Could anyone run a 5 minute mile?

heres the deal yo wrote:

yes i think everyone (not including those with birth defects/conditions, etc) is genetically capable of running a 5 minute mile for men, 6 minute mile for women. i ran a 5 min mile in 8th grade without ever having gone for a run before. this makes me believe anyone can train to run a 5 min mile.

So you based your beliefs on the athletic abilities of the entire population on yourself being a freak outlier.

Congradulations.

A majority of the male population would have trouble braking 7:00 let alone 5:00. I'm sure if you were building superhumans from birth and sticking them in the Oregon project at age 5 maybe the results would be different. But as almost everyone here forgets the ability to train consistently and progressively is a talent of its own, just look at someone super talented like GF.

And complete BS on the sub 5 basketball team bro. Make it at least a little believable.

Yeah, but I always felt insignificant when competing against the big boys. It wasn't a good feeling to be lapped when I was a freshman by guys who were running in the 9:30s.

It always frustrated me because no matter how hard I tried, the fast guys were always the super slim guys. In IL, guys like Chris Derrick or Jager dominated. A thicker guy like me, 5-11, 165lbs had no business running fast. I guess I didn't have enough fast twitch fibers. Lol.

I always enjoyed training more than the competition. Going on a long run was much more satisfying.

I think anyone with proper training whose under the age of 30, can run a sub 7:00 mile. Its just a matter of aerobic development.

I think there's probably a lot of girls out there who would disagree with you.

I'm 53 and I wonder if I put everything into training for the mile could I break 5:00. I used to do it easily. I was never very fast at it- never really ran it, but sub 5:00 was no problem at all.

Believe it or not it has become a mental barrier. OK, I'm old but still.

I'd love to try and I'm really tempted but I find, as I get older, I enjoy 15K-1/2 marathon better. You get into a rhythm, so to speak, and I enjoy running at a steady pace like that- where you're pushing but not "redlining".

Sheesh, I ran a 5:20 mile a couple years ago at an indoor meet (keep in mind that I was doing NO speedwork, just regular runs and some hills) and I felt like it was a blur.

Well considering that an Average High School Male can run 1 mile in 8:30:00, which is based on a clear medical history and that the male is in decent physical condition, I would bet that with a life long focus on hard training that the average male in the US would rejoice if they could break 6 flat. Sub 5 is way way outta of reach for the vast majority of the population. Guy and Gals included.

runn wrote:

I'm 53 and I wonder if I put everything into training for the mile could I break 5:00. I used to do it easily. I was never very fast at it- never really ran it, but sub 5:00 was no problem at all.

Believe it or not it has become a mental barrier. OK, I'm old but still.

I'd love to try and I'm really tempted but I find, as I get older, I enjoy 15K-1/2 marathon better. You get into a rhythm, so to speak, and I enjoy running at a steady pace like that- where you're pushing but not "redlining".

Sheesh, I ran a 5:20 mile a couple years ago at an indoor meet (keep in mind that I was doing NO speedwork, just regular runs and some hills) and I felt like it was a blur.

Like talking about yourself much? It's not even really on topic.

double BS wrote:

Mojo Jerkin wrote:

I call complete, utter BS on this.

Our local HS has one of the better track teams in our area. I think they have about 70 boys on the team. I can count 8 of them who can break a 5 minute mile currently. Not one of them is on the basketball team, and not one of them is taller than 5 10.

2nd that motion! there is NO WAY they could manage that. If they had the lungs for 5 minute mile they'd be low 31 for 10km. Holding a mile and not going lactic before 2 laps who hasn't trained I strongly doubt it.

I agree with the term "utter BS"

BFJ wrote:

What is the acceptable limit to the human potential in running? I believe that anyone who cared to, could train to run a mile in under 5 minutes. I honestly think that if everyone actually tried their hardest from a young enough age, that anyone is capable of a 4:30 (or so) mile time.

your thoughts?

We've had this discussion before, but no way can any person run 5:00 if they were trained from a young age, and 4:30 is just WAAAAAAAAY off. There was a time when 4:30 was world class. In 1855 the world record was set for the mile at 4:28!

People just are not born with the same physical abilities...ability to process oxygen, power given to muscles, etc. No amount of training can give someone the ability to run 5:00 for the mile if they do not have the inherent talent to do so.

Yes, there are some who might not be able to run a mile without stopping initially who could train and get to 5:00 or faster, but most (the VAST majority) will not be able to do that. I say ~1-2% of ALL MALES ever could run sub 5:00, and that would be with training from the beginning.

bkkn dfsfdn wrote:

Not everyone. A large portion of the population just doesn't have the body structure. Do you think the guys who are 6'8 and 250 pounds could train to run a 4:30 mile? No way.

I sorta agree with your point...but 6'8 250 means the dude is muscular and/or fat. If he hadn't put that weight on and was like 6'8 190 it would be a little more plausible...though it's rare to see super tall people like that in running.

double BS wrote:

Mojo Jerkin wrote:

I call complete, utter BS on this.

