There a few guys I know of that have run over 200 miles in 48 hours. It is on a flat loop or track. Not trail. Olivier LeBold ran 260 miles in 48 hours back in 2015.

 

Just announced : Patrycja Bereznowska of Poland on your IAU ratified World Record for 48 hours. Patrycja set a new standard of 403.320 km/250.611 mi at Pabianice, POL on May 13-15, 2022.

There a few guys I know of that have run over 200 miles in 48 hours. It is on a flat loop or track. Not trail. Olivier LeBold ran 260 miles in 48 hours back in 2015.

  

RA’s own Bob Hearn ran 240 miles in 48 hrs in 2020!

Are you planning to race the mile soon ?

Flavio - I know you were asking Zebano this but was thinking about asking you something - I have only "raced" the mile once since high school. It was during COVID, and I ran it on a track with a friend about 4 hours after time trialing my current 5K PR, i.e. probably not exactly fresh. Anyway, I ran literally 5:00, and it's bothered me ever since. I know I can go sub 5:00 on fresh legs, and frankly have a chance at 4:4X. But all that really matters is I'd like to just go run a sub 5:00 mile and be done with it.

I assume there's nothing I need to do to prep for this or frankly even adjust my training for, correct? I'm doing a bunch of base speed work before my VO2 max hell commences in March, so I figured this might be the best time to do it. This work involves a lot of 200 and 400 meter repeats right around mile pace. However, I don't know if VO2 max is actually useful to the mile, and it would be better if I just wait.

Thoughts (others too)? Also, any other tips for racing the mile appreciated. It will probably have to be a time trial on a track. I know the mile is one of those things where it's hard to get right the first time, as I think most of us distance guys fail to realize how hard you have to push in the 2nd lap (that's where I blew it last time, started doing my relaxing like I do in longer races). However, I would like to get this done in one shot if possible to minimize time away from home as I do not have a track anywhere near where I live.

JMac In my experience it's the third lap where people go limp (myself included). Right around 1000 it starts to suck. Also mentally you know you still have one more lap after this one, so in my opinion lap 3 is the hardest part of the run. Also in my opinion/experience, with the mile you can open a bit aggressively with the pace, within reason, without blowing up. I don't see shame in a slight positive split for the mile.

Competition helps a lot, but it's hard to find a track mile race. If you can though, this would be by far the best way to go about it. My best PRs came with a lot of competition. The first time I broke 5, which was like a 7 second PR going from 5:00 to 4:53, I came in 5th or 6th place with people on my tail.

I don't think you need to change much about your training, but doing more 200s and 400s fast will help. Workouts that put that shit feeling in your legs from a lot of fast running are good for the mile. My coach used to call it "speed endurance", your ability to maintain an actual fast pace.

Also you don't know if VO2 max helps the 5k? I was under the impression that 3k-5k is the range where VO2 max matters the most?

 

Flavio - I know you were asking Zebano this but was thinking about asking you something - I have only "raced" the mile once since high school. It was during COVID, and I ran it on a track with a friend about 4 hours after time trialing my current 5K PR, i.e. probably not exactly fresh. Anyway, I ran literally 5:00, and it's bothered me ever since. I know I can go sub 5:00 on fresh legs, and frankly have a chance at 4:4X. But all that really matters is I'd like to just go run a sub 5:00 mile and be done with it.

 

I assume there's nothing I need to do to prep for this or frankly even adjust my training for, correct? I'm doing a bunch of base speed work before my VO2 max hell commences in March, so I figured this might be the best time to do it. This work involves a lot of 200 and 400 meter repeats right around mile pace. However, I don't know if VO2 max is actually useful to the mile, and it would be better if I just wait.

 

Thoughts (others too)? Also, any other tips for racing the mile appreciated. It will probably have to be a time trial on a track. I know the mile is one of those things where it's hard to get right the first time, as I think most of us distance guys fail to realize how hard you have to push in the 2nd lap (that's where I blew it last time, started doing my relaxing like I do in longer races). However, I would like to get this done in one shot if possible to minimize time away from home as I do not have a track anywhere near where I live.

I may not be the fastest here, but I've probably run more mile/1500m races than anyone else.  I've always found the 3rd lap is the critical one, the one when most runners slow down as fatigue sets in and they want to save their energy for a final kick.   While you might get away with the first lap being 1-2 seconds faster than goal pace, anymore than that and you risk blowing up or slowing drastically on the third lap.  Almost all my best 1500m/mile races have been very evenly paced with a spread of no more than 2-3 seconds between slowest and fastest lap.

VO2Max is very important for the mile, but if you're already running 400m intervals at about mile pace, that should suffice. My key workout was 8-10 x 440yd at 74-75 with a 440 yd jog recovery before I ran my first sub-5:00 mile (4:56.4). While it might not work for everyone, the pace I could run an 8 x 440yd workout was close to the pace I could race a mile.

Something that was mentioned to me once: for any interval workout, put a focus on really hammering the second-to-last rep. The last rep is often your fastest because you know it's the last one, and you can give everything you have left. For the one before that - you're feeling heavy fatigue, but know you still have one to go, so mentally you tend to try to save something. Instead, push yourself to go hard. You'll likely still have what you need for the last one, but it's good practice to avoid slacking off lap 3 of the mile.

There are several variations structured to address that issue.  If you have a decent sense of pace, stepdown intervals will really help. In that case start at a slower than race pace interval, then drop two seconds for every interval, e.g. 82, 80, 78, 76, 74, 72, 70, 68.

Fishy - I can run easy runs by feel and be very accurate. Somehow I can rarely find race pace when it matters, which is race day.

Andy - LOL, your kiddo got busted! He will now remove the watch 😁

Zebano - No, I'm weak too, it's that the lack of grip strength impacts considerably for pull ups.
I do have a wish to race the 800 one day, I wonder if I could break 2:20. The 3000 is awesome, that's all I can say.
I'm thinking if sardines don't work for gu replacement, at least they repel mosquitos, right?

Jmac - I see you've already got plenty of great advice.

If you're doing 200's and 400's at around mile pace you're probably on track. Just make sure you're doing a full recovery in between sessions.
Your heart rate has to drop down to easy pace so you start the next rep fresh.
Like the others, I find the issue is the 3rd lap, that one hurts like a mfer and the temptation to drop pace is very strong.
I'm quite certain you can run 4'40 which is a nice round 1'10 per lap, (well, there's those 9 meters at the end to account for).

I also agree with WCRunner (which my mind sometimes reads as "Toilet runner" LOL, if you go out too fast the first lap, you will pay for it with a much slower 3rd lap.

Also ditto to try to run it in a race, you will be considerably faster.

Here's a thought to liven up your day: Someday you will run your last 5K PR, but you will not know during that day, nor on the weeks or months afterwards. It might be years before you realize it 😈

 

 Flavio - Your inspirational message made me think of a line from one of my favorite books/movies. The first person to identify the quote without a google search wins....

A day may come when the courage of men fails, when we forsake our friends and break all bonds of fellowship, but it is not this day.

I just watched return of the king literally last week for the first time since it came out, so this was an easy one for me