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

Look at military mile and a half times and extrapolate from there. Seems like most military people think a little 12 minute mile and a half is a decent time. What could someone who runs that time run in the 400? 90 seconds?

Jimmy21 wrote:

Look at military mile and a half times and extrapolate from there. Seems like most military people think a little 12 minute mile and a half is a decent time. What could someone who runs that time run in the 400? 90 seconds?

I still think the approach most are taking isn't good. Lot's of people talking about 400m repeat sessions. That has almost nothing to do with how quick someone can run a 400, primarily a sprint event with a small endurance component.

I think a better approach to the question would be to first settle on a value of how fast we think the average person could run 100m, then extrapolate 400m times from there.

Of course, the answer will also depend hugely on to what extent we will include the people that can't, or won't, give it 100% effort. Those that when they get to 200-250m will slow down dramatically or just walk because it "got hard". Count them and I'm sure you'd be 2:00+ mins.

Johnnyutah9,

In Missouri the kids at the state games are mostly faster than the time your son did so far.

At last year's show me state games, there were 9 boys in the 7-8 age group. Only the 9th place was slower. A 7 year old girl ran 80.xx secs...

Who knows what your son might do in a competitive race, or a year from now.

Bro Science, thank you very much for your feedback. That's exactly the information I was looking for. He did about 90 seconds in his race today. He is primarily a soccer player. We did one practice lap around the track over the weekend and then just showed up for the race this afternoon. I believe he could be quicker if he trained, but he is only 7. I imagine we won't be at the track again until this time next year. I might have to tell him about the girl who ran it in 80 seconds. He is very competitive. Doesn't like to lose. Thanks again!

This is an old thread that I stumbled upon and found fascinating. FWIW, I am 39 years old, closing on 40. I ran a 20:29 5K this summer, and a 3:40 marathon two weeks ago. I have run 10K at a 6:50 pace for a workout and a mile PR at 5:54.

This morning I did a 6x400 workout to begin to incorporate some speed work.

I'm 5-foot-9, 157 pounds.

Best 400 this morning: 82 seconds.

And you train, and are not the average joe.

The average person would run maybe 2-3min if they finished at all.

Alan

there would be no 95 year olds because he said ages 20-30 you fuken kook

orbitboy wrote:

There is no way, literally NO WAY the average American could run an entire lap on a 400 meter track without stopping to walk along the way.

If you don't believe me, just ask them. Ask 20 people you know, and half of them will say, "Shoot, I couldn't run halfway to the end of the street if I had to..."

There might be some truth to this. Most would go out way too fast and blow up at 200m and would then revert to jogging/walking. So because of this i would be really surprised if most could even hit 90 secs. I think more around 1:40. 90sec is a 6 min/mile pace i doubt most 20-30 year old anyones could hold that pace for very long. It might take a few practice laps before they figured out how they could pace themselves.

I ran 67 this morning after 2 months of monday sprints, so yeah 70sec.

The average is likely to be infinity. If a single person DNFs (i.e. records a time of infinity), then the average has to be infinity, and it's pretty much guaranteed that there is at least one person who would not finish the lap.

Median is probably a better metric than average.

I ran a 400m race last night, and I haven't raced a 400m since high school. Keep in mind I already put in 50+ miles per week and I'm 38 years old. My 5k's range between low 18s and mid 18s right now. I ran a 63 in the race with little speed training. So, if you're wondering what the average american male btw the age of 20-30 years old would run a 400m in, I can tell you it's going to be close to 2 minutes or higher. Sure, they could sprint all out for 100m, but if they don't injure themselves first before getting to 150m, they'll run out of gas and their legs will turn to jelly. Most people can't run a mile in under 8:30, so for them to break 2 and being average is highly unlikely.

Also, i stretched for 20 minutes and did 2 miles of warm-ups and drills before the race. You can bet the average male will pull something, because they don't know the precautions to racing a 400 where you are flying the entire time.

And another thing to add, why are people talking about their 400m workouts (as another user suggested)? Those workouts don't mean anything regarding an average American racing a 400m. Shoot, I run 400m repeats around 1:18-1:22. It's not racing, it's interval training. I'd love to see the "average" American break 2 minutes in the 400. I can promise you they'll strain something or pull something in the process. I witnessed this years ago when two of my co-workers were joking around about who would beat who in a 100m. One of them was a former football players. They set the race up and the former football player was winning and then pulled his hamstring. THAT is what would happen, hands down.

Bigger Picture wrote:

You are delusional if you believe that random Americans can even do that, hell I would say that 90 is out of the picture as well (considering that is about 6:00 pace). .

Everyone calls everyone delusional here.

I've actually been called delusional in real life and it hurts 😣

The bottom 25% of people will DNF, the top 25% of people will be decently aerobically healthy. The mean of the 50th percentile of able bodied people in their 20s would probably be this:

Average male in his 20s (healthy weight): 1:45

Average female in her 20s (healthy weight): 2:05

Average male in his 20s (built/obese): 2:30 DNF

Average female in her 20s (built/obese): 3:00 or DNF

Add about 7.5 seconds per decade up until age 50 where the average will be a DNF (imo walking counts as a DNF).

2:15

I came across this while looking for average 400 times for women my age on google. I am a casual runner, 50 years old, ran track and cross country as a kid and competed at state level as a runner and long jumper, but I have no idea how fast I was at anything but I got lots of ribbons and medals, lol. Fast forward to getting old and being overweight. This year in September I decided to start running to hopefully get in better shape. I weighed 217 lbs. I downloaded strava app and started running on a dirt trail in a local park. At first I could really only run 2 miles and they were at a 12 or 13 minute pace. Now I run 5-7 miles at a time and do mostly about 9-10 minute miles. Obviously I'm not running for speed, although I have definitely gotten faster. I do a 5k in a little less than 30 minutes, but not racing or training or trying. I run 6 miles in about an hour. I looked at my best time for a 400 and it was 1:45. I am sure if I knew I was only running a 400 and not 5 miles I could go faster, as it would be a sprint, but I'm an old lady. And by the way I have lost 50 lbs in just under 3 months, so running really has done a body good and I now have a normal BMI and have no bad numbers health wise. (BP, sugar, cholesterol)

Anywhere from 49 - 52 seconds, depending on the state.

You’re only old as you feel—don’t let age get in the way. Congrats on losing the weight...have you gone out and run the 400? Or was 1:45 your time? Pretty good if you did. Good luck and keep chasing for your goals !