Our local HS has one of the better track teams in our area. I think they have about 70 boys on the team. I can count 8 of them who can break a 5 minute mile currently. Not one of them is on the basketball team, and not one of them is taller than 5 10.

2nd that motion! there is NO WAY they could manage that. If they had the lungs for 5 minute mile they'd be low 31 for 10km. Holding a mile and not going lactic before 2 laps who hasn't trained I strongly doubt it.

Sick logic.

This means they are also 2:11 ish for the marathon. A 5 min mile is more like 36 for the 10km IF they have developed the endurance for it.

BBTM wrote:

Well considering that an Average High School Male can run 1 mile in 8:30:00, which is based on a clear medical history and that the male is in decent physical condition, I would bet that with a life long focus on hard training that the average male in the US would rejoice if they could break 6 flat. Sub 5 is way way outta of reach for the vast majority of the population. Guy and Gals included.

You forgot the whole "not trying' part. I know in my P.E. classes/forced runs maybe like 1 in 20 would actually try, and the rest just jogged lazily to a mid 8's/9's type time.

Only a smallish fraction of the population can break 5 minutes for the mile.

In an ideal world, the percentages would be higher than they are now. But given the horrid fitness level of so many young people, including obesity problems, starting from grade school on, the number of men who can break five minutes is limited.

The basketball story above is hogwash. In my college days, I saw a national championship level Div. 1 team run a mile as part of their conditioning phase. Their starting point guard - a future NBA player - did indeed break five minutes running 4:50 or so - a rather stocky guy - he just had great aerobic capacity - and played like it too, famous for playing keep away and icing games. The rest were between mid-5 and 6 minutes - pretty good for very tall athletes. Many of these guys went on to the NBA too.

I don't know if it is still an accurate benchmark, but if a 9th grade boy breaks five minutes (especially indoors), it is most often worthwhile to keep him very interested in the sport.

Scrawny Kenyan wrote:

Also most non-runners are heelstrikers.

Unless they used crossfit.....just sayin......

bkkn dfsfdn wrote:

Not everyone. A large portion of the population just doesn't have the body structure. Do you think the guys who are 6'8 and 250 pounds could train to run a 4:30 mile? No way.

People that are 6'8 are just a tiny proportion of the total population.

Like talking about yourself much? It's not even really on topic.

I'm talking about the ability to run a 5:00 mile a**hole. It changes as you age- I guess you're young and (clearly) stupid.

I said that at one time it was EASY- no problem to run one, now, 20 seconds slower is an amazing effort.

Wow- stay off the message board or at least off of the threads that intelligent people have intelligent discussions on.

5min is way to fast there are a lot of people with bodies that are simply not meant for running no matter when the start etc. I would say that almost every healthy human can get under 7 but 5 is way out side the reach of a large number of people.

According to Runworks.com, a 5 minute mile is equivalent to a 17:11 5K, and a 5:30 mile is equivalent to an 18:51 5K

Here are some statistics from large local 5ks I ran in the past few months. I'm guessing the vast majority of men under 18:51 (equivalent to about a 5:30 mile) are training pretty close to optimally, but *might* be within range of a 5 minute mile with enough years of training or *might* have done a sub-5:00 mile in the past. There may also be a few that could run a 5:30 -6:00 mile now that are brand new to running or significantly out of shape that could get under 5 minutes.

Race 1: 7/1879 men under 17:11 (less than 1%), 46/1879 under 18:51 (2.5 %)

Race 2: 6 /341 (2%) men under 17:11 , 13 / 341 (4%) under 18:51

Most of these top performers are already putting in close to 100% effort in terms of their training. And running is primarily genetic. And these races are from a self-selected population, with faster runners generally running many more races than slower runners, and many people never run races at all.

double BS wrote:

If they had the lungs for 5 minute mile they'd be low 31 for 10km. Holding a mile and not going lactic before 2 laps who hasn't trained I strongly doubt it.

Umm... what? 5:00 mile is the same pace as 31:00 10k.

I honestly think that if everyone actually tried their hardest from a young enough age, that anyone is capable of a 4:30 (or so) mile time.

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So which is it? 5:00 or 4:30? Why not make it 4:10?

No, no and no. I would say that as many or more people are capable of dunking a basketball as there are people who can crack 5:00. You can insert just about any athletic pursuit here and make the same logically sound argument. Why do people that think that running an objectively fast time (as here sub 5:00), as opposed to dunking or maybe hitting a home run or perhaps shooting a set score in golf, is something anyone can achieve with hard work and effort? Why do the proponents of this hypothesis continue to ignore that genetics and talent play as large a part in running as they do in any other sport? Or maybe it's just too easy for most of the people on this site to conclude that because they broke 5:00 with relative ease, the same is obtainable for anyone else. This is simply bad logic and ignores the fact that people are built differently and have different athletic capabilities. Bottom line is many males, regardless of training or effort, would never, ever sniff 5:00. I'd submit it's the vast majority of us (over 90% for sure). So even if you can't dunk, go yard or break 80 on the golf course, consider yourselves gifted you sub 5ers.