Can any avrage shmo can get to 15 min- 5k

I think 15 needs some talent. I think anybody can get into the 18's though.

I did it. I consider myself average

No lol

Yes, but there's a ticking time clock and narrow window to do it in. I say one should be able to before the age of 26, at that point it's alot more difficult to do with no training background.

Absolutely not. There are so many people that have zero athletic ability or just have the wrong body type. Don't you remember those kids from gym class who were somehow slow and uncoordinated even though they weren't overweight?

I understand that distance running doesn't require a lot of coordination, but there are guys who couldn't break 5:00 for a mile no matter how hard they were to train.

And make $250,000, no doubt.

No. The average schmo can't even be trained to run 800 at that pace.

Joe and the Schmoes wrote:

No. The average schmo can't even be trained to run 800 at that pace.

This is the correct answer.

No, more like between 16:30 to 18:30

I started running when I was 18, and all throughout my 20s, I raced 5ks. My personal best came out to be 17:50. Of course, this was on the roads, so who knows what I could have hit on the track. I am 5'11, and have always weighed right at 150. I am fairly muscular, can bench 180 lbs, and just dip under 60 seconds for the 400. I ran a 5:02 mile as well. I tried my darnedest to train hard and get my 5k down into the 15s. I always dreamed of running a sub 5 mile, let alone 3 of them back to back. Never ever gonna happen for me. I guess if I had an olympic program to get me there it's possible, but I don't think I could handle the training. That's part of the equation as well.

Clarify, 15 min flat or 15:59 because there's a huge difference.

I think some one could with all the planets in line, but not for someone who's not athletic, never ran faster than a sub 20 min 5k in their life, fat, old, busy, can't run that pace in 600m now.

Short answer: no*

Womack wrote:

Do you think that with the right training and diet etc, be it long as needed, any average shmo that doesn't have any special physical problems, can get to 15 minutes for 5K?

You are at least five minutes south of realistic. I don't even think the average schmo could run 20:00 even with training. I'd say around 21:00 - 22:00 would be a good time for a national average of all young males, with solid training.

I hope a regular guy could do it as I would like to at least get into high 15's in a couple years... I thought I was a sprinter in HS and only did XC for fun (PR:18:30)

However, I think I'm progressing fairly well now, my post high school PR was 19:40 last April 2016 (runnng unstructured 15-25 MPW). I decided to start taking the running a little more seriously (I was 31 then and going to be 32 in a couple ,months) and last weekend just ran a 17:11 with an average MPW of 40 (April 2016) to about 55-60 (now). So that is a fair good improvement over 10 months.

Kinda wish continued running instead of stopping for over a decade, maybe I would be there already

-Jeremy

easy weeks wrote:

Womack wrote:

Do you think that with the right training and diet etc, be it long as needed, any average shmo that doesn't have any special physical problems, can get to 15 minutes for 5K?

You are at least five minutes south of realistic. I don't even think the average schmo could run 20:00 even with training. I'd say around 21:00 - 22:00 would be a good time for a national average of all young males, with solid training.

Yeh, much more realistic.

easy weeks wrote:

Womack wrote:

Do you think that with the right training and diet etc, be it long as needed, any average shmo that doesn't have any special physical problems, can get to 15 minutes for 5K?

You are at least five minutes south of realistic. I don't even think the average schmo could run 20:00 even with training. I'd say around 21:00 - 22:00 would be a good time for a national average of all young males, with solid training.

If you start them around 16-18 years old, they have 4-6 years to train, the program is good, and they lead a lifestyle is conducive to training (nothing crazy, just sleep ~8 hours a night, eat a healthy balanced diet, non-smoker, etc), I'd bet at least 50% of the male population could run close to 16:30 for 5k. 15:00 is a whole different level of performance. You don't have to be super-talented, but a lot more people put in most of the above and aren't in striking range of a 15:00 over the course of a college career.

I coach in an environment where the lifestyle is quite non-conducive to training. We get a decent amount of walk-ons who showed little or no talent/potential in high school, or never ran at all, and I've never had one unable to break 17:00 for 5k (or an equivalent performance) if they stuck with it for several years. For women, that figure is probably around 20:30.

As I'm interpreting this hypothetical, its a way different than just throwing a bunch of sedentary people on a couch to 5k program for 3 months and seeing the results (which would be in the 21:00+ range on average, i bet). The human body can make some drastic changes given the right stimulus and a long enough time to adjust.

15min 5k equates to what... a 2:27 marathon......? You think an average schmuck can win just about any local smaller marathon? 15 5k 31 10k 1:12 half 2:27 full is no where near average times man, quit trolling you loser.

nope

I agree that 16:30 is closer to the truth if you start training the guy in high school and give him through the end of college (so 8 years) to accomplish it.

Some advice wrote:

its a way different than just throwing a bunch of sedentary people on a couch to 5k program for 3 months and seeing the results (which would be in the 21:00+ range on average, i bet).

I've taught couch to 5k programs. In that scenario, I'd say 23:00 would be average. Maybe a little slower.

Of course there would be outliers, but that's not what we're talking about. I respect your opinion, but I think you are overestimating the distance running abilities of the average person.