Exact Answer : 10 To 15 Minutes
Running can be done for many purposes. Be it you running as an athlete, or any such person who wants to do running to lose those pounds, or running to just keep your body in shape, or to increase your endurance.
When anyone thinks of running, he or she might have a target in mind that they would want to achieve. It could be running a kilometer, running a couple of meters, or maybe running a mile.
However, it might come to your mind that how much time will it take you to run a mile. So let’s know how much time it will take to run a mile and why?
How Long Does It Take To Run A Mile?
The time it takes to run a mile depends on many factors. For example, age, gender, fitness levels, and other such factors.
However, there is one major factor on which the time period varies. That is, the experience people have as a runner. Here’s a quick insight into how long it will take you to run a mile depending upon the runner’s experience.
| Running Experience | Time |
| Runner | 9 to 12 minutes |
| Athlete | 4 to 5 minutes |
| Beginner | 12 to 15 minutes |
A runner is a person who is quite habitual to running on a daily basis. That person has been running as a part of his or her normal and daily physical activities.
Since a runner runs daily, the body becomes habitual to running and the muscles also get active when the body acquires the position and mental state of running.
Thus, for such people, it takes around 9 to 10 minutes to run a mile.
An athlete is a professional runner who is proficient in running. Such people can run a mile in the fastest and shortest time possible.
In 1999, Hicham El Guerrouj, an athlete from Morocco made a record of running a mile in 3 minutes 43 seconds, and 13 microseconds.
Moreover, if you are an athlete, then you can run a complete mile in a span of just 4 to 5 minutes only.
Moreover, if you are a beginner, a person who is just new to running can take the longest time to run a mile.
The reason behind that is because when new to running, the human body is not habitual to running and the endurance is too low to run a mile in a shorter time. Moreover, the muscles are also not active enough to run faster.
Thus, a beginner can take anywhere from 12 to 15 minutes to run a mile.
Why Does It Take That Long To Run A Mile?
Time taken to run a mile depends on many factors. Firstly, the factor would be age. According to statistics, people who are aged between 19 to 25 have the muscle endurance to run a mile in a shorter time as compared to people who are either younger or older in age.
Secondly, gender also affects the time taken to run a mile. It is known that males can run a mile at a faster speed, and thus a shorter period of time as compared to females.
Moving to the next factor, that is, genetics is also a factor to be considered. If you belong to a background of athletes or runners, then you are more likely to run a mile in a shorter time, than compared to people with no such background.
And as we talked about the major factor also, and how it affects the time required to run a mile, the time period can have a quite wide range.
However, if we take practical situations, nominal background, and ideal situations, then it takes around 8 to 12 minutes to run a mile.
Conclusion
Running a mile can take anywhere from 8 to 12 minutes, maybe less than that if you are experienced, or maybe more than that if you are a beginner.
However, gradually with time, as you get more and more experienced at running, your body will become habitual to it and muscle will adapt to this physical activity as well.
Moreover, if you want to decrease the time required to run a mile, then you can work on increasing your muscle endurance by doing exercises. It is so because muscle endurance plays a major role in running at a faster rate. Greater muscle endurance faster will be your running speed.
References
- https://www.researchgate.net/profile/James-Rippe/publication/19562170_Estimation_of_VO2max_from_a_one-mile_track_walk_gender_age_and_body_weight/links/02e7e528d1c6dad74c000000/Estimation-of-VO2max-from-a-one-mile-track-walk-gender-age-and-body-weight.pdf
- https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1207/s15327841mpee0201_4
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