If properly coached, the average relatively fit college male could run a ___ 8K

If your prs are the reason you consider yourself a slightly above average fit male, you're essentially saying people who can break 32 can break 32.

Id figure a pretty good but average relatively fit college male might be running 21-25minutes for 5k but will improve a ton with everyday running for a couple years. then they may be able to run like 30-32s or bit faster for 5miles. you have to enjoy running though. these kids are also starting to run (maybe 20-30mpw) at age 18 or 19 for the first time so it's going to take some time

At last year's HCA Virginia 8K (part of the Richmond Marathon) there were 90 finishers in the men's 20-24 age group. Only 18 broke 32 minutes, or 20%. I don't think "average relatively fit" means top 20%. The time for the 45th finisher was 41:10. This is probably much closer to the correct answer. All these answers under 30 minutes are ridiculous.

How many are properly coached and fully dedicated? Also, my response changed the question to 3-4 years of training.

Here is a bigger sample. 2009 Feaster Five 8K in Andover MA, which seems to have a relatively competitive local running scene

M2029 22/227 31:08 (10th percentile)

M2029 57/227 35:35 (25th percentile)

M2029 113/227 42:57 (50th percentile)

While this is a convincing point for a ballpark estimate, I would point out that many "relatively fit" college students graduate at the age of 21. Ideally, they begin earning a salary and taking care of themselves. At this age, young adults may begin consuming more alcohol, attending more happy hours, and eating more fast food. I don't think that the 20-24 age group is comparable to the 18-21 age range of typical undergrads.

18-21 is definitely not comparable to a 20-29 age group. Relatively fit at the age of 18 and relatively fit at the age of 28 are completely different.

At 18 you are coming out of high school, maybe you played a youth sport, your are light-weight, you haven't picked up too many bad habits yet.

By 28, maybe you have picked up a few bad habits or maybe you got married and had kids.

Another Option wrote:

Practically, they could overcome some of these deficiencies with orthotic devices, but most people are not going to invest several hundred dollars to enable them to participate in an activity they associate with pain and discomfort.

Err... have you ever looked into how much football and hockey and Lacrosse equipment cost?

And then there is evidence.

Again, these data are from the 2009 feaster five 8K in Andover MA - a competitive running community. These are the median times for males of each age (this is relatively easy to get using a find all function in a text editor)

M18 45:23

M19 41:08

M20 39:05

M21 37:50

M22 42:50

M23 39:19

M24 40:48

M25 37:03

M26 36:38

M27 41:57

M28 39:00

M29 40:58

not in college wrote:

While this is a convincing point for a ballpark estimate, I would point out that many "relatively fit" college students graduate at the age of 21.

The typical student who enters college straight out of high school graduates at 22, not 21. There are also many students who worked or were in the military prior to entering college, skewing the age of graduation over 22. If you include data for the lower ages along with what I showed earlier, the times would actually get slower as only 4 guys under 20 broke 32:00.

This is quite an interesting question.

When I was in gym class in high school, when such existed, and prior to going out for track, anyone who could break 6 minutes for a mile was considered quite good. This was from relatively 14 and 15 year olds, who ran around much more in those days than now, not sedentary college kids. Out of a large gym class, there would be not more than 5 who could break 6 minutes for a mile.

The summer after high school, there was a fellow at the track who had run 5:05 or so for a mile, and made the comment that anyone who broke 5 minutes was quite a bit better than the average person. I thought he was just making things up as it didn't seem that fast to me but he was certainly right. My cousin who ran 5:20 in gym class in 9th grade was considered a prodigy. Also I lived in several different states and it was always the same.

My guess is not less than 50 minutes, and probably more than an hour. I would be surprised if 1/2 the guys in college could break 60 minutes for an 8k, even after a month of training.

Blowing.Rock Master wrote:

... All these answers under 30 minutes are ridiculous.

No way man. You and all you haters are why Americans suck at this sport. Such low expectations just feed into on-going inferior results.

The guy on the first page that said 23 minutes is pretty close. I'd say, IF properly trained for 3 -4 years (and that's a big IF) the average guy should be able to drop below 22 min. Not every porker, but starting with a reasonably average athletic dude.

what are you kidding me? wrote:

The guy on the first page that said 23 minutes is pretty close. I'd say, IF properly trained for 3 -4 years (and that's a big IF) the average guy should be able to drop below 22 min. Not every porker, but starting with a reasonably average athletic dude.

The American Record for 8k is 22:04 by Alberto Salazar. Granted he's a "porker" but I doubt there are many "average athletic dudes" who could beat him.

Salazar is definitely a worse than average runner. So I would say 22:00 is definitely a good marker - sub 22 being better than average. I mean, lets be serious, running 4:24's for 5 consecutive miles isn't that hard, especially given that the average college male can easily run a 3:52 mile. I mean, even most porkers could break 4 in jorts and hightops.

usaxcrunner753 wrote:

I am a slightly above average fit male (23 yrs) and I can run under 32:00.

My PRs are:

5:05 mile

11:20 2 mile

18:15 5k

37:06 10k

39:06 10k at altitude (5,700ft)

So, I think that it is possible to run under 32:00 with several solid months of training.

95% of male college students can not run a 5:05 mile right now. They can also not run a 18:15 5k.

If you only surround yourself with fellow runners you begin to think this is normal, but it's not. A 5:05 requires some talent. 80% of the male population don't have what it takes to run sub5.

I remember the first time I dipped below the 22min mark.... ahhhh, memories

5:05 mile

11:20 2 mile

18:15 5k

37:06 10k

Nutella1 wrote:

95% of male college students can not run a 5:05 mile right now. They can also not run a 18:15 5k.

Make that 99%. If you take a random 10k race here in Germany, 37:06 gives you a pretty good chance of finishing in the top 5% in the under 30 category. That is, you beat 95% of people who run road races, *much* more if you took the average population. And last time I checked, the average American was even fatter than the average German, although that may not be true for college students.

People who post on this board have no idea what "average" fitness is. I think the typical LRC visitor finds it hard to believe that there are people in the world who can't run an 8k in less than 40 minutes, because to most male runners that's slower than an easy 5 miler.

I bet at 1/4 of college males have never run 5 miles continuously in their lives.

Relatively fit, I'd say a college male could run about a 6 minute mile, this isn't your average kid, this is a guy who did a a sport or two in high school, stays relatively fit, by either doing some innermurals, playing some hoops or football with his friends or even running a little bit.

I'd say if you took the average RELATIVELY FIT college male gave him 5 months under a solid coach, and stays healthy he could do alright by a normal persons standards.

5 months is 21 and 2/3 weeks.

So this guys does 20-30 miles for 4 weeks, 30-40 for the next 4, 40-50 for the next 4, 12 weeks down. Stays about there and starts increasing the intensity with about 8 weeks to go. And is able to bring that mile pr from 6 flat to 5:20-6:00 flat range and that gives him a little bit of speed.

So, if you were able to get a guy that is relatively fit, not some alcoholic that thinks beer pong is a physically demanding activity, he'd be able to run about 30-32 minutes after 5 months.