I've run for 30 years and my PR is 4:50. The mile wasn't my event, but getting down to 4:30 would have been a tall order even had I focused on it, my true potential was probably 4:35-4:40. And I was one of those kids identified as 'fast' at a young age. The vast majority of boys will never break 6:00 let alone 5:00 no matter how much training they undergo.
Could anyone run a 5 minute mile? No.
Could most non-disabled men in their 20s run a 5 minute mile if they trained enough for it? Yes. Even then, the percentage of them that could do it wouldn't be anywhere near 100%, it would be around 60% or so.
BrianE wrote:
Could anyone run a 5 minute mile? No.
Could most non-disabled men in their 20s run a 5 minute mile if they trained enough for it? Yes. Even then, the percentage of them that could do it wouldn't be anywhere near 100%, it would be around 60% or so.
I know this is an old thread that has been resurrected, but you've GOT to be kidding.
You think 60% of non-disabled men could run a 5 minute mile? Good Lord I hope you're in a legal state smoking what you're smoking.
Have you never run with athletes from other sports? Many of them run a TON (wrestlers for example) and have low body fat (wrestlers for example) and couldn't run a 6:00 minute mile let alone a 5:00 minute mile to save their lives. I'm sure you'll say it's different training. How is it that the non-fat kid who runs HS track for 4 years and he runs a PR of 5:58? I guess he's just in the 40% who can't?
Good grief, you can go find professional athletes and look at their teams, and even THEY can't get down to a 5:00 minute mile (not 60% of them!)...and THEY are professional athletes!
a 5 minute mile is VERY fast for average people. Most of them couldn't do TWO LAPS at that pace let alone a while mile.
1-2% MAX is what could do it, and that's if they are properly trained. NO amount of training could get Louie Anderson to run a 5-minute mile, even if he were 30 years old.
Even for those who go out for track in high school, are fit, thin, have some sense that they are 'fast', even in THAT group, not 60% of them break 5 minutes.
I can't believe so many of you think this is just done with some training. Gotta have the physical talent to be trained to get to 5. That is only evident in 1-2% of MALES. For females, it's WAY less than that even.
Flagpole wrote:
I know this is an old thread that has been resurrected, but you've GOT to be kidding.
You think 60% of non-disabled men could run a 5 minute mile? Good Lord I hope you're in a legal state smoking what you're smoking.
Yup, 60% of them could. I was legally smoking some pretty good stuff earlier, but I'm sober now and was sober when I wrote that ;)
Flagpole wrote:
Have you never run with athletes from other sports? Many of them run a TON (wrestlers for example) and have low body fat (wrestlers for example) and couldn't run a 6:00 minute mile let alone a 5:00 minute mile to save their lives. I'm sure you'll say it's different training. How is it that the non-fat kid who runs HS track for 4 years and he runs a PR of 5:58? I guess he's just in the 40% who can't?
Good grief, you can go find professional athletes and look at their teams, and even THEY can't get down to a 5:00 minute mile (not 60% of them!)...and THEY are professional athletes!
a 5 minute mile is VERY fast for average people. Most of them couldn't do TWO LAPS at that pace let alone a while mile.
1-2% MAX is what could do it, and that's if they are properly trained. NO amount of training could get Louie Anderson to run a 5-minute mile, even if he were 30 years old.
Even for those who go out for track in high school, are fit, thin, have some sense that they are 'fast', even in THAT group, not 60% of them break 5 minutes.
I can't believe so many of you think this is just done with some training. Gotta have the physical talent to be trained to get to 5. That is only evident in 1-2% of MALES. For females, it's WAY less than that even.
There's quite a bit of difference between a well-trained 25 year old and a high school kid. Many people who couldn't break 5 when they were in high school could do it given a few more years of base, more experience, and a bit more physical maturity. Besides, the kids doing cross country and long distance track were mostly the rejects from other sports who were too un-athletic to be doing anything else. You don't see many basketball players breaking 5 because they don't train for it, but if they did, most of them certainly could.
Also, there's a pretty wide bell curve. Just because ~60% of people have the talent for a sub 5 doesn't mean that everyone will be close to it. For every person like your teammate who couldn't break 5:58 with training, there's a stud running a 4:10 or better.
