A Typical LRC A-hole wrote:
97% of men and 70% of women could do it in their physical prime if they wanted it.
But most of them choose not to train for that, because they are not serious about running,
Most people don't have a "physical prime"
5% men, 0.75% women
Agreed wrote:
WestendGymCoach wrote:
About 5% of females and about 25% of males aged 13-39 (prime running age) can do this. It is a great time for women and shows a respectable dedication to fitness and a high level of training. While for men it is not as impressive but it is still a hair or two above average and shows a moderately good fitness level and is a sign of good circulatory health.
I am a coach and from what I see, not many people can do this without being generally active in at least one sport and at a respectable level of body fat.
Happy running.
And this.
I’m a male at 33% body fat (mostly on my gut) and I can still run under 3 minutes for an 800
Out of shape ex-sprinter wrote:
Agreed wrote:
And this.
0/10
I’m a male at 33% body fat (mostly on my gut) and I can still run under 3 minutes for an 800
Out of shape ex-sprinter wrote:
Agreed wrote:
And this.
0/10
I’m a male at 33% body fat (mostly on my gut) and I can still run under 3 minutes for an 800
FazzT wrote:
Men under 40: 35%
Women under 40: 12.5%
Men over 40: 12.5%
Women over 40: 2.5%
Men under 40: 30%
Women under 40: 7.5%
Men over 40: 6.5%
Women over 40: 0.5%
Borje wrote:
FazzT wrote:
Men under 40: 35%
Women under 40: 12.5%
Men over 40: 12.5%
Women over 40: 2.5%
Men under 40: 30%
Women under 40: 7.5%
Men over 40: 6.5%
Women over 40: 0.5%
I find it very hard to believe that if you took 10 men off the street, 3 of the, could run sub 6 minute pace for 3 minutes. You set that pace to the majority of gym goers on the treadmill and they’d be dead after 1.5-2 minutes tops if they ever made it that far. I see young fit males doing high intensity work on the treadmills sometimes and a typical workout lasts about 10-15 minutes of running and and off at 6:40 minute mile pace for 30 seconds and then walking briskly at 4.5 mph for 30 seconds and repeating by 10-15 I have seen the FITTEST looking men do this and be completely gassed by the 7th or 8th rep and brute force the next couple. I think these people could muster a sub 3 minute 800 *IF* they were in a life or death situation.
And those sort of males doing that kind of exercise are about 1 in 15-20, not roughly 1 in 3 so I would say about 2% of females (1 in 50) and about 6.66%) of males (1 in 15) could do it.
I wonder what percent of the general population can get a 60%, 70%, 80%, and 90% age graded times at the various race distances? As a 43 year old guy, I can get 80+% age graded for 1 Mile, 2 Mile, 5K, 10K, Half Marathon. Working on getting 80+% age graded time for marathon.
Bruin1996 wrote:
I wonder what percent of the general population can get a 60%, 70%, 80%, and 90% age graded times at the various race distances? As a 43 year old guy, I can get 80+% age graded for 1 Mile, 2 Mile, 5K, 10K, Half Marathon. Working on getting 80+% age graded time for marathon.
The average guy could get about 60-65% AG for a 100 meter sprint. After that distance, the AG ratings would go down dramatically. The average guy would get about 45% AG for the mile, 40 for the 5k, 35 for the 10k and so on. Trained people get around 60-80% AG for mile-10k.
I’m a 33 y/o male, 5’9”, 157 pounds. Over the last 4 weeks I’ve averaged 29mpw. Started running at the end of February after 2 years off (have never consistently run for more than a year at a time). HM PR is 1:31.
I just did 5x400m with a 200m slow jog rest between intervals.
My fastest 400 was 1:30.
No way I could have pulled off 800 in 3:00. I was gassed.
And that’s with some sort of base going for me.
OP’s numbers are way off. In three months, sure, I will do it under 3:00.
Sub 3 takes training. I started out at a healthy weight, my first 800m was 3:21 but I have been running for 7 months and have shaved 26 seconds from that.
May not be so far off wrote:
I'm a 48yo male hobby jogger -
I'm about 5"6 145lbs and don't live in the U.S.
I have a torn acl in my right knee (have had it for 30 years, now).
Unlike many LRC posters - I never ran xc and have no (organized sport or major hobby) endurance background. I was a 100/200/400m sprinter for two years in HS - so we did some longer runs to get in shape.
I work as a computer programmer - so that doesn't help me stay in shape.
Since HS I have inconsistently (jogged/)run about 3-5k for an average of about 3Xweek for many years - including many years/months that I didn't run at all. A few months ago my wife left me (and took the kids with her) - I'm guessing I will get unsupportive hate about this on here (if anyone pays attention to this thread) - and so I decided to try to do some speed work and train more seriously (because I suddenly had/have more time on my hands and I enjoy running). It hasn't worked out (yet) - but I did a few sessions of speedwork and sub 90 second laps weren't much of a trick (for comparison sub 70sec sounds very far away and/or would need a much greater commitment). I also was able to run under three minutes for two laps (and could easily do another five meters while staying under three minutes).
In contrast to the negative posters I rather enjoy these types of threads once in a while - though sometimes they just go on too long.
I can't speak about the U.S. population, specifically - I haven't lived there in over 10 years, almost never visit, and don't read about this kind of thing often - but it seems to me that if you took 100 males between 40-50 years old - let's say 1/3 weigh too much for it to be possible, 1/3 aren't athletic or have no endurance, I think of the other 1/3 - maybe 1/3 could do it? 1/9 = approx. 11%. Pretty close to what the OP guessed.
So you've been hobby jogging for 30 years and you were a fairly serious runner in High School before that, and because you can squeak in a sub 3 minute 800m all out, you conclude that 1 out of ever 3 middle-aged American males off the couch could also run sub 3 minutes?
You seriously have no talent, but even with no talent just the fact that you've been hobby jogging fairly regularly for 30+ years puts you in the top 2 % and you can barely do it.
Holding 10 MPH or better for two laps? Less than 1%.
Not sure what is going on in the minds of people like the OP.
My estimate would be 10%, mid distance is hard for most people.
At my track club there was a fun 400m race, parents vs children. Most fathers ran in the 1:30-1:40 range, mothers in the 1:40-1:50 range. No way they could've held the same pace for another lap. And most of those parents were in pretty good shape, hardly any obese people.