Rise of the American Mile, Part 1

Less than 60 years ago, some of the most prestigious scientists in the world adamantly felt that running a metric mile in under 4:00 was outside the realm of human possibility. Learned medical scholars agreed that surpassing this barrier—running a quartet of laps around a 400 meter oval in under 1 minute each—would cause the heart to fail, the lungs to collapse, and the legs to seize.

Today, in 2012, running the 1609 in under 4 minutes will not even qualify you for the national collegiate championship. On some collegiate teams, like Oregon or Stanford, you might only get a pat on the back. (In 2009, Oregon had 5 sub 4 minute milers on their roster!) Again, let me put that into perspective: What was once thought physically impossible by the human body only 60 years ago is now done in a routine manner by 18-22 year old guys in a country that is considered mediocre at best when it comes to distance running. However, that last assumption is quickly changing. The One Mile Run has been a benchmark for the incredible and unprecedented improvement of the American distance running system.

 In 2000, six collegiate milers broke the 4:00 barrier, according to Track and Field News. In 2010, 22 collegiates broke the barrier during the indoor season. Because of the enormous mile fields at the NCAA meet, they changed the automatic qualifier for the NCAA championship to 3:57.9 in 2012. You need to break 3:58 to qualify for a collegiate championship in track and field right now! So far this season, 28 people have broken 4:00, ten have run under the automatic qualifier and the American collegiate record has been broken by Miles Batty of BYU running a sickly 3:54.54. And remember, this is just the collegiate system—the developmental program for our professional level teams. 

 On a pro-level, the past three years of American distance running has seen the American record for the men’s 5k broken three times and the 10k record broken twice. Likewise, both the half marathon and marathon record have been broken by Ryan Hall. We have seen both men’s and women’s world championship winners and medalists in all events from 1500 to 5k in the past five years. One thing is for sure: There has never been a better time to be US distance running fan.

What could possibly be responsible for the seemingly implausible rise in American distance running in recent years? How has our sport elevated from a phase in which running was considered recreational exercise to a point where we are finally beginning to be competitive with the best runners in the world? All sports are subject to evolve and improve over time; That is simply the evolutionary nature of athletics. However, something strange is happening with the sport of track and field in the US. A sport that was once monopolized by East African countries is now beginning to evolve... and the Americans are getting some mentions and recognitions. I believe that there are a few things that are responsible for this dramatic transformation and I will discuss them over the course of the next week or two…