Runner Sleeps at 8,000 Feet to Break 25-Year Mile Record

A world champion runner is barely leaving his bedroom, and it might help him make history.

Josh Kerr, the 2023 world 1500-meter champion from Scotland, has turned his Albuquerque home into a high-altitude training lab. He and his wife Larimar converted their bedroom into an altitude chamber that simulates 8,000 feet above sea level, adding 3,000 feet to the city's already elevated 5,250-foot elevation.

Kerr spends 12 hours daily inside the chamber: eight hours sleeping overnight and another four-hour block in the afternoon. The couple enters around 7:45 p.m. each night, and Larimar (a dermatologist) leaves for work at 5:45 a.m. while Kerr continues sleeping.

The science behind this extreme approach is solid. Time at altitude triggers the body to produce more oxygen-carrying red blood cells, boosting endurance performance when competing at sea level.

His target is Hicham El Guerrouj's mile world record of 3 minutes 43.13 seconds, set in 1999. That's over 25 years of runners trying and failing to break it.

But Kerr has reason to believe he can succeed. During a recent track session at high altitude, he ran four 800-meter repeats. The final two clocked in at 1:50.51 and 1:49.9, both faster than world-record mile pace, even with three previous 800s already in his legs.

His training under coach Danny Mackey follows a strict rhythm. Hard workouts happen Tuesdays, Fridays, and Sundays. Recovery runs of seven to 10 miles fill Monday, Wednesday, and Thursday. Saturdays are completely off from running.

Kerr now lifts weights for up to 90 minutes twice weekly, something he resisted until five years ago. The strength work includes power cleans, heavy squats, and jump squats, all designed around injury prevention.

Recovery gets as much attention as the hard work. Kerr sees a physiotherapist three or four times weekly, works with a chiropractor, and has an athletic trainer who brings a portable massage table to the track. He prioritizes nine hours of sleep nightly, calling recovery the most underrated part of training.

Why This Inspires

What makes Kerr's quest so compelling isn't just the athletic achievement he's chasing. It's his honesty about the cost.

He misses nephews growing up. He can't attend family birthdays and weddings back in Edinburgh. His entire life revolves around training, sleeping, and a carefully controlled environment designed to extract every possible advantage.

Yet he's chosen this path with clear eyes and full commitment. His mother is a physiotherapist who supports his journey. His wife shares the altitude chamber every night, literally in this dream with him.

Kerr doesn't compare himself to other runners. After 15 years of fine-tuning his approach with his team, he judges success on one metric: whether he peaks when it matters most.

His recent workouts suggest the physiology is there. Whether it translates to a sub-3:43.13 mile remains the question every record-chaser faces. But after a quarter century of that record standing untouched, someone willing to sleep at 8,000 feet for months might be exactly what it takes to finally break it.