How fast could the average American run 400m on the track?

Last year on the Biggest Loser in Australia they had the remaining 8 contestants (think there were 14-16 starting off) run a 400m race against each other on a grass track. This would have been about half way through the show. I guess I completely underestimated how difficult it can be for some people to run a mere one lap of a track. The times were:

1:53

2:04

2:13

2:19

2:23

2:25

2:48

3:34

The average American couldn't run 400m.

Some of you people are nuts. No, an obese person will not be able to run a sub-2:00 400m, but it IS a sprint, and even an overweight 20-something guy can sprint-ish for 30 seconds or so and then hang on for another minute. My boyfriend is a good 30 pounds overweight, and he can beat me in a sprint over 100m (~15 seconds). I am positive that he could run a 90-100 second 400m right now. An active 20-something guy could definitely do it.

You talk about 800m and mile times like they mean something in a sprint. They don't. I ran a 68 second 400m in high school (not good, but enough to run the frosh 4x400), and my best mile time in high school was like 8:30. Aerobic endurance means almost nothing in the 400m.

The average 20-30Male walks at a bit over 3 miles an hour. or 20 min mile and a 5 minute quarter. Judging from the run for a bus pace I've seen they do not even double their speed to do that. Random selected group will contain some DNF so average is not the way to look at the question. Median as mentioned would be more telling. Random 1000 -time them-eliminate the top and bottom 10% lets call them the outliers and take the median of that. I'll bet we are in the 3 min 45 sec range. Given a second chance to adjust their pace the next day I'd think we see that same median at 3:15 to 3:25ish and I'm thinking a mixed or alternating fastwalk and jog type pace would be selected.

Last Saturday for a law enforcement test many struggled with the 1.5 mile run but I was amazed very few people ran slower than 55 seconds for the 300 most of which had just ran a 1.5 mile, pushups or situps. Many were at 50 or under. I was 8:33 for the 1.5 and was literally 2 to 3 minutes faster than most in my group.

Lower Bound wrote:

I looked at the results for a couple of large 5Ks. Here's what I found:

Race for the Cure: DC

Men 20-24. 181 finishers. Median time=29:01

Men 25-29. 339 finishers. Median time=28:53

Dallas YMCA Turkey Trot

Men 20-24. 175 finishers. Median time=29:56

Men 25-29. 201 finishers. Median time=30:55

If we plug these times into the McMillan pace calculator, we get 400m times of 1:40-1:50.

This is obviously *NOT* a random sample of males 20-29. This is a sample of males 20-29 who run at least one 5K. So the real answer is almost certainly going to be *higher* than 1:40-1:50. That means that 70, and even 90, are way too low.

How average is a guy who actually goes out and runs in a 5Km event? Of your (truly)random thousand how many actually run in at least one or more 5km events a year?

I'm liking the 3:15 to 3:45 range for median.

Interesting question.

I'd guess somewhere between 1:30-2:00... maybe a little slower, but not much.

For a reference point, when I've gone for multiple years without running, but one day decide to start up again (and at that point, am quite aerobically out of shape and not too strong)... I can still run a couple 80-85 second quarters with a good amount of between, but not much faster going all-out (that's near red-line). And I'd consider myself above the median American when it comes to being able to run a 400 due to the facts that I'm skinny, have some semblance of innate footspeed, and a background in running - versus the average American which is overweight, doesn't have a particular notable talent for sprinting, and doesn't have a background in running.

Randomnessisgood wrote:

If you picked 1000 random American males between the ages of 20 and 30, off the street, and threw them onto a track, what would the average time be? Around 70 seconds?

Well, any belief in McMillan's calculator has 20:00 5k not able to quite run 70 seconds, so I seriously doubt if the average 20 to 30 year old could run 70. In most 5k races, where there are people who do some level of running, not alot of them break 20. Sad but true.

I will also add, when I was younger and could run in the 17s, my 400s were in the 65-69 range. Might have been able to run a little faster in a race, but again, I wasn't your average 20-30 year old, I was doing some running.

Heck, most Americans don't even know how far 400M is....

Without thinking about this too much, my gut tells me the right answer is somewhere close to 100 seconds.

The average American, not the average runner:

DNF

If they're not allowed to walk.

Take your boyfriend to the track and find out and get back to us. I think it's upward of 100 seconds for the average American and there is no "hanging on" from 200-400 meters. I'm not a sprinter but lean, in shape and have run multiple 2:45 marathons. My speed work for 400 "R" pace intervals is 78 seconds. No way could an out of shape, overweight 20 something rip off a 70-80 second 400, period.

awshiz wrote:

Some of you people are nuts. No, an obese person will not be able to run a sub-2:00 400m, but it IS a sprint, and even an overweight 20-something guy can sprint-ish for 30 seconds or so and then hang on for another minute. My boyfriend is a good 30 pounds overweight, and he can beat me in a sprint over 100m (~15 seconds). I am positive that he could run a 90-100 second 400m right now. An active 20-something guy could definitely do it.

You talk about 800m and mile times like they mean something in a sprint. They don't. I ran a 68 second 400m in high school (not good, but enough to run the frosh 4x400), and my best mile time in high school was like 8:30. Aerobic endurance means almost nothing in the 400m.

Take your boyfriend to the track and find out and get back to us. I think it's upward of 100 seconds for the average American and there is no "hanging on" from 200-400 meters. I'm not a sprinter but lean, in shape and have run multiple 2:45 marathons. My speed work for 400 "R" pace intervals is 78 seconds. No way could an out of shape, overweight 20 something rip off a 70-80 second 400, period.

awshiz wrote:

Some of you people are nuts. No, an obese person will not be able to run a sub-2:00 400m, but it IS a sprint, and even an overweight 20-something guy can sprint-ish for 30 seconds or so and then hang on for another minute. My boyfriend is a good 30 pounds overweight, and he can beat me in a sprint over 100m (~15 seconds). I am positive that he could run a 90-100 second 400m right now. An active 20-something guy could definitely do it.

You talk about 800m and mile times like they mean something in a sprint. They don't. I ran a 68 second 400m in high school (not good, but enough to run the frosh 4x400), and my best mile time in high school was like 8:30. Aerobic endurance means almost nothing in the 400m.

Average would be worse than 100 seconds, for sure.

For most people that is nearly a sprint. They don't have the form to go faster.

Randomnessisgood wrote:

If you picked 1000 random American males between the ages of 20 and 30, off the street, and threw them onto a track, what would the average time be? Around 70 seconds?

This depends on how they would be rewarded at the end. Perhaps you could have a trained cheetah to chase them the last 200m.

You guys are funny. You think an elite professional non-sprinter runner runs about 60 sec 400m (male) or about 65(female) you average guy off the street does it in about 70sec on average? For an average of 70 sec (or even if you use median), you are saying there are a whole group running in 60s on the lower end. Do you realize that even professional athletes are still going to have trouble running 50 secs or 55 sec for a single 400m?

Most guys that age are faster than you think. I would estimate around 60 - especially if they're working out.

This thread has been pretty trippy. I'm surprised how much my perception of what a decent 400 is has been skewed by track.

I think the average guy mid-20s NOT overweight could muster about 80sec. I teach PE.