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British runner Josh Kerr breaks world record for mile which stood for 27 years

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Re: British runner Josh Kerr breaks world record for mile which stood for 27 years

#61

Post by PaulDavisThe1st »

wging wrote: post #27
Jefro118 wrote: post #5

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm sure the record standing so long is partially down to the fact the mile isn't run at major championships, although the middle distances like 800m and 1500m are more of an open field and not dominated by East Africans like longer distances such as 5k and 10k (Josh Kerr is already an Olympic silver medallist, finishing behind a white American and ahead of an Ethiopian-American).

> I'm sure the record standing so long is partially down to the fact the mile isn't run at major championships I'm not so sure about that. The 1500 is the equivalent race run at major championships (and most paced time trials). But that record (3:26.00 by Hicham El Guerrouj) has stood one year longer, and is generally considered a stronger record. This is possibly the closest anyone's ever come to an equivalent perfo…

Some years ago, I heard that a rough metric for regular athletics: humans slow down by about 5% for each doubling of the distance. If that is accurate even between 100m and the mile, then extrapolating the world 100m record (9.58 seconds) out to the mile would suggest a mile pace of 12.84/100m.

Kerr ran an average of 13.837/100m. If the 5% rule is truly accurate (which is unlikely), there's some scope for faster times. Personally I'd bet the 5% is just a handy rule of thumb that doesn't do much more than to indicate that these are incredible athletes operating at the absolute peak of human performance.

Re: British runner Josh Kerr breaks world record for mile which stood for 27 years

#62

Post by tqi »

pandaman wrote: post #59
js2 wrote: post #28

Watch him do it here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eYi2f4ONEDg&t=180 What an incredible performance. I've seen a sub-4 mile in person. These guys are absolutely flying. All of them. And he beats the pants off that field. Splits (400m): 400m: 55.3 800m: 1:51.1 (56.8 second lap) 1200m: 2:46.5 (55.4 second lap) 1600m: 3:41.4 (54.9 third lap) Mile: 3:42.66 Splits (100m): 100m: 13.8 200m: 27.5 (13.7) 300m: 41.0 (13.5)…

There were two men running in front of him for a while (and both just stopped eventually and just dropped off) - was it to "pull" him in their slipstream?

Partially. They're called rabbits[1] (or pacers) whose official role is to run a specific pace, who help encourage a fast race overall rather than a slow buildup with a fast kick.

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pacemaker_(running)

Re: British runner Josh Kerr breaks world record for mile which stood for 27 years

#63

Post by pandaman »

tqi wrote: post #62
pandaman wrote: post #59

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There were two men running in front of him for a while (and both just stopped eventually and just dropped off) - was it to "pull" him in their slipstream?

Partially. They're called rabbits[1] (or pacers) whose official role is to run a specific pace, who help encourage a fast race overall rather than a slow buildup with a fast kick. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pacemaker_(running)

Very smart. Would be awesome if they had these in track cycling.

Re: British runner Josh Kerr breaks world record for mile which stood for 27 years

#64

Post by cwbuilds »

wging wrote: post #19
cwbuilds wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The shoes definitely help, but there are all sorts of other innovations that get far less press. More is known about optimal fuelling, hydration and sleep. Improve those and you improve your daily training. Better quality training compounds and allows you to reach closer to your talent ceiling. Kerr also had a system set up so his bedroom had less oxygen than the rest of his house (to mimic sleeping at altitude). He…

> I think El Guerrouj set the previous WR in a race without pacers. El Guerrouj had two pacers: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XvCsj7eJKKA In fact, looking at this race, Tanui (the second pacer) actually stays on the track for longer than today's pacers did.

Yep, you're right - thanks for the correction.

Re: British runner Josh Kerr breaks world record for mile which stood for 27 years

#65

Post by cwbuilds »

rustyhancock wrote: post #16
cwbuilds wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The shoes definitely help, but there are all sorts of other innovations that get far less press. More is known about optimal fuelling, hydration and sleep. Improve those and you improve your daily training. Better quality training compounds and allows you to reach closer to your talent ceiling. Kerr also had a system set up so his bedroom had less oxygen than the rest of his house (to mimic sleeping at altitude). He…

Nitrates to dilate vessels just seems like cheating in the PED sense

You'd have to ban beets if you want to ban nitrates. Caffeine is more of a performance enhancer than nitrates, but they wouldn't ban it because everyone drinks coffee.

