Running speeds of average people

Say Que? wrote:

Grant46 wrote:

The 50th percentile for high school boys for the mile is 7:10. and I'd bet the average high school boy is pretty damn sedentary these days. Fully grown men are stronger and faster.

7.5 minutes is below average.

The 50th percentile for high school boys for the mile is 7:10? Nonsense! Where'd you get that stat from?

I attended a large urban high school that had 6,000 students who attended classes in separate shifts, and outside of the track and x-country teams, and some of the soccer players, nobody could come near 7:10 for the mile, not even close. Especially now, with American youth being more slothful and sedentary than ever, it's ridiculous to believe that a 7:10 mile would be the 50th percentile.

I think we've been trolled. No one could be this stupid. The 50th percentile of sedentary men aged 20-40 could not run a mile without walking. It would be well over 10 minutes.

Say Que? wrote:

Grant46 wrote:

The 50th percentile for high school boys for the mile is 7:10. and I'd bet the average high school boy is pretty damn sedentary these days. Fully grown men are stronger and faster.

7.5 minutes is below average.

The 50th percentile for high school boys for the mile is 7:10? Nonsense! Where'd you get that stat from?

50th percentile for 17 year old boys is 7:04

FFF wrote:

I won't read this stupid thread, but if you got an "average person" and had them run a 400, you'd get a big surprise.

Even if you picked people in decent shape, far fewer than half would be able to run sub 90 without training. They don't have the right form.

I went to the gym yesterday. Next to me was a 35yo guy. Fit.

He started walking on the treadmill at 0% incline. 15min/mile or so. For 1km.

Then he was good to go. He put the treadmill to 10min/mile. It was a big effort. He maintained it for 6 min.

And stopped. Exhausted.

Welcome to the real world.

17 again wrote:

Say Que? wrote:

The 50th percentile for high school boys for the mile is 7:10? Nonsense! Where'd you get that stat from?

50th percentile for 17 year old boys is 7:04

http://caronefitness.com/mastercourses/acfmastercss/ff1_7_12_css/documents/nationalstandards_boys.pdf

Exactly.

Whoever came up with those standards is as unglued from reality as anyone who believes them.

Grant46 wrote:

17 again wrote:

50th percentile for 17 year old boys is 7:04

http://caronefitness.com/mastercourses/acfmastercss/ff1_7_12_css/documents/nationalstandards_boys.pdf

Exactly.

I might be wrong (speaking as a Brit) but aren't these percentiles for schools and students who have volunteered to take part in the scheme, not the entire American High School population?

I think about running fast speeds a lot. How many people could get away from a Spinosaurus or T Rex or Giganotosaurus. Humans vs Theropods would be a good race.

The only reason you all think there’s no way an average person could run a 7 minute mile is because your mile times aren’t much faster and you like to think your 6:45 mile PR is above average.

7 minute mile is a cakewalk for a young male who doesn’t smoke and who is at a healthy weight.

Most boys at my old high school ran the mile between 7 to 8 minutes and I think the girls were around 8 and a half minutes.

After high school ages people become a lot more sedentary due to the fact they dont go out and play football on the park after school anymore and are now too tired after dealing with work and life commitments and they just want to hit the pool bar and relax. Maybe some of them will go to the gym recreationally at weekends every now and then but it wouldnt really be consistent enough to gain any significant cardio. Most people would probably lift a few weights for half an hour and then use the resistance machines for an additional half an hour - nothing solid.

I predict the general population aged 20 - 40 the percentiles would look like this:

(10k) males:

95% 0:44:00

90% 0:46:30

80% 0:50:00

70% 0:54:00

60% 0:58:00

50% 1:02:00

40% 1:05:00

30% 1:10:00

20% DNF or 90+ min

10% DNF or 90+ min

5% DNF completely

(10k) females:

95% 50:00

90% 53:50

80% 56:30

70% 59:45

60% 1:02:30

50% 1:08:00

40% 1:15:00

30% 1:22:00

20% DNF or 105+ min

10% DNF or 105+ min

5% DNF completely

(5k) males:

95% 20:30

90% 22:30

80% 23:45

70% 24:35

60% 25:50

50% 27:30

40% 28:50

30% 29:40

20% 31:30

10% DNF or 45 min plus

5% DNF completely

(5k) females:

95% 24:10

90% 25:00

80% 25:45

70% 26:50

60% 28:10

50% 30:05

40% 32:10

30% 34:00

20% 38:30

10% DNF or 1 hour plus

5% DNF completely

(Mile) Males:

95% 5:50

90% 6:20

80% 6:40

70% 7:00

60% 7:30

50% 7:50

40% 8:10

30% 8:30

20% 9:00

10% 9:40

5% 11:00

(Mile) For females:

95% 6:20

90% 6:55

80% 7:15

70% 7:45

60% 8:10

50% 8:45

40% 9:00

30% 9:35

20% 10:20

10% 11:00

5% 12:30

(800m) for males:

95% 2:30

90% 2:40

80% 2:50

70% 3:05

60% 3:15

50% 3:30

40% 3:40

30% 3:55

20% 4:10

10% 4:25

5% 5:00

(800m) for females:

95% 2:50

90% 3:05

80% 3:15

70% 3:30

60% 3:40

50% 3:50

40% 4:15

30% 4:30

20% 4:50

10% 5:10

5% 6:00

(400m) For males:

95% 0:58

90% 1:03

80% 1:10

70% 1:14

60% 1:18

50% 1:23

40% 1:32

30% 1:41

20% 1:55

10% 2:10

5% 2:30

(400m) For females:

95% 1:10

90% 1:15

80% 1:21

70% 1:30

60% 1:38

50% 1:45

40% 1:53

30% 2:00

20% 2:09

10% 2:25

5% 2:50

(100m) for males:

95% 12.5

90% 13.0

80% 13.5

70% 14.0

60% 14.9

50% 15.8

40% 16.2

30% 17.0

20% 19.0

10% 22.0

5% 25.0

(100m) for females:

95% 14.0

90% 14.8

80% 15.5

70% 16.2

60% 17.0

50% 18.5

40% 19.1

30% 20.2

20% 22.5

10% 24.5

5% 30.0

I see evidence that it's also possible for the disabled.

Jayd3Nb wrote:

The only reason you all think there’s no way an average person could run a 7 minute mile is because your mile times aren’t much faster and you like to think your 6:45 mile PR is above average.

7 minute mile is a cakewalk for a young male who doesn’t smoke and who is at a healthy weight.

Translation : 'I've run 100 miles a week since the age of five and now can run a 5 minute mile at the age of 22. I want to show off on LetsRun, but will do it indirectly by pretending to believe it's so easy anyone can run at least a 7 minute mile'.

Well my Mile PR is close to 6:45 actually, but then I'm nearly 50 and only been running 10 miles a week for a few months. But I'm quite a fit guy whose had experience of young, healthy looking people coming in to the gym and being completely gassed out after a couple of minutes of skipping and such like.

Maybe you're right and the average male could run 7 minutes flat for the mile. Seems very unlikely to me though. These threads always appear to massively overestimate the fitness of the average 'healthy' male off the street. If the average male could run a 70 second 400m, a 7 minute mile, or a 25 minute 5k tomorrow, then it stands to reason that with only a year or so of training, the average male could run sub 55 400m, a 5 minute mile, or an 18 minute 5k....which is clearly absurd.

Furthermore, as regards the 'national fitness standard', I was correct to point out that these percentiles are for athletes and schools which have chosen to take part in the scheme, and who are therefore training for the mile I presume every week. The 'average male' is also far less active than the average high schooler. So if the average 16 year old training for the mile every week can only run it in 7 minutes, I would say the average 25 year old male off the street, probably couldn't run it in under 12 minutes (in fact couldn't run a mile continuously at all).

Coevett wrote:

I would say the average 25 year old male off the street, probably couldn't run it in under 12 minutes (in fact couldn't run a mile continuously at all).

Such a stupid comment that it unfortunately negates everything you said previously.

Anybody and I literally mean ANYBODY who isn’t disabled can run a 12 minute mile.

And if you’re reading this and scoffing because you THINK you’re not disabled dispite knowing you can’t run a sub 12 minute mile then I have news for you- I would actually consider you either cardiovascularly disabled at this level of fitness if you’re too winded to complete a mere 12 minute mile or mechanically disabled if you can’t power your body fast enough to run a 12 minute mile. The cut off should actually be 10 minutes.

I actually think that “VO2 max” should be considered a vital sign just as important as heart rate or blood pressure and if you fall under a certain score (20 for females, 30for males) then consider yourself disabled.

Also for the record, young males (even fat ones) might run a pathetic mile due to lack of cardio but telling you now, can still run pretty damn fast for a good 10-15 seconds due to muscle power alone. Do NOT underestimate young muscles because I’ve seen it time and time again. I agree that 15mph is doable for 70% of age 20-30 males but most would have their hearts pounding out of their chest for at least a few minutes after going at this speed even for a mere few seconds.

And dont even get me started on women. Females are just dismal runners in general - apart from the olympians with great ancestry/genes - 70% of women just cannot run.. like at all.. This is also somewhat due to lack of training but there’s also quite a lot of science behind it. At least with males running fast for short bursts is programmed into their DNA much more efficiently due to catching and fleeing prey - most women never evolved to deal with anything of the sort so from a genetic perspective - running (especially fast) is way more unnatural to them and doesnt come as easy.

Average in high school:

100m: 14.8 (males)

100m: 18.5 (females)

^ Those are REAL stats amogst 16 year olds from a study taken in a high school. This is about the population average.

If you train yourself to run an 8 minute mile and a 16 second 100m and then are sedentary for a few months then your mile time WILL plummet and you wont be able to get anywhere near 8 minutes until you train yourself to do it again because when you are inactive- endurance is the FIRST thing to go. BUT you would probably lose hardly any speed over a few months because top end speed tends to stick around a lot longer (a few years) so say your PRs were these after some training:

Mile: 7:59

100m: 16.25

Then after a few months sedentary they would probably look like this:

Mile: 9:35

100m: 16.25-16.50

After a few YEARS sedentary (maybe about 5) then that is when sprint speed starts to deteriorate (16.25 down to 17.85).