No way only 1-2% of males have the talent for a sub 5 mile. Heck, if a 65 year old sheep farmer can do it (Derek Turnbull), so could most healthy men in their 20s given proper training.
People can run far, they can be trained to run really far but few people can run far and fast.
I know a guy who took up running 5 years ago and used to be really slow - his first 10k race was 54:xx. For the last couple of years he has been running 80 miles/wk and set his PBs as - 2:59:xx marathon, 38:xx 10k and 5:10 1500m. With his 1:10 400m speed it is highly unlikely he is going to run 4 laps at 1:15 each. In the same way I am very unlikely to run 4 minute mile with my 57s 400m speed.
Flagpole wrote:
a 5 minute mile is VERY fast for average people. Most of them couldn't do TWO LAPS at that pace let alone a while mile.
Given all the fat guys today, I'd be surprised if most people could run one lap at that pace without having a heart attack.
But things change dramatically with training. The median times for HS kids in Iowa were 2:18.7 in the 800 and ~5:18 for the mile. After a few more years of training, most of those 5:18 guys (some of which are freshmen) would have no problem breaking 5.
Reference:
http://www.letsrun.com/forum/flat_read.php?thread=5129227BrianE wrote:
Flagpole wrote:I know this is an old thread that has been resurrected, but you've GOT to be kidding.
You think 60% of non-disabled men could run a 5 minute mile? Good Lord I hope you're in a legal state smoking what you're smoking.
Yup, 60% of them could. I was legally smoking some pretty good stuff earlier, but I'm sober now and was sober when I wrote that ;)
Flagpole wrote:
Have you never run with athletes from other sports? Many of them run a TON (wrestlers for example) and have low body fat (wrestlers for example) and couldn't run a 6:00 minute mile let alone a 5:00 minute mile to save their lives. I'm sure you'll say it's different training. How is it that the non-fat kid who runs HS track for 4 years and he runs a PR of 5:58? I guess he's just in the 40% who can't?
Good grief, you can go find professional athletes and look at their teams, and even THEY can't get down to a 5:00 minute mile (not 60% of them!)...and THEY are professional athletes!
a 5 minute mile is VERY fast for average people. Most of them couldn't do TWO LAPS at that pace let alone a while mile.
1-2% MAX is what could do it, and that's if they are properly trained. NO amount of training could get Louie Anderson to run a 5-minute mile, even if he were 30 years old.
Even for those who go out for track in high school, are fit, thin, have some sense that they are 'fast', even in THAT group, not 60% of them break 5 minutes.
I can't believe so many of you think this is just done with some training. Gotta have the physical talent to be trained to get to 5. That is only evident in 1-2% of MALES. For females, it's WAY less than that even.
There's quite a bit of difference between a well-trained 25 year old and a high school kid. Many people who couldn't break 5 when they were in high school could do it given a few more years of base, more experience, and a bit more physical maturity. Besides, the kids doing cross country and long distance track were mostly the rejects from other sports who were too un-athletic to be doing anything else. You don't see many basketball players breaking 5 because they don't train for it, but if they did, most of them certainly could.
Also, there's a pretty wide bell curve. Just because ~60% of people have the talent for a sub 5 doesn't mean that everyone will be close to it. For every person like your teammate who couldn't break 5:58 with training, there's a stud running a 4:10 or better.
No way only 1-2% of males have the talent for a sub 5 mile. Heck, if a 65 year old sheep farmer can do it (Derek Turnbull), so could most healthy men in their 20s given proper training.
Nope. 1-2% is it. 5:00 is FAST. You runners with some talent for some reason have no idea what it's like to be a person with no talent...I have talent but can see the light...not sure why many of you can not.
You ever look at a starting line...in high school, or college or even at a road race and see some guy who looks looks fit and thin and then you see him run some super pedestrian time? That's typical for the vast majority of "healthy men in their 20s".
Training can only get you to your potential. Only about 2% of men have the potential to run under 5 minutes for the mile.
People take genetics way too seriously. I think body type has a little to do with it, but there have been plenty of examples of people with un extraordinary talent that were trained to run very fast. There was a documentary about a man that couldn't run for more than 5 minutes at a time, and after giving him hard training, he was in 2:30 marathon shape 2 years later.
