Employee 1.1's 17 year sub-5 streak is on the line. Can he break 5 today at age 32 with almost zero training?

4:59 baby!

Buckbee wrote:

We are live!!!

and...?

runnerchef wrote:

Buckbee wrote:

We are live!!!

and...?

You can watch the replay here :

4:59.4 official time

66 (66) (wrong mark short split, probably 71ish)

2:37 (85ish)

3:52 (75)

4:59.4 (67.4)

Very cool congrats Steve

Was that Benway assisting?

Nothing treadmill counts except as training.

Find a 400m track, begin thirty feet before the start line, and run four laps in lane 1.

well, you got me watching with some interest. i must be a teacher on winter break...

for the record, pt. 1: i've got a streak going back to may 1982, my sophomore year in h.s. and first year of running competitively (my h.s. was 10th-12th grade) at age 14. so, depending on how you count it, i've got a 37 year streak, or i will have done it for 38 years of my life, having done one in october a couple of days after my 52nd birthday. it ain't getting easier, so still a long way from spence's streak. i think there are a couple of people out there with streaks longer than mine, though...

for the record, pt. 2: as steve has already sorta figured, there are no "kingston rules" here, and guinness likely will not count any of these records, so you can make whatever parameters will satisfy you, and still be sure your parameters may not completely satisfy everyone else. for example, most of my sub-5 runs were undocumented (all-comers meets, rabbiting kids i coached, etc.) from age 30 to 42, and some were unwitnessed, mainly because i hadn't thought of this streak as a "thing" until i was well into my 40s and read about spence's streak. i'll probably try to knock one out after the new year so i can maintain a "calendar year" streak and include 2020 in case the rest of the year goes south. while i would not recognize a treadmill sub-5, or even a road sub-5, who cares what i think, especially if you're doing it for yourself anyway...

for the record, pt. 3: ...but exactly why are you doing it (besides "just for me")? (by the way, just saw the run--nice job) i like that i've been in sub-5 shape for the better part of ALL of my 36 years, so at this point i have no interest in doing it once a year just to say i could and then go back to less--or no--fitness. but that's just me, and i won't criticize anyone who does it for other reasons...

for the record, pt. 4: did you measure a 1600m or a mile? did you wheel the "inside" part of the "lane" you were running, or middle? for my own peace of mind, mine were all done on a track (and vaporfly free), and i ran either the extra distance or went far enough under 5 to satisfy any conversion (yes, there are probably people who wouldn't accept a conversion, but whatever)...

that's my story and i'm sticking to it,

cush

Hardloper wrote:

You can watch the replay here

https://www.periscope.tv/w/1LyxBLdAYWbGN

INEOS was better.

But nice job anyways

Employee 1.1 told me not to wear my Nike vaporfly for the record's integrity.

Thread of the year, right here.

And "Vapofly-free" is a thing now!

Way to go steveo-o!

Might as well head back down this weekend and bang out another one to reduce stress for 2020.

Got to admit you exceeded my trolling prediction. Way to go.

The guy has done "zero training" and you're talking about cutting him slack with treadmills and downhills? What's wrong with you?

Nobody should care about his streak if he can't be bothered to care about it either. In fact we should be rooting for him to fail.

Amazing. If only I had known about this before today, I would have driven up to provide live play by play commentary.

Here is a replay of the race. from twitter:

https://twitter.com/letsrundotcom/status/1211749690972233730

Now some will probably try to DQ him because aren't you supposed to measure it like 3 inches off the turn or something?

socalcush wrote:

for example, most of my sub-5 runs were undocumented (all-comers meets, rabbiting kids i coached, etc.)

There are a lot of documented all-comers meets in So Cal:

Was that Pete Sampras doing the filming?

Nice run. It looks tough to run fast there, not to mention the splits.

Shoes - Adios 1? Could have done better.

