How common is it for a healthy 18 year old male to be unable to break 7 in the mile?

Is it even possible for someone to have that little talent?

The fact that you included the word "unable" in the thread title implies that you mean the person has done significant training and put forth an honest effort. If they trained consistently for more than a year, they could run a 7:00 min. mile at age 18. If they didn't start training at all until age 18, they may not be able to break a 7:00 min. mile while they are 18.

What is the fastest possible time for a person with average talent at that age to run the mile?

This question is pretty illogical. You are asking for a fastest possible time, but you are also stipulating some measure of average talent but providing no definition. I'll say that the fastest mile time for an 18 year old with average talent might be 4:20. The "average talent" part would limit the person to never be able to achieve close to 4:00, but we'll assume that this person with average talent has trained consistently for 4-5 years and put a lot of effort into training during high school.

I guess you are asking what the time would be of the median individual if they all trained to peak fitness?

6:45.

Well not that odd. You can have decent cardio health and great muscular health and not be able to run a mile "fast".

Yes. That's not a bad. Especially if you're just out of shape. Now if you're actually running track and training for a month or two and still can't break that then no there still isn't anything wrong. It just means you aren't athletic. Most distance runners aren't anyway.

Some people just have big heavey legs with no muscle and it's like running in concrete. I knew multiple guys that played multiple sports and were actually more athletic than the average distance runner that would struggle to run under seven minutes. Those are big guys tho. 250 plus

The 16,17,18 age would be tougher as not everyone have 100% developed. I think I ran low 7's at best in the mile we did twice a week off and on as a 16 and 17 year old and I tried hard. Didn't run another step, drank beer, horrible diet, horrible sleep pattern for the next 4-5 years in college and then popped a 6:30 mile on a dare at age 21.

I think the simple answer to you question would be "yes" it is likely to be very common in that I am sure that a large number of healthy 18 year old males could not run a mile in under 7 minutes without training. That number would be greatly reduced by proper training over time, but it would likely still be a small percentage of the population which means millions of people spread over the fact o the earth.

Define "healthy". Most modern humans live a very sedentary lifestyle from a young age, so they've allowed their bodies to atrophy for a considerable period. I think you could take any normally developed hunter/gatherer, tribal person and they would all easily break 6 minutes. Running around was once a normal part of human lifestyle. For this reason I would argue that lack of running throughout ones life leads to lack of health. I don't believe anyone who runs over 7 minutes for a mile could be considered healthy. The example of a fit swimmer also does not necessarily exemplify a healthy individual. The swimmer may have a healthy cardiovascular system, but be lacking in other biomechanical areas that are normally far more developed for a species that should be tuned to using its legs exclusively for mobility. Sitting for extended periods of time in giant machines (cars, buses) to get from place to place, and then sitting for more time extended periods of time while we "do work" in front of a computer screen or book or piece of paper is not the active lifestyle our bodies were evolved to suite. For this reason you might say that fewer than 95% of people are not healthy due to our modern culture and lifestyle.

I mean, you could say that more than 95% of people are not healthy...

I'll flip this and just say that any 18 year old male who can't break 7 min for the mile is soft. You should be able to push through and be in discomfort for 7 minutes and get through it with little to no specific training if you are a healthy young adult. If you say you aren't talented enough, I'd counter with you having mental not physical barriers.

you must enter a username wrote:

A healthy 18 year old male who can't break 7 is not a healthy 18 year old male.

Yeah, this is how these things work. Somebody eventually defines "healthy" in such a way as to mean "able to run a mile in seven minutes or less"--and then anyone who can't is perforce unhealthy.

In my opinion and experience the *median* 18-year-old male who is not sick or crippled is nevertheless incapable of running a mile continuously at any pace. And if I'm wrong about that, the median time is well over eight minutes, probably closer to ten.

But I don't think I'm wrong. Most people on this board don't understand how different their talent, experience, and environment are from those of the median (uncrippled, unsick) 18-year-old male in the United States.

4:20! No way. How many 17 year olds who run HS track in USA peak out at 4:30 or better?

I don't believe you. I ran 7:20 and finished 3rd out of a class of 50 in middle school PE. I went on to run 5:07 in high school. Most middle schoolers are slower than 8, a handful of cardiovascularly fit or somewhat talented folks are between 7 and 8, and a few good runners are under 7 (easily in the top 5% of boys in the PE class). So unless you were a talented chubby kid, beating most of the skinny kids, no way your post is true. Either that or your middle school loop was shorter than the coach said it was (also quite likely).

7 minutes? Have you got two legs?

kibitzer wrote:

you must enter a username wrote:

A healthy 18 year old male who can't break 7 is not a healthy 18 year old male.

In my opinion and experience the *median* 18-year-old male who is not sick or crippled is nevertheless incapable of running a mile continuously at any pace.

This is the correct answer. Most non-runners do not know how to pace and would sprint 400m and walk the rest. It is not a difficult skill to learn, give a 18 years old kid a couple of weeks to practice and he will learn and break 7, but right out of the bat, most won't break 7.

I you think that not being able to run a 7min/mile is unhealthy, ask yourself how many 18 years old healthy runners could break 8 minutes in swimming 400m?

Armstronglivs wrote:

7 minutes? Have you got two legs?

A boy who trained hard throughout high school and gradually progressed down to 5min for a mile would typically be over 7 min for a mile as a child in middle school (often prior to puberty) assuming they weren't running outside of what they did in basic PE class. If you think otherwise, you're an idiot.

MostPeopleAreSlowInMiddleSchool wrote:

Armstronglivs wrote:

7 minutes? Have you got two legs?

A boy who trained hard throughout high school and gradually progressed down to 5min for a mile would typically be over 7 min for a mile as a child in middle school (often prior to puberty) assuming they weren't running outside of what they did in basic PE class. If you think otherwise, you're an idiot.

We're talking about an 18 year-old here. I knew guys that age who could walk faster. An averagely fit 18 year-old who can't beat 7 min for the mile isn't average and isn't fit.

When I was 18 I tried my first serious attempt at running. Had played lots of sports at school, cycled as a kid but nothing organised. I'd say I was very active.

I had a 1-1/2 mile route from my parents house which went downhill and then came back up with the steepest parts in the last 1/3 mile. I may be doing myself a disservice but I think I used to run it in around 17-minutes. That's nowhere close to a 7-minute mile pace. I was guilty of going out too fast but hey, most 18-year-old kids would be.

Many years later as an adult playing team sports, our coach was a real statistician and took the team to the track to measure jumps and fitness. One test was to run 1-1/2miles in under 10-mins. I came second in 10:03 because I messed around in the early laps. The fastest guy was 9:57 as I recall. These were guys who played and trained regularly although it was preseason.

These days, when I go to my local parkrun - the number of people running sub-21:45 (7min/mile avg) is 10-15%. And those are the people interested enough to turn up to run.

The trouble with being even a half-decent runner is that it skews your view of what everybody in the WHOLE population is like.

Most "healthy" teens are still overweight or obese.

I have spent 25 years coaching CC runners. THe average kid that has never played football, soccer or basketball cant come close. If they had played one of those 3 sports mentioned , about 60% can

Think about the question he’s asking. What is the fastest possible time for an 18 year old with average talent. That only requires one kid of average talent but fantastic training to run the time. Maybe it’s 4:30, maybe it’s 4:40, but you and I both know that it’s definitely 4:something. I didn’t want to put the bar too low. Runners of below average talent with some training break 5:00 all the time.