Apparently when they ran tests on Lauren Fleshmen she showed up as mediocre on all of them. And she certainly isn't a mediocre runner.
Kevin Willis was 7 ft tall, became the oldest player in the NBA, benched 400 pounds, weighed 245, and ran a 4:32 mile
Mojo Jerkin wrote:
oldhalfmileguy wrote:funny you should mention that
My schools basketball coach wanted his team to be in the best shape. EVERYONE had to run a sub 5 minute mile before they could be on the team. Funny to see these big guys with basketball shoes run. Most made it in the first attempt. They all made it by the third try. a 6 ft 5 fwd/center had the fastest time 4 39.
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.
But basketball players are better athletes. The track guys are the ones that can't make the basketball team. You assume that the best athletes are running track?????
Joined the club today at 36 with a 4:36. Apparently I am majorly under achieving at 5k with a 18:33 PR set just two weeks ago.
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.
Indeed. I hate it when people talk about how people in other sports can totally kill at track with no training. Sub 5 is pretty hard for most high school runners. These basketball "runners" probably did the beloved "field mile" which can be anywhere between .7- .9 of a full mile.
DontFeedTheTroll wrote:
heres the deal yo wrote: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.
"I have natural talent, therefore everyone should be able to do what I did with training"
I don't think it works that way.
I ran half a mile in 5 minutes. Does that count?
You put the average person on a track and they couldn't even WALK a 5 minute mile.
No, even trained athletes from other sports can't do it. One or two can but most can not and I am talk about sports that require a high level of conditioning like soccer, baskeball and ice hockey.
RunOhio79 wrote:
Joined the club today at 36 with a 4:36. Apparently I am majorly under achieving at 5k with a 18:33 PR set just two weeks ago.
Uh, holy crap, yes. My last two weeks includes a 5:01 and a 17:20. Get some miles in those legs and you'll drop 2 minutes off that 5k. I bet you can hit 15:xx in a year.
ya i would say the limit is about 4:30, maybe a bit under or above for the average person, i dont agree with most of the people on here, a 5:00 minute mile is really fast and hard to do, but i think everyone has the potential to do it, it takes years of training and hard work the RIGHT way to do it, but everyone is capable of doing that i think, maybe once you get over 30 people start to lose the ability to due to aging, but they still had that potential in them when they were younger
now if they go off and get training from certain coaches in certain states for certain projects, then that potential drops to a high 4:1x or low 4:2x
oldhalfmileguy wrote:
funny you should mention that
My schools basketball coach wanted his team to be in the best shape. EVERYONE had to run a sub 5 minute mile before they could be on the team. Funny to see these big guys with basketball shoes run. Most made it in the first attempt. They all made it by the third try. a 6 ft 5 fwd/center had the fastest time 4 39.
funny you should mention that
My schools football coach wanted his team to be the sharpest in the conference. EVERYONE had to score a 5 on AP Calc BC before they could be on the jv team. Funny to see these big guys with football helmets studying . All made it in the first attempt. 14 of them actually got a 6!. a 370 lb lineman went straight to Princeton sophomore year
I ran cross country and track in high school starting 1975.
I am 5'8" weighed 125 lbs (now 140 lbs) trained pretty hard and had moderate running ability. The best I could manage was 4:47. We had a dozen guys on the team that could run 4:30 or faster. I didn't run the mile much because my coach told me I lacked "basic speed". Later on in my twenties I ran what I consider my best running time 34:20 for 10K which is about 5:30 pace. That was my ideal distance as I couldn't run a 5K at much faster pace and couldn't keep that that pace going any longer than a 10K. I don't run now as I spend all my time cycling and can't do both. Its hard to speculate how many people could run under 5:00 for the mile because very few ever even try. My guess is it would be a fairly small percentage.
That would be awesome but not sure. I was a sprinter in my high school days and still fairly muscular for the distance game at 5'10 170. Short might just be my game. If I could drop 10 lbs I might have a chance.
autoxfil wrote:
RunOhio79 wrote:Joined the club today at 36 with a 4:36. Apparently I am majorly under achieving at 5k with a 18:33 PR set just two weeks ago.
Uh, holy crap, yes. My last two weeks includes a 5:01 and a 17:20. Get some miles in those legs and you'll drop 2 minutes off that 5k. I bet you can hit 15:xx in a year.