Can an average man run a 6-minute mile

[MJD]

Re: Can an average man run a 6-minute mile

>Hi Sobel, that's an interesting observation about
>the skinny girl that was actually fat. In the
>opposite way I know a girl who actually looks
>quite big but she runs very fast, keeping up with
>the lean machines and beating them on occasions
>especially on the hills. The cross country ski
>coaches were all trying to tell her nicely to
>shed some pounds. Eventually they discovered her
>body fat was only about 11%, she had big muscles
>and a cycling background. It was strange.

Don't some of the massive weightlifters have some of the lowest fat readings around?

[Guest]

Re: Can an average man run a 6-minute mile

<< Hey, whocares- if you ran 4:49 in HS, you need to train more now! I ran 4:53 in HS, but 5:08 at 50. Aging well helps- keeping active, and not getting fat. I am looking at a %body fat chart I got at our employee fitness check yesterday. It recommends for 19-24 yr. old men 10.8- 14.9%.
Then it recommends for 50+ 20.2-23.2%. I wondered if this was a "normal" fattening up, or just a cultural bias. I do not assume I will balloon up to 23%.>>

I am training at a resticted pace because of my weight. When I lose the weight I will train harder. I have got my 400 meter times back to the low 60's for the first time after my knee surgery.
Actually, I deliberately slow my pace down when I approach a 5 minute mile to avoid injuries. Right now I am restricting myself to 5:30.
Twice a week I run a comfortable 6:20 mile on the treadmill. I replace distance running with a daily 3.2 mile walk after work. Basically I am attempting a 5 minute mile 18 months from now with out running any distance. By that time I will have close to a 50 6+ minute miles on the treadmill. During my thread mill workouts I am starting to watch a lot of Simpson episodes.

This is one of my workouts from yesterday.

1 mile - 6:25
2 X half mile - 3:00
4 X quarter mile - 90
3.2 mile walk in park


I cannot run faster since my threadmill is limited to 10 mph. One thing I must avoid doing is cheating my supporting myself on the threadmills handle bars. Now I know why my arms have been aching.

To attempt a fast mile time at 235lb would be asking for trouble. When I am at least 200lbs then I will be ready to train for a 5-minute mile. Actually, when I ran a 4:25 1500meters in high school I was only 155lbs.

We are all getting older and heavier.

[Guest]

Re: Can an average man run a 6-minute mile

"I cannot run faster since my threadmill is limited to 10 mph."

Great to see you using the treadmill (I sell 'em for a living to clubs). One simple rule of thumb we use is that for every 3 degrees of incline you increase the effort by 1 mph. Therefore 10 mph at 3 degrees equals 11 mph. I wouldn't go over 3-4% incline, however, since it can result in form changes. Also, don't be disappointed if you can't duplicate treadmill workouts immediatly outdoors - takes the legs a little time to adjust since the pushoff phase is slightly different.

[Guest]

Re: Can an average man run a 6-minute mile

The thread mill does make it easier since the ground is really moving with you!

What I hate is when the thread mill shuts down. Maybe the pounding forces the machine to turn off.

As I type this I can hear the winds of the tropical storm outside. Apparently, the winds are gusting up to 40 mph. If we lose power tomorrow I guess my thread mill workout is on hold. However, I will get plenty of exercise picking up branches up off the yard tomorrow.

[Guest]

Re: Can an average man run a 6-minute mile

i remember reading about someone in runners world, i believe his name was peter maher of canada, he was tall i think 6 foot4 and 260 pounds, was never an athlete and spent his nights at the bar smoking and getting drunk, he was in his 30;s he decided to start working out in 2 or 3 years his weight was down to 170-180 he ran a 2.11 marathon made the canadian team and led the first 20 miles of the world championship marathon in 1991. so he was genetically not well suited to running as even getting down to 170-180 is huge for a sub 2.12 marathoner. so yes that proves that an average man in his 30s can run under 6 minutes for the mile, as this average man ran 26 consecutive miles at 5 minut pace. and if rick pitino coached the lakers i am sure he would get the well over 300 pound shaquille o neal under 12 minutes for 2 miles

[MJD]

Re: Can an average man run a 6-minute mile

>i remember reading about someone in runners
>world, i believe his name was peter maher of
>canada, he was tall i think 6 foot4 and 260
>pounds, was never an athlete and spent his nights
>at the bar smoking and getting drunk, he was in
>his 30;s he decided to start working out in 2 or
>3 years his weight was down to 170-180 he ran a
>2.11 marathon made the canadian team and led the
>first 20 miles of the world championship marathon
>in 1991. so he was genetically not well suited to
>running as even getting down to 170-180 is huge
>for a sub 2.12 marathoner. so yes that proves
>that an average man in his 30s can run under 6
>minutes for the mile, as this average man ran 26
>consecutive miles at 5 minut pace. and if rick
>pitino coached the lakers i am sure he would get
>the well over 300 pound shaquille o neal under 12
>minutes for 2 miles

He was a very talented junior? runner. Still a pretty good story but not quite as stated.

