Average time for 5K

The average time you should be running a 5k in is the average time that -you- can run a 5k in. Never judge yourself among others, run for yourself.

There is no average time for a 5k. Best advice I can give you is to figure out what time you are currently running for a 5k and work to improve your time to meet your own personal goals. Don't compare your times to others

The average time you should be running a 5k in is the average time that -you- can run a 5k in. Never judge yourself among others, run for yourself.

^^ This; compete against yourself not others. There are going to be runners that are faster than you and runners that are slower than you. Always put forth your best effort and if you are racing...try to beat your last best time. If you put forth your best effort...you're a winner.

My first 5 I trained for in 2 months and finished it in 34:04 - suffered a few knee injuries a few months later and my times were between 40-42 minutes. My latest 'easy" run at a 5K distance was done in 37:41 - with my guide having us walk a few hundred meters for lack of motivation so could have been faster...

If you run/walk it and do shorter intervals like say 8 min walk, 1 min run or whatever feels comfortable to you you will have a faster time than if you run it straight through as the walk break will give you time to recharge a bit. If you do a walk/run stick with that for your training and try going straight-through when training after the race for next time.

And if you can; assuming you have so far been doing all of your training indoors go run outside rain or shine (running in the rain is pretty fun!) Treadmill running and road running are VERY different from one another so if you have 2 months or so before race day is a perfect time to transition to outside.

Any run can be slower or faster...Depends on if you prepared for conditions, how you're feeling that day, if the course is hilly and you didn't prep for that etc. just have fun, and set yourself a goal. If you don't reach that goal then use the time you got and strive to get a better time than the one you just did. Just enjoy the experience...The people, the cheering, birds singing, etc!

In running/racing you may think you're competing against others...But unless you're in a SUPER competitive program such as Olympics of some kind or whatnot...You're really just competing against YOURSELF so don't focus on others...just focus on YOU and you'll do great!

My first 5k on October of last year I ran it at 47min. Today I ran it at 27 min!!! So it depends on you.

I had a baby 10 months ago and would also like to run my first race (5k) this summer. I just tried it at the gym on the treadmill (3.1 miles which is 5k). My time was 37 mins. I was getting tired at the end but could have gone faster. That will be my goal next time. Ultimately I would be happy with 30-35 I think...

Just run your first 5K for fun and see what your times turns out to be. Everybody has their own talents and abilities so you will not be able to predict that first race time. However race after race that follows you can train to improve your time.

I've taken a few groups through a Run For God program which is similar to a couch to 5K. These are also folks that have never run a 5K and many have never jogged in their life much less in the last 5,10, 20 years! If my memory is correct their best times were around 28 minutes with many finishing in the 30's and a few in the 40's.

Truly what I love seeing are those same folks running the same race a year later and improving their time by 4-5 minutes!

In the two I've participated in, the fastest was between 18 and 22 mins (crazy fast!) and the last person usually finished around 60 minutes. My treadmill time is always slower than my road-running time... not sure why but that is always the case.

I don't think 18-22mins is crazy fast for a fastest 5K time at all. My PR is 19:15 and I didn't even place in that one. Most of the top runners were between 15-17min in most of the 5K's I've run (one 5K I ran, the winner was in the 14:50's).

Average time depends on the runners in the race. The more serious runners that show up, the faster the average is.

Set your own goals for your first 5k. I think a good goal for you might be to be able to run/jog the whole time with no stopping. There will be plenty more 5ks to run and you can worry about beating your first 5k time later on down the road. Don't sweat it...just get out there and do it. Good Luck and congrats to you for being able to complete a 5k!

Let's put it this way, in 5ks I particpate in, with times at 28 mins, I'm usually in the middle.

In half marathons with my times at about 2:11, I'm in the bottom 20-30 percent.

The good thing about 5ks is that there are generally people of all ability levels, so you should be one of them.

I've run several 5k's ranging from 35-45 minutes. I never trained very hard and plan to do better on my next run!

I just did 3k in 20 minutes. 3 days ago I did 6k in 40 minutes. Just average it out. I run outside and the distance is calculated with my gps equipped watch.

Pick your race...go to the website that they are hosted on...look at last years results. often they are age grouped so you can see what most people are running the course at. My time in the mountains is significantly different from my time along the coast. But my training runs until this week were all outside and included a hill that is a 1/4 mile long going up so I got 1/2 mile of hill...up and back. To pick up speed you need a faster leg turn over and the lungs to support it for at least 30 minutes. Multiple sites will help...good set of tools can be founds at
www.runnersworld.com

Good luck

I've never actually run the numbers, but by my eye, mean +/- 1 standard deviation is about 30:00-40:00.

My first 5k was 32:13. My second was 28:29. My most recent? 22:13. Lots of variance.

I've lead a few Run For God groups (like a couch to 5K) and this is typical. Your first race just try to jog the whole 3.1 miles and see what time it is. Many first timers finish in the 30-40 minute range. Each race after that train a little harder and you can easily shave 2-3 minutes off each race because you start to understand the pace your body can take without burning out.

For me I'm in my 50's so I try to compete with the other 50 year old men and nobody else (except my 17 year old son!). I normally run a 22 or 23 minute 5K which often puts me in the top 3 for the local, small races I enter. I'm sure the larger races in big cities, involving thousands of runners that time might not even make the top 10 in my age bracket.