how fast can *YOU* run a mile???
ShaeDetermined
Posts: 1,525 Member
Found this article really interesting, so I thought I'd share.
Though the premise is perfectly sensible, its nice to see the research.
Enjoy!
On Your Marks, Get Set, Measure Heart Health
By TARA PARKER-POPE
How fast can you run a mile?

For people in midlife, this simple measure of fitness may help predict their risk of heart problems as they age.
In two separate studies, researchers from the University of Texas Southwestern Medical School and the Cooper Institute in Dallas analyzed fitness levels for more than 66,000 people. Over all, the research showed that a person’s fitness level at midlife is a strong predictor of long-term heart health, proving just as reliable as traditional risk factors like cholesterol level or high blood pressure. The two reports were published last month in Circulation and The Journal of the American College of Cardiology.
Stuart Bradford
In the studies, fitness was measured using carefully monitored treadmill testing to gauge cardiovascular endurance and muscle fatigue. But in analyzing the data, the researchers suggested that the treadmill results could be translated to average mile times, offering a simple formula for doctors and individuals to rate their fitness level at midlife and predict long-term heart risk.
“When you try to boil down fitness, what does fitness mean?” said Dr. Jarett D. Berry, assistant professor of internal medicine and cardiology at Southwestern Medical School and a co-author of both papers. “In both these studies, how fast you can run in midlife is very strongly associated with heart disease risk when you’re old. The exercise you do in your 40s is highly relevant to your heart disease risk in your 80s.”
Dr. Berry cautioned that more study is needed before mile times could be used as an accepted benchmark of cardiovascular risk. Still, he noted that the pace at which a person runs is a measure of fitness to which people can easily relate, and a good starting point for measuring overall fitness.
From the study data, Dr. Berry calculated that a man in his 50s who can run a mile in 8 minutes or less, or a woman who can do it in 9 minutes or less, shows a high level of fitness. A 9-minute mile for a man and 10:30 for a woman are signs of moderate fitness; men who can’t run better than a 10-minute mile, and women slower than 12 minutes, fall into the low-fitness category.
The categories make a big difference in risk for heart problems, the study found: Subjects in the high-fitness group had a 10 percent lifetime risk, compared with 30 percent for those in the low-fitness group.
Dr. Berry notes that fitness varies greatly with age and sex, and that mile-time estimates are just easy benchmarks for patients and doctors to begin a discussion about fitness. Over all, he said, a 10-minute mile for a middle-aged man and a 12-minute mile for a woman suggest a good level of fitness.
“The principal finding of these studies is that your fitness level when you’re young is highly predictive of heart disease risk 30 to 40 years later,” he said. “If we’re trying to boil this down into practical implications, it’s the speed at which you can run. Heart disease risk increases markedly for every minute longer it takes you to run a mile.”
Dr. Timothy Church, a professor at the Pennington Biomedical Research Center in Baton Rouge, La., said more research was needed to validate the notion that a person’s mile time correlates with the risk categories in the original study. But he agreed that exercise experts needed to come up with a better way to communicate exactly what fitness represents.
“You can’t look at someone and judge whether or not they are fit,” said Dr. Church. “What is fitness? From a risk-factor standpoint, it’s about avoiding low fitness.”
And he sounded another note of caution about the mile-time benchmarks. “I’m nervous about people testing fitness on their own,” he said. “I don’t want a 45-year-old sedentary male to go out and run a mile as fast as he can.”
Even so, Dr. Church noted that most of the health benefits of exercise come with moving from low fitness to moderate fitness, and the challenge is finding a way to communicate with and motivate people in the low-fitness category.
“You know whether you’re in the unfit category,” he said. “If you’re physically inactive, if you sit 18 hours a day, if you get exhausted walking up a flight of stairs. If you’ve got a choice between walking two blocks or taking a taxi and you wait 20 minutes to take a taxi, you’re unfit.”
Dr. Berry agreed that mile-time benchmarks might not be good indicators for every individual, given that some highly fit people have physical limitations that prevent them from running fast. The larger issue, he said, is that most people don’t have a clear sense of where they fall on the fitness spectrum, and don’t appreciate the risks that poor fitness poses for overall health.
Even people who take regular walks three times a week may have an inflated sense of their level of fitness, he said, adding, “You’re meeting the guidelines for physical activity, but you’re not necessarily fit.”
While modest levels of exercise are better than nothing, he went on, “getting off the couch is the first step, but vigorous activity has a much more dramatic effect on fitness level.”
