What can the average 23-26 year old male run for 5k?

After 1 year of training and good diet:

25:00

After 3 years of training and good diet:

22:30

Now I’ll wait for the LRC crazies to chime in that any average male could run 17:00 or better if they train, or that “even the slower guys on my XC team could do sub 20:00.” Sorry, guys. That’s not how averages work.

Off the couch:

35-50 minutes mixing running with walking.

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”Given proper training and diet”… is a broad statement. But if we are to assume no one is obese and every single able-bodied male between 15 & 45 has coach, is running consistently 70mpw using the latest training approaches.

I think the only guys running above 7 min pace would be the in the slowest decile.

Average probably around 6:15-6:40 pace for the masses. And a ton of people are faster than that.

So 19:00-19:30 final answer.

The average person can't handle anywhere near 70 mpw.

These "what could the average person run" posts come up all the time. Many of the answers are wildly unrealistic.

No, the average person could not break 20 minutes. "But, if they trained 100 miles a week..." The average person cannot run 100 miles a week. That in itself is a physical talent that most people don't have.

About 2 years of inconsistent, certainly sub optimal training has gotten me about there, and I'm certainly nothing special. I'd think the average dude with 2 years of actually optimal training could do better than that. Of course, actually training optimally is a pretty rare thing.

I have coached HS XC for 20 years at a school of about 1900 so about 950 boys. We have 50-60 go out for XC amd we have won 2 state titles during that period and we are one of the top programs. We finished 5th at state this year. Too guy ran 16:02 and 7th guy ran 17:20. We had 7 guys not break 23 minutes. I see all sorts of shapes and sizes walking around the school who would never be able to break 30 minutes. My answer to the OP's question is 24 minutes.

If you are talking about the average US 23-26 year old, I doubt that they can do a year of proper training and or run 5k.

You young runners are so far away from average, you have no idea.

Let's start with defining average with some data from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey.

Age 20-29, 188.9 pounds

Age 30-39, 208.1 pounds

In 2016, the average American man had a BMI of 29.01 (overweight). That has more likely gotten worse than better since then.

So, keep in mind that average is not the slow guy on your high school cross country team. Compared to average and worse than average, he is something of an endurance God if he ran a 22 minute 5K.

If you put the average dude in a Soviet style gulag and they had to run a 16 min 5k to get out of it. I guarantee the vast majority of them are going hit that time. The problem is people don't have the proper incentive to train hard to hit their true potential. This is why the Soviet Union was so successful in the Olympics.

15:30

I love it when adding some data to a conversation gets a thumbs-down.

Perfect answer. I think 25 and 20 are better numbers personally. I think most men (75% plus) could break 20 if trained

I think this is pretty fair but I do think a lot of people have sub-20 male/sub-22 female potential if they're willing to work. It depends on where you're coming at things from. If you're reasonably healthy & have just never taken up running then I don't see why someone can't build up some decent mileage. But the question is about average & LRC usually places well above that. 8:00 >>> 7:00 miles for 5k in 1-3 years feels doable with consistency.

you're asking two different questions, same time. (1) what would an average person -- with likely average diet, average vices, and average work ethic -- do in a 5k. (2) what would you do in a 5k if you trained for it and ate right -- not average qualities -- but had average talent.

to me this is just an argument in the "nature-nurture" squabble posing as a time question. i think you mean to ask the second question, which has pro-nurture add-ons you stuck in the post itself, but when pressed will retreat to how this is about average people. average people don't usually eat right and diligently train. or track and XC teams wouldn't be niche.

to answer your questions (plural), i think a kid of moderate talent, vices, diet, etc. new to the sport would probably run about 30 or so. i do not think your "training and diet" average runner exists out of a box, short of, say, a soccer or hoops player decides post-college to take up running. they then usually don't have "average talent." they have been selected all their lives for being able to run by people or for having endurance where they can be left in the game to attack or defend even as many get tired.

you have to "make" your supposed "average but working hard" runner over years and i'd say low-to-mid 20s. if we are sticking with average talent. the people who say high teens, dude, teens are folks who can run one mile a pretty good clip, 4-something, 5-something, or extremely repeatable split types around about 6. this to me is no longer average talent. nor is it average workrate or diet. it's XC type stuff.

Sure, but proper training would improve that. I fit those numbers when I started and after a couple of years I'm at a proper weight with minimal effort to achieve that.

I started running off the couch in my late 20s. In bad shape, but not catastrophic (i.e., weak but not super-fat). First race was a local 5k, mostly on dirt, and felt like a death march at 32:20. In two years, I'd done a 100-mile week, with a 19:59 5k and just under a 3:30 marathon. I'm pretty average, athletically, so I'd guess the average guy can clear about 30 off the couch and get to almost, but not under, 20 after a year.

Congratulations! (And I mean that sincerely). That's great progress!

I agree that training and diet would help, and potentially a lot.

If you are our n of 1, what do you think you could clock for a 5k right off the couch at that weight, in 6 months (to allow for the "proper training and diet" to matter) and in one year from the start date?

I'm legitimately curious.