How do you feel that most US Marines can't run a 5k in under 20 minutes?

david45 wrote:

People here think running is easy and that a 20 minute 5k is easy. Yet, most Marines can run a 5k in under 20 minutes. How do you feel about that?

How do I feel? I feel fine. Let recreational runners focus on breaking 20, 19, 18, 17, etc. Let Marines focus on being Marines. The military is extremely diverse just like the rest of the world. There will be some talented runners and some folks who aren’t in such great shape. But even some professional athletes in various sports might not break 20 min. in the 5k. It’s kind of not their job.

david45 wrote:

People here think running is easy and that a 20 minute 5k is easy. Yet, most Marines can run a 5k in under 20 minutes. How do you feel about that?

Can you back that up with data?

Also, there is no need for them to be able to do that as a Marine.

A marine’s job is to neutralize the enemy. That can be done with a well aimed rifle. A sub 15 minute skinny 5k runner couldn’t outrun a marine with a rifle.

Closest thing we have to data. This is for Marines ages 17 to 26.

For the most recent year in the chart, 2017, the average 3 mile run time for Marines in that age bracket is 22:58. You can make of that what you will but it does show that most cannot break 20 minutes. 27:40 is failing. I'd like to know the median scores.

If we assume a normal distribution based on the average time, 50% ran between 22:58 and 27:40 and 50% ran between 22:58 and 18:58. But we know some got below 18:00 But you get the general idea.

https://taskandpurpose.com/popular/how-marines-fared-on-2017-pft

https://assets.rbl.ms/19042550/origin.jpg

I ran in the 14;20's in college. I'm in my 50's, and my goal until my 60's is to go under 20 minutes. it is NOT easy. I barely made it under 20 minutes at the age of 57 on a pancake flat course.

Running fast for 5k is a specific skill and most probably impacts other areas of fitness adversely (flexibility, general muscular strength). If you take the best people at XC and put them against people who works out in a more general sense, they're often not as good at strength-based tests.

For the marines to get faster at 5K most likely they'd need to lose weight and muscle mass and that would not help them in tasks that are more useful, so it's kind of pointless to trade it off like that. I wonder if ability to sprint repeatedly is more useful/relevant.

Running is not the most important thing in the world. Running isnt even that great from a physical fitness or weight loss standpoint. Most here either are or have been competitive runners at some point and I applaud your talent, determination and hard work. I've been out there with you, running 100-140 miles a week, race after race chasing some dream. At that point in your life running feels like the most important thing in the world. It is NOT the most important thing in the world for most people or most exercisers much less soldiers, marines, or sailors. In fact, for the vast majority of our military the running portion of their PT test is simply something to get through. They are not training ideally for a PT test that comes around every 6mo.

Calling out people for not being as fast as you think they should be would be similar to me calling you all out for not being able to bench 225 or squat 315. Who cares? How does their lack of competitiveness affect you?

So enjoy your level of competitiveness while you have it. You have a talent that most do not.

Alan

The Army is also changing the PT test and moving away from a test based on endurance and towards a more well rounded test.

Yes the run standards are that low. 21:00 for 2 miles after all of that.

Yes people will still fail the run and other portions of the test.

https://www.army.mil/e2/downloads/rv7/acft/acft_field_testing_manual_final.pdf

Runningart2004 wrote:

So enjoy your level of competitiveness while you have it. You have a talent that most do not.

Alan

Triathletes, the good ones, were gifted with it all! Most are well above average runners. There's probably not a single top 50 triathlete who can't break 18 for 5k.

OCR athletes are by far the best all around athletes with what one would hope is "Military" type fitness.

Surprising that the Army doesn't try to recruit from those ranks.

This is a ridiculous thread with ridiculous comments from people who say this is "embarrassing" and other things.

I couldn't care less if a Marine can run a 5k in under 20 minutes or not, and neither should any of you.

physics defiant wrote:

OCR athletes are by far the best all around athletes with what one would hope is "Military" type fitness.

Surprising that the Army doesn't try to recruit from those ranks.

Have you seen first half of movie, Full Metal Jacket, 1987? Confidence Course in movie is actual Confidence Course in Marine Corps basic training.

I realize that is my weakness--core strength and upper-body strength. I bought a pullup bar that clamps on to my door to improve that.

I get that completely. I want to hit 3:05 for the Boston Qualifying time. There are guys who can run 17:30 5k or 18:00 5k that can't hit that if they don't have endurance.

There are BQers who run 3:05 that can't hit 18:30 (more slow-twitch fibers), etc.

One of the distinguishing characteristics between Soldiers and Marines is that Soldiers have a tendency to avoid bodies of water while Marines incorporate water into their battle plan. The ability to run fast at a distance or a sprint is more important for Soldiers, while a combination of running and swimming is important for Marines.

You will probably find faster runners in the Army.

These types of posts are worthless. Another equally lame question could be: Why can’t most distance runners bench press 200 lbs?

It’s not that uncommon. It’s not the hard, but most distance runners can’t do it. (But they could if they stopped running so much and trained for it. Just like marines could run 20 min 5k if they trained for it)

apples to oranges, again wrote:

These types of posts are worthless. Another equally lame question could be: Why can’t most distance runners bench press 200 lbs?

It’s not that uncommon. It’s not the hard, but most distance runners can’t do it. (But they could if they stopped running so much and trained for it. Just like marines could run 20 min 5k if they trained for it)

You should correct that to say most "ELITE DISTANCE RUNNERS" can't do it. Distance running encompasses a wide spectrum of body types and, if you complete a 5k in say, under 9:00 mile pace, you're considered a runner not a jogger.

Plenty of bodybuilders can hit that standard easily.

200 lbs is not a hard standard any just about any 150 lb guy can get that with a few months to 1 year of training. And plenty of guys 150 lbs and higher can complete a 5k in under 9:00 pace.

DanM wrote:

One of the distinguishing characteristics between Soldiers and Marines is that Soldiers have a tendency to avoid bodies of water while Marines incorporate water into their battle plan. The ability to run fast at a distance or a sprint is more important for Soldiers, while a combination of running and swimming is important for Marines.

You will probably find faster runners in the Army.

You will find faster runners in the Army because of the talent pool. On average, a Marine is more fit. I retired from the Army 10 years ago, and it's embarrassing how fat and out of shape the service (Army) has become.

Running shows fitness better than any of the other stupid events that are being thrown into the tests.

Huapango wrote:

Running shows fitness better than any of the other stupid events that are being thrown into the tests.

There's more to fitness than cardio fitness. If you get crippling arthritis you're going to be more limited than someone without it who can't break 10:00 in the mile...