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How fast could you run a single mile?

StylishStylish ✭✭✭
in General running

This is a question which is asked on Marathon Talk. If you were given 6 months and everything was taken care of for you ie no working, shopping, cooking, travelling etc and you had all that time just to devote to training/recovering etc how fast do you think you could run a single mile at the end of the 6 month period.

The fastest they had on there is in the region of 3.53!

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Comments

  • JackHarris87JackHarris87 ✭✭✭
    No idea. I've never raced shorter than 5k so wouldn't know where to start with that sort of distance. I guess the number would start with a 4:xx



    I'd be much more interested to know how quickly I could run a marathon given that timeframe and no commitments.
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  • PhilPubPhilPub ✭✭✭
    Stylish wrote (see)

     

    The fastest they had on there is in the region of 3.53!

    What does that even mean?!

    I suppose it depends how much pain I was willing to endure trying to improve my lactic whadjummacallits, but given that McMillan reckons my marathon time is equivalent (ha!) to 4:29, I'm going to pluck a figure out of the donkey and say 4:21.

    (My one attempt at the distance was in a relay race in Battersea Park, 4:52, but the halfway turn was worth at least 2.5 seconds I reckon.)  image

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  • Andrew Thomas 34Andrew Thomas 34

    Our club had a mile race recently and I did it in 6:20.

    I'm about 21:30 for 5k.

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  • VDOT52VDOT52 ✭✭✭
    My latest 5k time suggests 6:05, but when I put in a few weeks to sharpen up in October/November, my time then suggested 5:50, so with 6 months I would guess at about 5:15 but that could be wildly optimistic. One of the local clubs does a 1m race in September so I'll be able to see where I am then( I have recently introduced some struvtures training including lt running and strides etc).
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  • Cal JonesCal Jones ✭✭✭

    Back when I was around 30, I did a 6:20 mile on a treadmill. That was a real effort - I was completely winded. At the time I was doing a lot of interval work and was pretty fit. At 47, and outdoors, I reckon around 7 something. I'm not fast.

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  • Sprint AkieSprint Akie ✭✭✭

    I could run 800m in 2:10 about five years ago. Like to think I could do under 5mins if I trained specifically for it over a period of time. 

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  • Tom77Tom77

    I've done a single 1 mile race, managed it in 5:46. Hoping to have another go sometime but there don't seem to be many 1 mile races around.

    I reckon a 10% improvement over 6 months is probably realistic, so I reckon I could get pretty close to 5 minutes. If this hypothetical 6 months includes professional coaching, nutritional, physio, etc then under 5 minutes should be doable.

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