6:13 maybe i could break 6 on a really good day. 41 years old. weird thing is i am a descent triathlete, 9:43 ironman this year with a 3:26 ironman run. but i have zero speed

I had a feeling you couldn’t not respond with more doubt. You keep quoting me wrong. I have already clarified and there is a large difference between “little effort” and “a little more effort than what I currently do”. I have nothing to prove to you and will waste no more time thinking about it. If you are having issues believing my abilities, I guess it would blow your mind to know I can name a few others off the top of my head that are faster than me at 40 and I would consider us a small pond in the running community.

Have a great day.

Smells like a fish story.

Ran track in high school, tried in college but had to many injuries to get through a season to post a decent time. Never ran the mile but posted a 1:55.1 800m senior yr HS and ran a few sub 1:53 3200m relay splits in there. Likely a sub 4:20 miler if I would have went for that but sub 4 is crazy talk. Even saying I could do 4:20 is a stretch because I never did it.

Where do you live? Iten?

maybe only slightly wrong, but you are the one making pretty remarkable claims. A little more effort than now means about 1 month of serious prep, at most.

Absolutely spot on. We had a 1:52 800m state champion in HS, and was only able to do around a 4:11. There was a kid at another school that was close to possibly breaking 4 and the press followed him at every meet...he never did do it (had his last name sewn in big letters down the legs of his warm up pants, and on the back of his jacket, so he wasn’t lacking in confidence)!

Around 6 isn’t shabby, it requires some speed!

Yup. I think what rubbed me the wrong way about h2owings, aside from how close his handle is to h2ofun, is his nonchalance of 4:20 as if it's no great shakes. "Oh, I did 4:20 when I was 30 and it was no big deal, and I'm sure I could do it again at 40 too if I threw some speedwork into my training" I am highly skeptical of such claims.

I ran in college. I was a good but not extraordinary D3 runner. I was a 1:57, 3:58, 15:00, 31:30 guy. 3:58 is 4:16 mile equivalent. So I barely managed that "no big deal" 4:20 mile level when young, fast, and training my ass off year round. I appreciate what sub 4 really is and what even the seemingly pedestrian 4:20 is. To think that a bunch of 40yo strong runners not named Bernard Lagat think they are just going to do a few intervals and be able to throw down that time is a bit ludicrous. But, maybe not. I don't know the guy.

I was helping out at an intramural meet in college when they were about to run the 440. Bunch of fraternity guys egged on a friend to do it. He lines up in shorts and converse shoes and does it in something like 58. He’s dying afterwards but once he gets his breathing back...he lights up a cigarette!!!!

I’m always surprised at what people can do in terms of running, doesn’t really matter and you guys should save your rage for my Noodle Boat thread😁

Early college days at the University of Washington (I didn't run for the school --- track coach told me he wouldn't take any walk-ons) I went to a special track meet as a spectator. Carl Lewis was there, supposed to have done the 100/200 and long jump. He backed out of the 200. Anywho... They had a special over-40 mile event. The winner, who won literally running away on the home stretch, clocked a 4:11.

Mind you, that was in the mid-80's...

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Monty, I thought Paul Thomas was a sub 4 miler. So that leaves Graham Hood and Paul thomas as STers who have gone sub 4. Who else.

On my side I never ran a mile race in High school. During my armed forces fitness test in 3rd year at Royal Military College of Canada when we ran 1.5 miles as part of a test that included sit ups, chin ups, standing broad jump and a shuttle run sprint course, I ran 7:08. This would make my average mile pace 4:45. This was run in regular running shoes (no spikes). I actually used my Nike Sock racers for that run. I regret that I never tried to run a fast mile at the track. Take it down to 1 mile even and spikes and specific miler training and who knows what may have been possible. I had the right body type to do well at that distance as I was 135 lbs and had a decent 200m sprint.

No Dev, PT would have a fit if people thought he was sub 4 for the mile. Along with dan and I, he is the most honest and is the site policeman when people claim old run times. He has caught his share of lets say, fish tales.. I believe he went 4;06/07 or there about. I thought I recalled Lucas V. coming on here back in the day, and Alan Webb during his few year attempt at ITU, and way back when, Craig Mothram in his early pro triathlon days. But if could have just been their coaches or managers, a lot of posts, a lot of time, and a lot of chlorine on the brain.