A version of this article appeared on page D5 of the Science Times on Tuesday May 24, 2011.
.
Though the premise is perfectly sensible, its nice to see the research.
Enjoy!
On Your Marks, Get Set, Measure Heart Health
By TARA PARKER-POPE
How fast can you run a mile?

For people in midlife, this simple measure of fitness may help predict their risk of heart problems as they age.
In two separate studies, researchers from the University of Texas Southwestern Medical School and the Cooper Institute in Dallas analyzed fitness levels for more than 66,000 people. Over all, the research showed that a person’s fitness level at midlife is a strong predictor of long-term heart health, proving just as reliable as traditional risk factors like cholesterol level or high blood pressure. The two reports were published last month in Circulation and The Journal of the American College of Cardiology.
Stuart Bradford
In the studies, fitness was measured using carefully monitored treadmill testing to gauge cardiovascular endurance and muscle fatigue. But in analyzing the data, the researchers suggested that the treadmill results could be translated to average mile times, offering a simple formula for doctors and individuals to rate their fitness level at midlife and predict long-term heart risk.
“When you try to boil down fitness, what does fitness mean?” said Dr. Jarett D. Berry, assistant professor of internal medicine and cardiology at Southwestern Medical School and a co-author of both papers. “In both these studies, how fast you can run in midlife is very strongly associated with heart disease risk when you’re old. The exercise you do in your 40s is highly relevant to your heart disease risk in your 80s.”
Dr. Berry cautioned that more study is needed before mile times could be used as an accepted benchmark of cardiovascular risk. Still, he noted that the pace at which a person runs is a measure of fitness to which people can easily relate, and a good starting point for measuring overall fitness.
From the study data, Dr. Berry calculated that a man in his 50s who can run a mile in 8 minutes or less, or a woman who can do it in 9 minutes or less, shows a high level of fitness. A 9-minute mile for a man and 10:30 for a woman are signs of moderate fitness; men who can’t run better than a 10-minute mile, and women slower than 12 minutes, fall into the low-fitness category.
The categories make a big difference in risk for heart problems, the study found: Subjects in the high-fitness group had a 10 percent lifetime risk, compared with 30 percent for those in the low-fitness group.
Dr. Berry notes that fitness varies greatly with age and sex, and that mile-time estimates are just easy benchmarks for patients and doctors to begin a discussion about fitness. Over all, he said, a 10-minute mile for a middle-aged man and a 12-minute mile for a woman suggest a good level of fitness.
“The principal finding of these studies is that your fitness level when you’re young is highly predictive of heart disease risk 30 to 40 years later,” he said. “If we’re trying to boil this down into practical implications, it’s the speed at which you can run. Heart disease risk increases markedly for every minute longer it takes you to run a mile.”
Dr. Timothy Church, a professor at the Pennington Biomedical Research Center in Baton Rouge, La., said more research was needed to validate the notion that a person’s mile time correlates with the risk categories in the original study. But he agreed that exercise experts needed to come up with a better way to communicate exactly what fitness represents.
“You can’t look at someone and judge whether or not they are fit,” said Dr. Church. “What is fitness? From a risk-factor standpoint, it’s about avoiding low fitness.”
And he sounded another note of caution about the mile-time benchmarks. “I’m nervous about people testing fitness on their own,” he said. “I don’t want a 45-year-old sedentary male to go out and run a mile as fast as he can.”
Even so, Dr. Church noted that most of the health benefits of exercise come with moving from low fitness to moderate fitness, and the challenge is finding a way to communicate with and motivate people in the low-fitness category.
“You know whether you’re in the unfit category,” he said. “If you’re physically inactive, if you sit 18 hours a day, if you get exhausted walking up a flight of stairs. If you’ve got a choice between walking two blocks or taking a taxi and you wait 20 minutes to take a taxi, you’re unfit.”
Dr. Berry agreed that mile-time benchmarks might not be good indicators for every individual, given that some highly fit people have physical limitations that prevent them from running fast. The larger issue, he said, is that most people don’t have a clear sense of where they fall on the fitness spectrum, and don’t appreciate the risks that poor fitness poses for overall health.
Even people who take regular walks three times a week may have an inflated sense of their level of fitness, he said, adding, “You’re meeting the guidelines for physical activity, but you’re not necessarily fit.”
While modest levels of exercise are better than nothing, he went on, “getting off the couch is the first step, but vigorous activity has a much more dramatic effect on fitness level.”
A version of this article appeared on page D5 of the Science Times on Tuesday May 24, 2011.
.