The streak lives on, 4:59.33 or 4:59.40 depending on which watch you want to take (full mile for those who asked). In retrospect, deciding on doing it in the Civic Center at the last minute almost screwed me over. I had no clue where we were. I had put down duck tape on the ground at the start/finish, 400m, 800m and 1200m, but since I didn't write anything on them, we messed up which marks were which split. So when I heard 66 or 67 for the first 400, I definitely was worried we had blown it already and way overcompensated that second 400m. 

I felt like crap for that next quarter (and apparently looked like it because yikes do I not look smooth in that video) and when I heard 2:37 at the 800, I truthfully wanted to just stop running. If I hadn't dragged my friends along (and Rojo hadn't hyped this up on the boards), I might have just called it there because I didn't think there was any chance in hell I was running a negative split. (I've also never dropped out of a race before, and I guess this was sort of a race.) I figured I'd run 5:15 if I was lucky at that point and had a fleeting thought about having to break 5 on a downhill mile tomorrow. Also, keep in mind because of the way I measured it, the extra 9.3 meters to make it a full mile was tacked on at the end rather than the beginning. My pacer, Alex, was pulling away from me and I can't even remember if I just thought it to myself or actually yelled it to him, but I said, "Yeah dude, it's not gonna happen."

I really felt like I coasted from 800m to 1200m, putting in some effort trying to get back on Alex (who was nice enough to wait up for me), but I was definitely being a wuss and not digging deep like it was a race. So I was very surprised when we came through the 1200m and Matt yelled out 75. He also said 3:52, but I've been so removed from workouts and races, that meant nothing to me. I still had in my head that we were going to run 5:15 or maybe 5:10, but no hope for sub-5. I wasn't capable of doing the math and figuring out we needed to close in 68. Even if I was capable of figuring that out, I would have told you a 68 was beyond me.

We hit one lap to go and I didn't even know for sure if it was one lap to go. It's so awkward running in there, I just had no idea where we were within the race. You can see in the video on the "backstraight" when I look down at my watch and I saw it was in the 4:20s and I realized it was definitely the last lap. That's when I actually started kicking. But still, I didn't think I was kicking to break 5. I was just kicking for the hell of it, because that's what I've trained myself to instinctively do after 18-years of being a runner. I didn't think we were going to be even close.

So I was absolutely shocked when I crossed the line and looked down and saw 4:59. I couldn't believe it and think I dropped an f-bomb. If I had known how close we were and saw that time, I think I would have reacted with relief more than anything. But in this case, I was just taken aback and excited since I thought I was going to see 5:10+. If we were 3:52.0 at 1200m, then that means I ran 67.4 for the last 409.3m, which is 65.9 pace for 400m. Crazy, I didn't think I could run a 65 fresh if you paid me right now. And man, if I had just missed sub-5, I would have been pissed at myself for treating it as a lost cause mid-race.

Anyway, given the awkward pacing and tight turns in the Civic Center, I think outdoors in good weather on a track, with even pacing, I could be pushing down towards 4:50. I've never done something like this (raced off zero training or fitness) so I had no idea how it'd go. I think being able to get it came down to some talent and just the leftovers from years and years of high mileage training. I never thought I'd actually be in a place where I'm excited to run a sub-5 mile (at least not until I was much older), but here I am. That's life I guess.

Hopefully this will be the catalyst I need to get back into real running again and by this time next year I'm putting together multiple sub-5s back-to-back. I don't know if I'm still young enough to run PRs, but I don't think I want to "hang 'em up" just yet. I'm not expecting to ever live up to Steve Spence's amazing 43-year streak, but Steve, if by any chance you're reading this, you inspired me to try to keep my own streak going so thank you.

Speaking of thanks, quick thanks to Matt Flint for calling out splits and cheering me on, Alex Benway for dragging me through (I don't know if I would have done it today if I didn't have him to chase), Rojo for putting some much needed extra pressure on me by hyping up this thread, and to my wife Celina, who despite being 5 months pregnant and having a broken foot, crutched her way into the Civic Center to film this. And of course to everyone who posted their support on this thread or twitter. This is just a silly personal goal, but posting about it here definitely made it a lot more fun.

Happy New Year and Run Fast,

-Steve

Oh gosh, by golly, holy moly, gee whiz, outrageous!!