Can most (50% or more) of guys run a 5 minute mile?

To clarify, I know that elite milers have very good 400m speed. The speed I'm talking about re: football and basketball players is physiologically different, though. It's the kind of short-burst quickness that lets a running back spin past a tackler, which is quite different. I probably should have said "quickness" to avoid confusion.

if u train properly 98% of guys could run a 5 minute mile. if you dont hit 5 at the right age with the proper training then that just means you havent beaten your mind

woww wrote:

if u train properly 98% of guys could run a 5 minute mile. if you dont hit 5 at the right age with the proper training then that just means you havent beaten your mind

Werd.

Sockalexis wrote:

I came to running from hockey and my best mile was a gut-wrenching 5:08 on a grass oval. That was nearly 20 years ago. I bow to anyone who can run sub-5:00.

As well you should! I prefer that you greet me by calling me "O Great One". You can then make a request (either for material things or knowledge) and then I will meet with the other sub 5 minute milers to see if your wish will be granted. I will then say "Be Gone!", and with a backhanded sweep to show you the direction to go, you are to turn quickly yet respectfully and return from whence you came. You are not to contact me to see how your request is being processed. You will be contacted at my whim.

That is all.

bs

Brew Crew wrote:

I think 1% might be somewhat low. I played basketball in college and all the guards each year were required to run under 5 minutes for the mile. We never had one guard not make the standard. And to say the least these were not track motivated people. Only myself and one forward had any track background. I ran the half and the forward was a 400 meter runner.

I wouldn't be so skeptical. Our starting point guard ran a 14:07 5k.

Nice post! While I agree with the sample size technique, we can't get a sample of what we're talking about, so that's why I would fall back to the best guess of experienced coaches. Of which, you would probably count. But FPW doesn't (smile). Good point about athletes and the physical demands of their sports.

then he is a runner too, probably first and foremost he is a runner... that is completely ridiculuous, 14:07 is a stellar time showing someone who has put in a ton of work with a talent for runningas the guys earlier said, a sample of 1 anecdotal evidence means nothinglook at the guards in the nba, i have a hard time believing most of them, at any given moment could run a sub 5 mile, they have a different kind of speedi think i read iverson runs more than most nba stars and only does 'fast, shorter' runs and i think read even he has a mile best in the 4:40s

kartelite wrote:

I wouldn't be so skeptical. Our starting point guard ran a 14:07 5k.

99% of all nba point guards could break 5:00 in the mile if properly trained.

kartelite wrote:

I wouldn't be so skeptical. Our starting point guard ran a 14:07 5k.

True. When I was at Penn State in the '80s, I had Mohammad Gammoudi on my basketball team. He said that when he was at Tunis Tech, all the basketball players there had to run under 2:30 for a marathon.

reasr wrote:

99% of all nba point guards could break 5:00 in the mile if properly trained.

i definitely agree with this.

the 14:07 example is clearly an outlier or a special circumstance. but NBA guards have body types not unlike runners. certainly bulkier, though not huge.

and i'm sure that many of them run extensively in the off-season, so i bet they are pretty familiar with the feelings of running pain.

Well he wasn't at that point, but yes he ended up dropping basketball to exclusively focus on running. Obviously that is an outlier, but a 14:07 5k is a world away from just breaking a 5:00 mile. But it's not unrealistic to think that all three or four guards on a HS/college team could break 5:00 in a mile...the odds of that are probably greater than having one individual among the guards eventually run 14:07 (and compete multiple times at D1 nat's). And I'm not saying the guy is necessarily telling the truth, but if you think about all the people who clicked on this thread, the odds that SOMEONE would have had that experience goes up quite a bit.

I'm not sure if I believe that Iverson has actually run in the 4:40's, but I do think he and most NBA guards could if they really wanted to; perhaps at the expense of their quickness and physique.

Another thing to keep in mind is that a mile is not a 5k. A lot of people who would have a hard time running the "5k equivalent" to a mile would indeed be able to run a good mile. Breaking 5:00 neither requires fantastic speed nor endurance, that's why I think if there were a $1 million carrot hanging out there for anyone who broke 5:00, we would see somewhere around 40% of guys attain it.

there is a big difference between properly trained and what they would ever be willing to doand i'm not so sure about that, they are fast no doubt, but not distance fast

kaitainen wrote:

reasr wrote:

99% of all nba point guards could break 5:00 in the mile if properly trained.

i definitely agree with this.

the 14:07 example is clearly an outlier or a special circumstance. but NBA guards have body types not unlike runners. certainly bulkier, though not huge.

and i'm sure that many of them run extensively in the off-season, so i bet they are pretty familiar with the feelings of running pain.

I've read all 10 pages of this and I conclude:

1. Lot of you guys (especially the ones training yourselves) have/had lousy coaches.

2. Few of you have even rudimentary reading comprehension since only a small percentage attempted to answer the initial question.

3. Flagpole Willy, despite his ernest claims otherwise, remains gloriously full of himself.

4. $1 million offered to every male upon high school graduation if they can break 5:00 for the mile would result in a more than 50 percent success rate, given quality training (which it is clear is not available in a high number of U.S. high schools and sadly colleges), proper nutrition, and the motivation (the previously mentioned $$).

5. The posts about VO2 Max and the general population were the most helpful in my understanding of the situation, however, again quality training can and does overcome many, many obstacles.

6. A lot of potential sub-5ers would never do it for any amount of money because it frankly hurts too much to run sub-5, let alone do the training for it, and us Americans remain a pampered, slovenly lot of pussies.

1) True.

2) True.

3) False.

4) Extremely false.

5) True. It helped YOUR understanding.

6) True, but not enough to make it 50% or more.

So, you got 4 of 6 right, or two-thirds. Not bad brother.

well, i tried.

thanks professor willy.

but i believe i'll bring my grade before the review committee since you appear to have some bias on at least one of these questions.

a journalist wrote:

well, i tried.

thanks professor willy.

but i believe i'll bring my grade before the review committee since you appear to have some bias on at least one of these questions.

I'm all for the appeals process brother.

I think a lot of the pro argument is coming from people with an athletic background...basketball players, hockey players, soccer players, etc. Of course you're going to have a better chance at running a 5:00 mile. You are already athletic. Most people in the world are not. There are people out there who train their entire life, put in 50, 60, 70 mile weeks...and can't break 4 hours in the marathon (9min pace) or can't break 3 hours in the marathon (7min pace). It's not due to a lack of trying.

Alan

200! You know the drill Wejo... been a little disappointed with the speed of service as of late.

As to the topic, I will act as the review committee. It's been determined that A Journalist got at least 5/6 correct.