I do however remember Graham, as he came on here and was talking about these unbelievable times, and made a game out of the 3 of us catching him, and figuring out who he was. PT finally got him, with the help of Dan and his IP search. Narrowing down exactly where this guy was posting from, then doing an extensive web search of the territory he was claiming to have run in..Needless to say, we were more than surprised when we figured out who he really was, that was fun...

Forget fastest milers who have ever posted on st. How about fastest milers to ever participate in triathlon. Got to be Webb (3:46.9) and Mottram (3:48.9), right?

Any T&F or road racing or swim world record holders ever race triathlon? For running that's largely East Africans, so can't think of any candidates. Swimming, can't think of any either.

If I remember correctly it was 4:4X or 4:5X in high school.

During the Presidential Fitness Test...

...I wasn't a runner, just a hockey player and musical theater geek.

Side note: Do they even do the President Fitness Test in schools anymore?

I’m one of those guys. 4:3x many times in HS, 16:04 5k. I was never a threat to actually break 4:30 though.

(4:3x won a lot of local high school races in 1990-91 because I could fly down the homestretch. But if guys pushed the pace to 4:1x to 4:2x, like they would in a Regional, I was out the back and hopeless.)

I just turned 47. My last 5k was at 6:50 pace and I might be able to run 6:20 but it would make me feel like my heart is going to explode. I’m 5’9 and trim (mid to low 140s) so it isn’t really a weight issue. It’s turnover, stride length, reduced max heart rate, etc.

So, the question, as you age is anyone else ever in awe of your former self? Do you ever look back and wonder how in the hell you moved as fast as you did?

I have new goals and train hard and enjoy going longer and doing the best I can but sometimes I just wonder how I ever moved my legs that fast (and I know, I wasn’t that fast).

I compete (show up) in the 200, 400, and 800m meets, plus run up to half Mary’s in addition to triathlons. At one point a few years ago, in my 50s, I was seriously trying to go sub-60 sec for the 400 (had college track workouts where that was the workout repeat intervals). Fast forward to a speed workout last week on the track, and 83 secs seems to be my new 400m max. And at 61, I’m actually very happy with that.

4:59 in a street mile in 1984.

I didn't run a timed mile in school as part of any phys ed course, but I did run the very popular Cooper 12-minute test during college.

It's been 20 years since my Kona PR and I was feeling a bit wistful yesterday about my current fitness at age 60. I was thinking about doing the Cooper 12-minute test this year the morning of the Kona race. I could achieve a 100% score for my age (according to this calculator) if I can do 1.75 miles in 12 minutes, which is just under a 7 min/mile pace. I figure if I can do that I'm still pretty fit for my age and then can settle back contently on the couch for the rest of the day watching the Kona coverage.

I'm only 25 and I'm amazed by what my fast twitch used to be able to do. If I run an all out 400 at the end of a track session now, I'll probably run it in 68 or something. Without fail my first thought after seeing that number is, "How the hell did I run that 65s 4 times in a row when I was 17?" I'm actually 2 times the athlete I was then but man, the lack of single sport training and a full commitment to developing my slow twitch muscles has definitely taken its toll.

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3:48 1500m so around 4:05 for the mile and for a true mile, 4:12 on an indoor 200m flat track...both in college. My fast twitch muscles are also long gone, although I bet I could go 4:20's now.

I ran a local road mile back in the mid 80s when they were sort of a hot thing. 4:45 on just my triathlon training. nearly killed me.

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3:48 is solid. Where did you run?

Penn State Behrend, a DIII branch campus of Penn State

What is interesting is in our military fitness test the pass mark was 10:15 for 1.5 miles. Even the fat football player linemen had to do it or be put on remedial Physical training. This is exactly a 6:50 mile pace. But the fat linemen were not 60 either.

4:47 last year, not really built like a runner and have been running for 3 years not focussing on an all-out 1600m. Probably could squeeze a few seconds off but not much.