What's realistic? Sub 4:30 mile. (Read 3485 times)

wow, that is fast. I would be happy with getting under 5:30 which is my goal this year.

Best of luck to you with achieving your goal! Keep us updated!

Nice. Sounds like you know what's in front of you and you certainly have the talent to draw upon. I'd caution you in saying "probably could have by now" when referencing breaking the 4 minute barrier as that is very hallowed ground. Plus that 1-2 seconds can be difficult even under the best of circumstances. It's odd that you put an exclamation point by your 5:22 mile in your log and even said "currently my best time is 5:22.45 set a couple weeks ago" but I understand long layoffs and the need to begin anew. Where did you run in college?

I am starting anew. I figure, what's the point in judging myself by my old times. It took me 3 years of discouragement to figure out that I can't expect that of myself right away anymore and that if I am going to recover my times, I have to expect it to take a long while. When I first quit, I stopped for about 4 months and discovered that I had lost over 30 seconds from my mile time, that fast. It would take me a year or more to get it back so I just quit for even longer - it was easier to focus on work and the relationship anyway (prior to that I was training about 2 to 6 hours per day depending on the routine that day) and so the cycle continued... next mile attempt several months later I'd lost another 30+ seconds, etc, etc. Let me tell you from experience: if anyone who reads this ever gets to a physical potential that makes you happy and took a long time to achieve, *do not* take a break from it - the level of conditioning above standard base goes away really fast! In college I ran around the parts! Seriously, though: nothing against you or anyone on these forums, but I'd rather not discuss my educational background. Personal prefrerence, thanks for understanding.

Jim, I don't fault you for being suspicious. I would be as well. But you have to understand, I don't necessarily have a preset goal. I'd be satisfied with a 4:45 mile by the end of 2008. That is precisely why I started the thread, to ask for others' opinions. I never said that my goal was a sub 4 within 1 year. I am well aware that that is not possible, even for me. I believe you are thinking about the following post in the 10k goals thread: (http://www.runningahead.com/groups/10K/Forum/ee694a45a07740b493aa7a2d70edb6fd) I'd like to run a sub 35 before July of 2008, and be under 30 minutes by the end of 2009. Right now my PR is 42:16, but that was set on December 8th of this year. I could probably run a sub 40 at this point, but I will not attempt another PR until about the 10th of Jan, '08 Your reply to my post seemed to indicate that you thought I did say sub 4 within 1 year, but I was talking about a sub 35 10k by July '08. I didn't even want to bring up my old personal records but I was asked directly, and have nothing to hide in that sense, so I did. But they're in the past now, I'm 4 years older and a lot less fit. As to the bodyfat being 6.6% - yes - that was my last reading. You can see how my body comp changed dramatically at my vitals page (http://designfate.com/vitals.php). It probably looks pretty crazy, but with the right diet, all the running, and intense weight training, my bodyfat dropped like a rock. My goal was 8% by December 15th, iirc without looking at the logs, and I am very prould to say that I crushed it. I'm scheduled to have my bodyfat taken again tomorrow and hopefully it's a bit lower by now, but I've been eating a bit less healthy given the holidays, so I won't be surprised it it has gone up a bit.

If I've done the math right, your stats indicate you gained 14 pounds of muscle mass in 12 weeks. Please, someone tell me I got my math wrong. Was this body fat testing from a reputable source? I cannot even express how difficult it is to gain mass like that, while cutting fat at the same time. Please someone tell me my math is wrong.

I'm not sure how reputable the source is, but someone close to me with a skin fold caliper has been taking the bodyfat measurements via a 3 point test at the shoulder, stomach, and mid thigh. I just weighed myself and I'm down to 155 lbs. I'm not sure what math is involved in calculating how much muscle I've gained, so I can't tell you if you've done the math right. The 19, 16, 11 and 9% values were all rounded up (18.5%, 10.9% and 8.8% is what I can remember without finding the paperwork where it's jotted down), but when the bodyfat went below 9% I decided to just list the values as given. EDIT: For what it's worth, he's AIII/ISMA (<--- i think is the certificating authority), ace and acsm certified and operates as a personal trainer full time. i can get you the model of the skinfold caliper thing he uses if you want. i="" think="" is="" the="" certificating="" authority),="" ace="" and="" acsm="" certified="" and="" operates="" as="" a="" personal="" trainer="" full="" time.="" i="" can="" get="" you="" the="" model="" of="" the="" skinfold="" caliper="" thing="" he="" uses="" if="" you=""></--- i think is the certificating authority), ace and acsm certified and operates as a personal trainer full time. i can get you the model of the skinfold caliper thing he uses if you want.>

In college I ran around the parts! Seriously, though: nothing against you or anyone on these forums, but I'd rather not discuss my educational background. Personal prefrerence, thanks for understanding.

No worries at all. I was just wondering because with a time like that you would have certainly qualified for Nationals at the D1 level or would have certainly won the D2 or D3 championship. Last year there were only 15 athletes that ran 4:01 or faster indoors in D1 (you didn't specify but I would guess it came indoors since the 1500m is the more common event in outdoor track for a guy with your time). I'm also aware that your 4:01 didn't take place last year but I'd be fairly confident that you did qualify as the provisional qualification has been consistently around 4:04. I would be curious how you felt the race went and you can keep it in general terms if you'd prefer.

The section on the mile has training schedules for the mile ranging from 4:00 up to 6:30.

Hey, Jeff? Any chance you could let me know the times they say for training for sub 6:00? My current mile is 6:30 - sub 6:00 is a goal of mine for this year.

Yeah Bonks, they say 220 in 37 seconds and 440 in 78 seconds. BTW, I plugged 78 seconds for 400m into McMillan and it predicted an equivalent mile of 6:20, and 200m time of 37.3, so their appears to be some legitimacy to the above criteria.

Thanks, Jeff!

I have just had a look at your log Bonkin, and I was wondering what I would be able to do a mile in now. Not done a time trial in ages. I can currently do a mile in 7:30ish after a warm up whilst under MAF of 157, so anyone any thoughts?

Sub 7. How much higher intensity training have you done? That would be a limiting factor.