[RussJD]

Re: Can an average man run a 6-minute mile

I don't want to toot my own horn, but I am certainly average. In my early 30s I wanted to run a decent marathon so I did a sensible amount of training and in the course of that I would do a track workout doing 400-800-mile-800-400 and would do 5:50s for the mile. I had gradually built up to 50-60 miles a week for 10 weeks and the marathon was 3:17 which was perfectly fine with me. So an average man can do it. Of course I had been working out in some way or another basically all my life but always in a strictly average way. I have now changed to average cycling and do bike centuries at any average pace.

[Guest]

Re: Peter Maher

As mentioned previously, Maher was a top junior in Ireland before immigrating to Canada. He was notably tall and did go through a period of years in the early 80s where he let himself go to pot (http://archives.tcm.ie/thekingdom/2001/ ... ry6755.asp "In an exclusive interview with The Kingdom in September 1988, Maher revealed his life was "a shambles" in the early 1980s when he weighed seventeen and a half stone, smoked 60 cigarettes a day and regularly drank up to ten pints of stout on a daily basis. ")

While he was running at the back of the lead pack for the first half of th 91 World Champs in Tokyo, it was in his first major international experience in 87 at the Rome World Champs where he lead the entire field through 30+km before being swallowed up. He also held the world best 25km time back in 90 or 91.

[BillVol]

Mile

I used to be a decent runner. Back when I was helping my little brother train, I told him that a six-minute mile was no problem, that I did one once in junior high. So he challenged me to do one. I finished around 6:30 and was a just a little surprised! I started doing interval work and after a few tries ran a 5:50. People don't realize how hard 6 minutes is. People don't realize how hard a 90 second lap is. It is for me anyhow.

I'm thinking about trying to do a 6 minute mile again. It would probably take me at least 6 months to even be able to dream of breaking it. I'm just so preoccupied with other stuff right now. What a feeling it would be to be in that kind of shape again.

[The Flash]

Re: 6-minute mile

I think it would be interesting to take everyone here, run a mile, and find the average time. Then take all the men at Microsoft, MIT, and U of Arkansas (or name your group), and see how average times compare.

[Natasha]

Re: 6-minute mile

I think BillVol can run a six minute mile. It will take some work but he is inspired. I would be interested in your progress, maybe you could post a message once in a while about how you're doing.

[miler manque]

Re: 6-minute mile

Every 25-35-year old? No. But, weight issues aside -- if they're average or below -- then a majority of 10 could do it in 2 - 3 months. Remember the proposal was to provide "top" coaching/training. A serious regimen should get most under 6, is my bet.

[Guest]

Re: 6-minute mile

I was a big kid who played football, hockey, and was a shot/disc man in HS, meaning that I trained a LOT. But I was never at all a naturally talented athlete (in fact, quite the opposite -- my dad's XC and wrestling genes must've skipped a generation or something). It was all through motivation and repetition, yet there was still a group of truly athletic guys who could run circles around me with little or no work at all. By the time I got to college I was just under 8:00 for the mile, and that was as good as I ever got no matter what I did. To do that now, in my early 40's after years of spending 12 to 16 hours a day in a NYC office, would be unthinkable. So, no, I don't think that sub 6 is reachable for many of us more average to poor athletes. Sub 9 is probably more realistic.

[jhc68]

Re: 6-minute mile

Interesting replies. Again, I bet we, here, are not a very average group although we tend to think we are. RussJD, for example, views himself as an average guy, but he is only average for people who "want to run a decent marathon" - a pretty small demographic within the general population. I know a 30 year old high school coach who used to be an elite runner. He jumps into the "coach's run" at the local prep relays once a year and routinely runs in the 4:20's. He regards himself as just an average guy who is very competitive... NOT! Point is, we all tend to set the standard for average based on ourselves. I was able to run sub-6 minute miles as a young athlete carrying practically no body fat, but by the time I was 30, I think I could only have returned to that level of fitness if training were an obsessive-compulsive addiction. (Not average guy behavior!)

[BillVol]

Re: 6-minute mile

Natasha, it will take some serious work. I'm a long way from six minutes. I have not decided to try it yet. If I do, I'll post here. It would be an interesting experiment.