The DMR 1200

The 1200 for the DMR is one of the most perplexing events for track enthusiasts like myself. Its almost never raced competitively outdoors, rarely raced competitively indoors by teams top runners, and of course it is never run as anything but a relay so splits are all we got. Zavon Watkins of course was a master of the 1200 last year at indoor nats, Penn and then outdoor nats. He dropped into the 3 flat area by the time all was said and done. Great Valley's Ned Willig has already been around the 3:01 area twice this year. I myself ironically just ran a PR in the 1200 dropping down under 3:20 for the first time. And tonight my girlfriend from Muhlenberg is running the 1200 leg on our women's DMR team tonight at the armory.

So overall what does it mean if you run a 3:12 1200? Or a 3 flat? What kind of shape are you in for the real events like the mile and the 800? How fast can other non 1200 guys run the 12? Well there is an "expert formula" that I heard some guy say one time, but to me it makes sense. Look at it this way:

If you can run 4:20 for the 1600 that's 65's per lap.
If you can run 1:56 for the 800 that's 58's per lap.
If you can run both a 1:56 and a 4:20 that's a split difference of 61.5's per lap.

Therefore, in theory, in a fresh, competitive 1200 you can run about 3:05ish.

So take Willig for example. He was running a 1200 off the double, so you can't give him 1:51-4:12 credit. But on the double indoors he was probably in 1:52ish and 4:16ish shape. That's 56s and 64s which split the difference is 60s and 3 flat.

Look at Horgan, also doubling back. He split about a 3:07 or so, so we give him credit for 62.5 laps. Let's say doubling Horgan is about a 1:55ish guy and a 4:26ish guy. That gives him 57.5 and 66.5, which split the different gets you about 62. So right around 3:07 pace, and the fast 800 time makes the overall time faster, but the larger spread indicates he is less likely to keep up the pace over time. Another factor to think about.

Looking back over the years guys like Crits and Springer have also dropped right around 3 flat kind of 1200 times which are the fastest I have ever heard during my breif time following track. Both of those splits were outdoors fairly early in the season. But Springer was in 1:52 split and 4:10ish shape by that point in the season to be fair.

The 1200 is no slouch event of course, it takes a lot of guts to run it hard and there are certainly guys who excel at it (Joey Waddington from CB South instantly comes to mind, UD's Matt Lorenzo, Joe Sachetti) just as I am sure others tend to struggle a bit.

But overall if you are looking for how fast you think you could run the 12, use the calculator I just laid out to get your goal.

It's worked fairly well for me.

The first 12 I ran outdoors my Junior year I ran 3:24 which is 68 pace. At the time I was probably in 2:06ish shape and 4:48 shape with a little give either way so the split made sense.

This past 12 I just ran I was probably in around 2:03 shape and 4:45 shape which puts me at roughly 71 and 61 which split the different is 66s which is 3:18+, right around what I ran.

Just something to think about bros. Peace.