How do you convert 1500 meter times to mile times?

Answer 1

Add 16 seconds to your 1500m time or take the metric equivalent of the mile (1600m) subtract the race distance 1500m gives you 100 then divide 1600 by 100 gives you 16 second.

Answer 2

"it depends on your pace, but it is only 100 meters short of a mile. So, add somewhere from 20 to 30 seconds."


Adding 20 to 30 seconds doesn't take a runner's pace into consideration. When converting for qualifying standards, I use the following formula...

1500 Meter time in seconds X 1.079709247 =

converted mile time.

For instance, a 4:00.00 1500 meter time would be converted by doing this...

convert 4:00 to seconds. This would give you 240.00 seconds...

Then

240.00 x 1.079709247 =

259.13... This is a 4:19.13 Mile

(the exact conversion of 1500 meters to 1609.343998 meters would use 1.072895999, but we assume that you slow a bit the longer your run.)

Using 1.0797 or about 1.08 allows for some slowing but it may not be enough. An interesting way to look at it is to compare the world records for both races. Interestingly at the current time the world record for both events (for men) is held by Hicham

El Guerrouj

who set the 1500 m. record in July 1998 in Rome at 3:26.0 and the following summer (July 1999) set the 1 mile record of 3:43.1 at the same stadium. The ratio is 1.083, only slightly greater than the 1.0797 suggested above. But the relative slowing over the extra 100 meters may be greater the slower one is running. Also the mile run is not run so frequently as the 1500 meter run so the 1500 meter record should advance more rapidly and make the comparison less valid. Some evidence for the greater relative slowing over the extra 100 meters at a slower pace is that the ratio for the women's world records in the two events is 1.096. But in that case it is 2 different women a few years apart at different tracks so hardly definitive. Using 1.08 to 1.10 seems a reasonable range for a conversion factor for elite to very

fast middle distance runners.