AKICIF: Five kilometer run?

[jeriendhal]

Anyone know off the top their head what a reasonable time to complete a 5k run would be for a person who is healthy but not a trained athlete?

Comments

[kodi]

20 minutes, I believe.

[kodi]

Actually, I may have misinterpreted what you meant. 20 minutes is a good time for someone who runs a few times a week, and runs a 5k every month or so. 30 minutes is closer to what you'd get if you took someone who plays flag football on the weekends out to a 5k race.

[countrycousin.livejournal.com]

There is a variety to "healthy but not a trained athlete".

trained athlete - under 5 min/mi

40ish non-athlete who runs regularly - 7 min/mi

healthy people who don't get enough aerobic exercise, and/or whose legs aren't used to the running - 9 or 10min/mi

5km is a bit under 3mi, about 2.8?

[mishalak.livejournal.com]

5 km = 3.1 miles. So that would be 21 to thirty minutes.

[countrycousin.livejournal.com]

ugh. so it is.

[jeriendhal.livejournal.com]

And I'll probably add ten or fifteen minutes onto that, since in retrospect Rufus is not exactly healthy, though he's trying. (Seven years worth of steady drug and alcohol abuse will do that to you.)

[countrycousin.livejournal.com]

Has he jogged 3 miles? This sort of thing is really easy to do - if you're healthy and work up to it. I was always trailing the pack in group runs while on active duty, but kept jogging and ran a couple of marathons later.

But starting out is a problem, and jogging 50 or 100 yards or so, walking a bit, doing it again until you've done a mile or so is a good way to start. Particularly when you get into your mid 30s, you don't recover as quickly, and the "no pain, no gain" philosophy should be discarded and the "pain, walk a bit" philosophy adopted.

Best of luck to him!

[jeriendhal.livejournal.com]

Let's see. He's in his early thirties, and aside from the drug problem also suffered a traumatic field amputaion of his arm six weeks previously (did I mention this is a fictional character?) In his first attempt (when he's completely out of shape) I had it take him almost two hours. In retrospect I may shorten that a bit, even if he is wheezing all the way. I'm just writing the bit where he manages to jog the full 5 kilometers without having to either stop or throw up, so he gets a sense of accomplishment before I slam the door on him again. *evil grin*

[countrycousin.livejournal.com]

heh. Well, your character seemed real to me. ;<)

OK - for someone capable of walking well, but not really fit, a 20 min/mile walk can be maintained - both legs and normal metabolism will sustain that. But the first time he might not do much better, alternately pushing himself and wheezing. But a lot of people know about 20 min/mi for a moderate walk, 15 min/mi for a quite brisk walk. Completely out of shape, he probably has trouble with a 20 min/mi walk, but trying to jog, probably doesn't do much worse.

[sabledrake.livejournal.com]

No clue ... it'd probably take me four hours, one instance of passing out, and a couple of bouts of puking.

Good luck though!

-- C.