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Replies
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great post!0
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Cool article! I ran three miles today at an 8:30 min per mile average pace, so I guess I'm good to go.0
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I'm a new and somewhat slow runner...I can currently do a mile in about 12 minutes
And it took me over 3 months to be able to run that mile without stopping to walk...
But for me it's not about the speed, it's the distance...and the challenge of learning something new and difficult at this age...
thanks for sharing the article!0 -
Thanks for the link.
The Cooper Fitness is another way to gauge a person's VO2 max, which is the maximum amount of oxygen that you body is able to use during exhaustive exercise. It's usually measured in millilitres per kilogram per minute. Usually when doing the Cooper Fitness test run, based on how long it does take a person to run a mile there will be a close correlation to VO2 max. The higher your VO2 max, the more fit you are and the able you'll be when it comes to long distance endurance running.0 -
I so can't run. Never have been able to - almost like my body was designed specifically not to. Guess I'm screwed. haha0
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Before I fell and hurt my back - I could do a mile in 10:45. I'm slowly working my way back to that and I'm hoping to someday reach 10 mins. Right now, I can do it in 11:15.0
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Thanks for sharing
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I would be in the "low fitness" category. I probably could run faster, but I really don't enjoy running so I tend to jog rather than run :ohwell:0
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Interesting article, thanks for posting.
I used to run a mile in 4:58...not anymore. I will get back to that eventually, once I fix my knee issue.
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I ran three miles today, well, walked at a brisk pace for better than half the route in 36 minutes. First time even attempting this in decades.
Where am I on the fitness scale? I've been walking briskly for 3-5 miles per day for a few months and just now taking the next step.
Can anyone tell me how long my lungs will take to catch up with my head and legs lol
I'm hoping to be able to run the entire three miles by the 4th of July in under 30 minutes, does that sound realistic?0 -
I ran three miles today, well, walked at a brisk pace for better than half the route in 36 minutes. First time even attempting this in decades.
Where am I on the fitness scale? I've been walking briskly for 3-5 miles per day for a few months and just now taking the next step.
Can anyone tell me how long my lungs will take to catch up with my head and legs lol
I'm hoping to be able to run the entire three miles by the 4th of July in under 30 minutes, does that sound realistic?
Have you checked out Couch2 5k (or something close to that)? I know Runner's World has a similar training program. That might help you out. I haven't tried it specifically, but I know people who that worked for. If you were able to walk it in 36mins, I think you should be able to shave some time off of that by 7/40 -
I've never measured my flat-out distance for only one mile. That would be interesting to do though.0
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[/quote]
Have you checked out Couch2 5k (or something close to that)? I know Runner's World has a similar training program. That might help you out. I haven't tried it specifically, but I know people who that worked for. If you were able to walk it in 36mins, I think you should be able to shave some time off of that by 7/4
[/quote]
I will check that out, thanks.
I actually did it like interval training, running or jogging until I'm out of breath, then briskly walking until I catch my breath again and continued that way for the entire three miles.
My legs could go forever I feel, I just run out of breath so quick right now, maybe a block or two
How long does it normally take to build up the endurance in your lungs to go further?0 -
Have you checked out Couch2 5k (or something close to that)? I know Runner's World has a similar training program. That might help you out. I haven't tried it specifically, but I know people who that worked for. If you were able to walk it in 36mins, I think you should be able to shave some time off of that by 7/4
I will check that out, thanks.
I actually did it like interval training, running or jogging until I'm out of breath, then briskly walking until I catch my breath again and continued that way for the entire three miles.
My legs could go forever I feel, I just run out of breath so quick right now, maybe a block or two
How long does it normally take to build up the endurance in your lungs to go further?
Sorry for the tangent OP.
One thing to ponder is how far are you letting yourself "cool down" before jogging again. Both programs that I mentioned are based on intervals and slowly increasing the interval you run. I'm not an expert, but you may be letting yourself catch up a little bit more than might be necessary, so the increase in pulmonary endurance may be lagging. That's not to say you aren't getting better, but you could possibly increase your rate of improvement by pushing yourself and not recovering as much. Anyone is more than welcome to correct that thought, though.0 -
bump for later0
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Building up lung endurance will come over time. Too many factors (physical condition, age, etc) come into play as to how long it will take each individual person. Interval training, like what you're doing, is a good way to start if you want to build up endurance. But also make sure to only do interval training once or twice a week at the most so that you give your body time to recover.
C25K programs works very well for most people. It's great for those who just want to get started in running. Stick with that program and be patient with it and you'll definitely reap the benefits of the training over time.0
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