Can most (50% or more) of guys run a 5 minute mile?

This has been covered. at most 1% of the male population could run a five minute mile. we went over high school athletes, sub 5 milers in a town of 100,000 etc. a couple of soccar players, a few more runners. No way any buff weight lifting guy can run a 5 min mile. Think of the average gym and how many guys that could even do 1 min at 12 mph. When I do mile repeats at 11mph or faster people freak. I once did a 4:50 treadmill mile (it went to 15, I got it up to 13 near the end) and they had never seen anyone do that in that gym.

Yes, they can. Maybe not at the age they're at right now, but I'm sure if every single high school freshman started running and training hard atleast 80% of them would break 5 mins before they graduated high school. Only (i dunno) 2% do because many other sports offered are games and more appealing to people who arent purely competitive or want to be fit.

It seems your question is trying to ask if 50% of the population has inherent physical limitations that would prevent them from running under 5:00 for the mile.

I would say "no" to that question under that constraint.

However, running isn't purely a physical activity. If you've been around running very long, you can probably think of many physically gifted runners that consistently get beat by others that are simply much tougher mentally.

I think it's the mental side that prevents most guys from doing the training necessary to run fast and prevents them from effectively using the fitness they do have.

Among high school aged boys, I would say ~1-2% run under 5:00. Among guys older or younger, I would say the percent that actually run 5:00 or better is far less than 1% of the population.

MOST guys don't have want it takes mentally/physically to do the training and to push themselves to a sub-5:00 mile.

Can most guys run 6 in a row?

lydiard commented on this at one point i think but i can't remember what he said. he said most males if properly trained can break 5 minutes or 6 minutes, not sure which.

I have run 6 in a row and if you have to you know that there aren't many guys in front of you on that day!

You don't need much (if any) talent for a sub 5. If a million dollar prize was offered to any American highschooler who breaks 5, I guarantee that our inflation rate will be higher than Germany's in the 1920s, since the only boys who couldn't claim the prize will be those in wheelchairs.

I think 1% might be somewhat low. I played basketball in college and all the guards each year were required to run under 5 minutes for the mile. We never had one guard not make the standard. And to say the least these were not track motivated people. Only myself and one forward had any track background. I ran the half and the forward was a 400 meter runner.

sjc wrote:

lydiard commented on this at one point i think but i can't remember what he said. he said most males if properly trained can break 5 minutes or 6 minutes, not sure which.

Pretty sure that's from Cerutty:

quoted from Run With the Best:

"In fact it was Cerutty's contention that a 5-minute mile could be achieved on proper breathing and running techniques without any recourse to training by anyone with some natural ability--something he could still do at 55 years of age."

Oh, so all I had to do was breathe properly... Damnit, shouldn't have wasted all that time training.

Cerutty's an idiot.

Most guys two or three years out of college can't run a six minute mile. I am 45 and I can still do a six minute mile, but a five minute mile is a stretch for me, and I run, try to eat right, and work out daily. I look like an Ethiopian next to most of my male colleagues. We are fat american men, and apparently with role models like family guy and Homer simpson, we like it that way. We aren't going to die in a nuclear attack, just one massive coronary, or type II diabetes or heart disease.

In the US army you get 100 points in boot camp if you can run a mile in 6 minutes. Only 3% of the recruits can manage this. I would say 1% of the general population can run a 5 minute mile. In fact it maybe less. Though almost common place at any high school track meet, the five minute mile does require some natural talent and discipline.

Mr. A-10

Sure we are slow, but watch out for that gun!

it did say "and running".

And he did coach one of the greatest milers in history.

Only one senior citizen in history has run a five minute mile. He was a sheep farmer from New Zealand and he ran the mile in 4:45 at 71 years old. I will google him and find his name. I remember reading about him in Runner's World magazine. Is his last name Trumal?

People are arguing from two different standpoints. The people saying 1% are taking the question as "how many people do break 5:00," whereas the question was "how many people, if they dropped everything and trained for the mile, could break 5:00." Even if everyone was completely motivated and was coached or trained properly, I'd bet you'd still only have around 25% pull it off.

masters | Running at YourRunning.com The late, great Derek Turnbull ran a 4:56 mile and a 2:41 marathon at age 65. ... 4:56.4 -- yes you read that right -- a sub 5-minute mile at age 65. ...

- YourRunning.com (google)

You were a bit off. Turnbull ran his sub 5 minute mile at 65, and it was 4:56 not 4:45. So at 65 Turnbull could make most high school varsity track teams as a passable miler. Not bad for a guy 47 years older than his competition. At 60 Turnbull was fast enough to qualify for either the US or NZs womens Olympic Marathon trials.

Many consider this guy to the ELG or Carl Lewis of master's runners. Even at 70 this guy was running close to 5 minutes for the mile.

They call him the late great in the article. I hope this does not mean he is dead.

Question: A 80 year old has been reported to have run a 6:48 mile. Was this gentlemen none other than Turnbull.

On May 14, 2005, John Keston, an 80-year-old from Oregon, ran a mile in a historic time of 6:48.3. That's about one minute faster than the existing American and world records", writes Dave Clingan.

Pictures show John mid-record at the Canby HS track in Oregon, and in the 2005 USA Cross Country Championships.

Turnbell did die. I have no idea how old he was. He was the greatest of all master runner that include sprinter and distance runners. A 2:30+ at 60 is amazing for a marathon. That is what Steve Holman (3:50mile) run in his first marathon

Look up some race results--road races, not NCAA track meets. A 6 minute mile is roughly equivalent to a 17:30 5K. Even after you eliminate all the walkers, you still only have something in the 1-5% range who actually can run that fast.

Look at the crosa country results for the kids that do train and do run their butts off (probably a num,ber of them here)....and run 19-something, because they just don't have the talent.