This is why it’s much more beneficial (maybe not for the heart, but for your DNA) to train speed instead of stamina. Stamina is temporary whereas speed is more permanent.

If you had two highly trained people, one highly trained in sprinting the 100 and one highly trained in marathon running and then asked them to sit on their arses and get fat (put on 40lbs) for ten years then asked them to run their 100/marathon- the sprint guy would still be pretty fast due to muscle power and dna conditioning BUT the ex marathoner wouldnt even be able to finish the marathon let alone hit his previous time due to the fact the conditioning benfits of endurance training do not significantly alter dna function PLUS the benefits that allow people to excel in stamina based sports (large heart, lung effeciency) wear off afyer just a few weeks of not training the system.

MOST males probably grew up sprinting and doing high intensity conditioning without even thinking about it just by playing out with friends as kids (playing football, climbing trees, jumping over walls, etc) and that conditioning STAYS with you until youre 30years old ish... like yeah, sure, they dont do the conditioning anymore so they would get winded doing it as a sedentary adult but the PHYSICAL ability to do it is still there.

That is why I TOTALLY believe any young 20-30 year old male could absolutely run at 15mph. Sprint speed sticks aroumd and most boys can hit 15mph (just over actually according to averages- 15.15mph) in high school.

The mile is much, much different and would probably require walking for some but amogst the ones who dont walk I would say 7-9minutes is a good average.

I know a lot of you will not believe this because this is letsrun where everybody is an olympian wannabe but getting under 7 minutes for a mile takes TRAINING for most people. 7 minutes is slightly above average for males and considerably above average for females so when put into perspective-it is actually not a bad time and I certainly wouldn’t consider anybody who can get under 7 out of shape.

Any male who gets 6:15 or less in the mile and any girl who gets under 6:55 can consider themselves in great shape and will do absolutely fine in 99% of sports (basketball, football, tennis, swimming). Realistically though, most people would be happy with under 8 minutes (which is fine if youre just looking to keep your heart/lungs in moderate condition and dont teally plan on participating in any sport).

It's extremely easy to prove to yourself how wrong you are. Pull up the results from any large race. I chose the last year's Orion 5k (one of the larger 5k's in my area, which had 1700 finishers last year). Look at the results for 20-40 year olds.

For example, you claim that the 50th percentile for average men 20-40 for the 5k would be 27:30. Looking at the Orion 5k results for men 20-40, a 27:30 would have put you in the top 61th percentile OF PEOPLE WHO VOLUNTARILY SIGNED UP AND PARTICIPATED IN A 5K RACE. Surely we can agree that people who voluntarily participate in races are much more fit than the average sedentary person. For your average sedentary 20-40 year old men (the demographic the OP originally referenced), a 27:30 is probably close to 90th percentile.

I don't know why it's so hard for people here to understand that the average person simply could not run a half mile even without walking. The world is not made up of athletic high school boys.

Those are probably kinda close (though a bit fast) for people who run at least 3 times a week but waaaaaay to fast for the general population.

I looked at a random big 10K in my area, for example. 10% of males 25-29 in the race ran under 50:00. And that's out of the subset of the population that is choosing to run a 10K.

I wouldn't really consider the average person who competes in 5ks to be very athletic either. Most people who participate in 5ks or 10ks are below average athleticism and only run in them because they're not athletic enough to do much else.

I agree that 7:30 is average for males 20-40.

I think I see what's happening here. You're conflating the term "average" which is a math term that can sometimes be used as merely a descriptor, with the word "mediocre" which is a descriptor.

If you said that a 7:30 mile for males 20-40 was mediocre, I would completely agree with you. But when you say that 7:30 is average for males 20-40, that means you think if you randomly selected 100 men aged 20-40, timed them running a mile, and then divided that total by 100, you would get 7.5. I know there is absolutely no way you or anyone on this site thinks this is the case.

Rez wrote:

Rez wrote:

The average man at that age, in their prime could probably sprint pretty well for about 20 seconds and would slow down to a dismal pace fir any other distance. Women wouldn’t even be capable of that because (and this isnt a dig towards women because there are lots faster than me) but untrained women dont seem to have the ability or form to sprint, whereas from what ive seen untrained men can seem to get away with it without ever working on it.

And I have a theory for this. Most sprint mechanics are built during childhood. The mean male spends his childhood playing football (practicing sprinting unknowingly) and the mean female spends her childhood playing dress up (not practicing).

Sprinting mechanics in your prime heavily depend on how actove you were as a youth.

It has a little to do with development, but it's not in childhood. You look at the top elite girls. smaller hips and lower body fat, flatter chest, etc. This is from training through puberty were most girls hips widen that throws off their sprint mechanics. Unfortunately I have know a few girls in high school who were incredibly fast freshmen year in high school, but sophomore year they slowed down and didn't really train through it. They ended up just being average talents. Men don't have to worry about our hips widening, when we hit puberty in increases our preform. Our bodies with narrow hips help the average man be fitter then the average female, plus the increase of test.

I just read article about this. Relating this topic to the trans women competing in high school girls athletics