I know this topic has come up before, and the general rule of thumb is 12-15 seconds per 1600 slower than 1600 race pace to get an accurate 3200 conversion for a slower-twitch, elite prep runner. It surely held true in my case. But what about for girls. Say a girl capable of 5:30. Does the same rule apply?
Opinions?
You multiply it by 2 because 3200 is twice as long as 1600
Multiply by 2.15 is a pretty good estimate. 5:30 girls should be a little under 12 minutes. 11:50 using the 2.15 conversion.
I use 2.17 as the conversion factor for highschool 1600m to 3200m.
That puts 5:30 at 11:55, or if they are more slow-twitch say 11:45. Even that's ~22 seconds per mile. But then again 5:30 is not an elite girls HS time. For that rule to make sense, you'd have to have VERY little leg speed. It's honestly just not a good rule IMO.
2.17 wrote:
I use 2.17 as the conversion factor for highschool 1600m to 3200m.
That puts 5:30 at 11:55, or if they are more slow-twitch say 11:45. Even that's ~22 seconds per mile. But then again 5:30 is not an elite girls HS time. For that rule to make sense, you'd have to have VERY little leg speed. It's honestly just not a good rule IMO.
I get that 5:30 isn’t an elite time. So, let’s call it 5:00 at a minimum. What I’m saying is the rule held true for me, full on slow twitch, and my average 1600 during my 3200 PR was only 14 sec slower than my actual 1600 PR. I’ve know quite a few “slow twitch” runners like this over the years. What I’m asking is is this conversion the same for a girl who can run 5:00? I don’t see why it wouldn’t be, but the consensus here is no.
Sub-9 guy wrote:
2.17 wrote:
I use 2.17 as the conversion factor for highschool 1600m to 3200m.
That puts 5:30 at 11:55, or if they are more slow-twitch say 11:45. Even that's ~22 seconds per mile. But then again 5:30 is not an elite girls HS time. For that rule to make sense, you'd have to have VERY little leg speed. It's honestly just not a good rule IMO.
I get that 5:30 isn’t an elite time. So, let’s call it 5:00 at a minimum. What I’m saying is the rule held true for me, full on slow twitch, and my average 1600 during my 3200 PR was only 14 sec slower than my actual 1600 PR. I’ve know quite a few “slow twitch” runners like this over the years. What I’m asking is is this conversion the same for a girl who can run 5:00? I don’t see why it wouldn’t be, but the consensus here is no.
I haven't done any actual research or anything, but in my experience just watching people on our girls teams and trying to figure out conversions, girls tend to get closer to boys the longer the distance is (ie marathon world record is a smaller fraction of the race different then the 100m [if we even count flojo's time]), so I might use a slightly smaller conversion for girls then for boys.
For someone that is more on the strength side than fast side and HS JR/SR multiply by 2 and add 40 seconds. For a younger runner or someone who is more 1,600/800 probably adding 50 seconds is more realistic
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Sub-9 guy wrote:
I know this topic has come up before, and the general rule of thumb is 12-15 seconds per 1600 slower than 1600 race pace to get an accurate 3200 conversion for a slower-twitch, elite prep runner. It surely held true in my case. But what about for girls. Say a girl capable of 5:30. Does the same rule apply?
Opinions?
I believe that a miler should split 1500m in their converted time for 1600m +- 3 seconds in a 3000m race. For example, a 4:00 miler should run a 3:58.5 1600, so he’d run about 7:51 to 8:03 in the 3000
Convert this to 3200m