It's not difficult at all. Only takes 70-80 mpw. Discus.
You would be correct if you limited it to adult males from 18-25 who weigh no more than 150 lbs and then probably 1/50 could do it if they could handle the training and stay healthy.
Hundreds of thousands of American high school kids run the 1500, 1600, or mile every year. Only about 20% of these kids who are trying can even break 5min mile equivalent. To run a sub 14 5k requires about 4:15 ability or better. That is an uncrossable chasm for 80% of HS runners..
Go research how many of the NCAA D1 XC qualifiers have run sub 14. It is probably less than half of the field. Those are the best college runners in the country.
A good number for any healthy male is probably 25min.
No way 13:59 is possible off a 4:15 mile.
I think maybe he meant a 4:15 HS runner has a good chance of developing into a 13:59 runner after 4 years of very good college training. Still a stretch, but more reasonable. If he said 10 years of post college training without injuries then I'd say yes.
Note: And yet, in Australia - a country of 26 million - there's little more than a dozen runners who can do it at any one time. If only they thought of running 70-80mpw.
50th best NCAA Division I runner ran 13:43 last year. I guarantee that there are far more Division I football players who can bench 400+ pounds than there are guys who can run sub-14:00.
I guess the average healthy male can easily bench over 400 pounds.
The average football team is what - 150 players? Whereas xc rosters are goin to 10.
I ran 80MPW in college as did my 35 teammates. So did thousands of other D3 guys at the time but none broke 14. My PR is 16:37. Some guys on my team didn't break 17.
The average healthy young male should maintain a level of cardiovascular fitness such that the risk of associated negative health outcomes is minimised as far as reasonably avoidable, and the physical demands of their daily life can be consistently and satisfactorily met.
There is a take somewhere in here that I'd like to agree with, but there is not enough nuance in the OP to make me think he meant it.
I think an average, healthy, young male, could run sub-14 if they were fully dedicated from age 14-24. Like Jakob level dedicated, with Jakob level support. Of course, that's not really an average person anymore. I do like to think that everyone outside of the highest echelon could run a lot faster than they think they could.
Complete nonsense most people don't have the basic speed to do it never mind endurance. This limits your speed over 400m / 800m mile and all the way to 5,000
I ran 80MPW in college as did my 35 teammates. So did thousands of other D3 guys at the time but none broke 14. My PR is 16:37. Some guys on my team didn't break 17.
There is a take somewhere in here that I'd like to agree with, but there is not enough nuance in the OP to make me think he meant it.
I think an average, healthy, young male, could run sub-14 if they were fully dedicated from age 14-24. Like Jakob level dedicated, with Jakob level support. Of course, that's not really an average person anymore. I do like to think that everyone outside of the highest echelon could run a lot faster than they think they could.
To run 14:00, it almost always requires someone that ran 9:00 in HS. A 9:00 HRer,is not your average, healthy, young male.
I ran 9:30 in high school and broke 14 in college. Granted, I also ran under 4:10 and 1:53. I only ran 40 mpw but had good speed. When I doubled my mileage (gradually) in college, I ran under 14. I get what you’re saying. It takes taken. But 9:00 isn’t the bar. I think a lot of 9:20 guys could go on and break 14 in college.