Please estimate: What percentage of Americans ages 60 to 75 can run 5 miles in less than 45 minutes ?

I am 68 and cannot do it.

I hope to hit sub 9:00 pace for 5k.

In my prime I could go sub 5:30/mi for 5 mile.

Guess I am lucky to still be able to run...I am one of the few of the crew I ran with that still can

3% ??

The higher the max age, the lower the %. without working hard on this, I am guessing way way below 1%.

age graded, 45 at 75 is like 30:38 or something.

You will be in rarified air if you are able to do that in 3 years. You are there now actually.

Most of my mileage is 7:30 pace. I'm a year older than the OP. I've noticed after age 60, warmup and stretching takes a bit longer and I do need extra reinforcement on my feet as the pads have worn down with age. I am happy, though, to be still running and in fairly decent shape. Cont to do 50-60mpw.

Do you mean 3% of those in that age group who actually RUN? We're already starting with the fact that only 5% of adult Americans of ANY age can run a mile without stopping. Now you want to up it to 5 miles, increase the age range to 60-75 and then impose a 9 minute pace on that?

First of all, I will submit that if ALL Americans were lined up and told they had to "run" for a mile without stopping or they would be killed that more than 5% could do it, so let's start there.

But then, even with that as a given, it has to be WELL within 1%...maybe well within a tenth of one percent. Have you seen the physical shape of most American men over age 60?

If it was as high as 3%, I'd be surprised. I'd guess somewhere around 1 to 2.

My guess is that it's less than 1 in 1,000, so less than 0.1%. At that age (I'm almost there), unless you exercise regularly you can't run 5 miles without stopping, let alone 5 in 45 minutes. Very few people in that age group exercise regularly enough and intensely enough to do that, and if you're in the upper half of that range, even regular exercise might not be enough. In our local summertime 5-miler, only two people (both serious runners) of the 16 60- to 75-year-olds who entered finished in 45 minutes, and the 16 were almost certainly much fitter than the population as a whole.

Interesting question. I looked up some old Carlsbad 5k results. It generally gets a very competitive field for all the masters age groups. Looking at the 5k times that would predict a sub-45:00 10k, in the 60-64s 24% could do it; in the 65-69s 10% could do it; and in the 70-74s 7% could. I have no idea how those fields compare to the general population, but a guess that they represent the top 5% in fitness would reduce those percentages to 1.2%, 0.5%, and 0.35%.

67.5% of Americans between 60 and 75 are in the sixties, not kidding, just mathematical fact.

How many of your 60+ year old friends could do that?

Where does that 5% figure come from?

Well, the question is, "Please estimate: What percentage of Americans ages 60 to 75 can run 5 miles in less than 45 minutes ?"

That's all possible people that fall into this category. First off, how many people in that age group actually run? It's going to be a very small number to begin with. Then you place a distance and time limit on it. That just about excludes almost everyone.

My guess would be less than 0.1% could achieve this.

M60-64 Probably less than 1 in 1,000 or < 0.1%

M70-74 Probably less than 1 in 100,000 or <0.001%

There is an annual marketing report on running. I couldn't remember the name and it's behind a paywall, but I think less than 1% of the over 60 population runs regularly and the overwhelming percentage of those runners only run recreationally to finish.

I am not able to do that for a long time. But I was always more of a long distance guy.

Not many, I would guess. Also 60-75 is a huge age span.
Personally I found that the decline was okay until 55 but after that it hit me hard. Not sure if that will continue but I am just happy that I keep running. PRs are way past.

Out of my ass! :) I found it online once. Let me see if I can find it again...

Well, here's one place, and it references the US Census -

wikipedikia.org

What percentage of adults can run a mile? - ADL Magazine ➡

5% maybe. 310 million people in the US according to census.gov. Assuming you take out the 20% of the population under 18 years of age...

Open link

Again, I'm not sure that can really be determined.

I think this is solid thinking.

You might be one of the very few, pretty fast guys over 60. Enjoy.

But don't think that is normal. You are probably in the 0.001 percentile of your age group (US population) and 1% of the one who are still running at the age of 60-65.

I agree with JamesD2. At our age (I'm the same age as the OP), not only do you need to exercise regularly, you need to have been doing it for several years. I played on a NAIA soccer team and ran 5:00/mi way back when. Not elite by any stretch, but above average. Then after college I did the typical non-exercising things like softball teams, some bike riding, hiking, etc - but no training. I started back running 7 years ago and it took years before I could run a 11/mi pace for a half marathon. I'm still not at a 9/mi pace for a 5k, but I'm getting closer. Takes a long time when your strength was totally gone.