Sleep is the biggest performance enhancer. They should ban that.

Re: British runner Josh Kerr breaks world record for mile which stood for 27 years

#66

Post by fidotron »

nianderwallace wrote: post #53
fidotron wrote: post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Aha, thanks! Do you have any insight into what algorithm it uses? Like a ghost runner of the record pace or something?

from https://www.letsrun.com/news/2026/07/chasing-342-inside-josh... [Josh Kerr's coach, Danny] Mackey was set to have a meeting with representatives from Wavelight on Tuesday to discuss the pace. He said they have yet to lock in specific splits, but Kerr told LetsRun.com in April that “an even split or a slightly negative split, I think, is the way to do it.” 3:43.13 mile pace is 55.45 per 400, which would mean 1:50…

That link was fascinating, thanks! (Arguably worth a separate submission imo).

Re: British runner Josh Kerr breaks world record for mile which stood for 27 years

#67

Post by AtlasBarfed »

wging wrote: post #19
cwbuilds wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The shoes definitely help, but there are all sorts of other innovations that get far less press. More is known about optimal fuelling, hydration and sleep. Improve those and you improve your daily training. Better quality training compounds and allows you to reach closer to your talent ceiling. Kerr also had a system set up so his bedroom had less oxygen than the rest of his house (to mimic sleeping at altitude). He…

> I think El Guerrouj set the previous WR in a race without pacers. El Guerrouj had two pacers: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XvCsj7eJKKA In fact, looking at this race, Tanui (the second pacer) actually stays on the track for longer than today's pacers did.

Probably a lot more EPO

Re: British runner Josh Kerr breaks world record for mile which stood for 27 years

#68

Post by nianderwallace »

nianderwallace wrote: post #52
js2 wrote: post #28

Watch him do it here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eYi2f4ONEDg&t=180 What an incredible performance. I've seen a sub-4 mile in person. These guys are absolutely flying. All of them. And he beats the pants off that field. Splits (400m): 400m: 55.3 800m: 1:51.1 (56.8 second lap) 1200m: 2:46.5 (55.4 second lap) 1600m: 3:41.4 (54.9 third lap) Mile: 3:42.66 Splits (100m): 100m: 13.8 200m: 27.5 (13.7) 300m: 41.0 (13.5)…

from https://www.letsrun.com/news/2026/07/chasing-342-inside-josh... In terms of actual personal bests, Kerr’s fastest mile is the 3:45.34 he ran to win at Prefontaine in 2024. But his 1500 personal best of 3:27.79, which he ran in the Olympic final two months later, is the superior performance. His PR for 1500m is 3:27.79 and he ran 3:27.7 for 1500m today and then ran another 109+ metres.

Update from https://www.diamondleague.com/josh-kerr-breaks-mile-world-re...

  ...Kerr then hit 1500m in 3:27.62 – faster than his own British record for the distance – and the world record looked within reach.
So 8 out of 10 runners in the race set PBs.

Re: British runner Josh Kerr breaks world record for mile which stood for 27 years

#69

Post by nianderwallace »

Reaction from Kerr: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DeE4S_d1tl0

Reaction from three other runners in that race: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1Z-MM1ArK88

More info on Kerr's typical training week from https://www.dailymail.com/sport/othersports/article-15987481... :

  Monday
  - Ten mile easy run
  - 15 minutes of form drills, sprints over small hurdles
  - Rotate between sauna and cold tub 

  Tuesday
  - Three-mile warm up, nine to ten miles continuous run at tempo pace, three miles cool down
  - Four x 120m strides
  - Session in the gym, lifting weights for up to 90 minutes

  Wednesday
  - Easy run lasting seven to eight miles 
  - Rotate between sauna and cold tub

  Thursday
  - Ten to 11 miles at a moderate intensity
  - Plyometrics and dynamic exercises

  Friday
  - Workout on the track
  - Race-specific 1500m/mile sessions
  - Session in the gym, lifting weights for up to 90 minutes

  Saturday
  - Rest. Spends time walking dog with his wife Larimar 

  Sunday
  - Long run of around 16 miles including some faster tempo pick-ups
Probably in the 60-80 miles per week range.
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