guys are fast wrote:

None of them had any track or cross country experience.

. . .

One of them didn't even wear spikes.

:)

Doesn't prove anything. How hard is it to buy spikes from the local sports shop, wear them for the race, and return them afterwards?

average guys are fast said: I think it's pretty clear that the average person runs a lot faster than what many people on here think.

I think it's pretty clear you have no idea what "average" means.

when folk on LetsRundotcom talk about "an average guy," they are not just referring to a non-runner, they are referring to a properly Average American male. the four guys in your sample were not, not by a long way, "average," guys. your "average" American has a BMI of 29, just shy of being defined as clinically obese, (see below). I would bet next month's paycheck that no obese person can run 400m in less than 80 seconds.

cheers.

Random coworker wrote:

I know the guy who ran the 55. He ran 49 seconds in college at Georgia. Don’t be fooled by this so called random group of guys. A 55 makes many high school 4x4 squads.

None ran collegiately.

unknowns wrote:

Avocado's Number wrote:

:)

Doesn't prove anything. How hard is it to buy spikes from the local sports shop, wear them for the race, and return them afterwards?

I think it's very hard for anyone with an ounce of integrity.

And of course it doesn't prove anything.

Distance runners are the least athletic . This is why “move up in distance” as runners age and become even less athletic. Ultra runners are the end of the road. 7 billion people on earth and maybe 5 people have a goal to race people for hours on end .

The key variable we're missing is how many under 35 year old men there were in that company. If that number were something like 50+, it's certainly conceivable that they simply picked the most athletic guys who were already highly active and had them practice the 400 just a handful of times to get familiar with the pacing. Having multiple sub 60 times wouldn't be surprising or unheard of.

You are incorrect. Charlie Grethen ran for Georgia. He is pulling your leg.

Where's the video? It'd be fun to watch.

Random coworker wrote:

A 55 makes many high school 4x4 squads.

I would expect someone in their late 20s to be more developed than a high school kid if they are active in other sports.

Besides, isn't a 55 relay split something like a 57 open 400? It's been a few years since I graduated, but I don't recall a 57 finishing anything better than mid-pack unless it was a girls race.

The Mooch wrote:

Where's the video? It'd be fun to watch.

It's not the answer you wanted to hear, but there wasn't any video. It was getting dark, and I had to run around quite a bit to make sure that nobody was cutting across the track.

Here's a video of Eamonn Coghlan running a mile against a 4x440 relay of competitive high school runners:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hLfElOGDrgU

calendar wrote:

who knows what their training was. Maybe they just ran a hard 400 every other day and called it good enough.

BKK wrote:

The key variable we're missing is how many under 35 year old men there were in that company. If that number were something like 50+, it's certainly conceivable that they simply picked the most athletic guys who were already highly active and had them practice the 400 just a handful of times to get familiar with the pacing. Having multiple sub 60 times wouldn't be surprising or unheard of.

I'll try to get more info regarding their training once he gets back to work on Monday, but there were about two dozen guys in his company who were under 35. Out of those ~25 guys, only 8 or 9 of them were involved in that initial conversation, though the news might have spread.