The average sprinting speed for humans usually hovers right around 15 miles per hour or 24 kilometers per hour. Of course, there are rare individuals like Usain Bolt who can sprint at a top speed of 27.8 miles per hour. Are you located outside of the united States of America? If so, Bolt ran sprint right around 44.72 kilometers per hour. The majority of elite sprinters can sprint right around 27 miles per hour.
Of course, these athletes are genetically built for these types of events. I knew immediately I was a middle to long distance runner. I ran 53.7 for 400m in high school but 4:25 for the 1600m and 9:46 for 3200m.
So, my strength was not sprinting and my average sprinting speed was not at the elite level in the sprint events. Our bodies are comprised of probably around 98 to 99 percent slow twitch muscle fibers.
Sprinters have a high percentage of fast twitch muscle fibers as opposed to slow twitch. Remember, you can always work on your speed doing strides and vo2max workouts even if you are distance runner.
Usain Bolt Top Speed
Usain bolt was the fastest man in the world. He set personal bests of 19.19 seconds for 200m and 9.58 for the 100m event. Bolt was an incredible track and field athlete. We would have seen even faster times from him had he not show boated at the end of this races. Bolt, an extremely gifted, hard working and talented sprinter, even slowed down in the last 10 meters of his 9.58 100-meter world record run.
Bolt's average sprinting speed in his races was right around 23.5 miles per hour. What makes athletes like Bolt so good? One, genetics. There are some individuals who were born to be great at what they do.
Two, very hard training. Yes, bolt was a great athlete but he also had to work extremely hard in order to compete at the level that he did. No way would have bolt had done what he did had he not been willing to work hard.
LEARN MORE ABOUT OUR PRIVATE, MEMBERSHIP COMMUNITYWhat is the Average Jogging Speed
The average jogging speed for most males is right around 8 miles per hour. Of course, jogging pace may be 6 minute mile pace for runners who can run under 4:30 mile pace. The average jogging speeds for women is about 6.5 mile per hour.
It is very important to jog on your recovery days. There is only so much harder and faster training that you can do before you get diminished returns on your time investment. A big mistake I see runners making is running too many of their miles too fast. In addition, they still run too slow on their recovery days.
Sprinters, like distance runners, have to pay attention to rest. Why? Well, all of the benefits of your hard work are going to come from the rest period. Your body is the weakest immediately after a faster, anaerobic effort. So, you have to allot between 24 to preferably 48 hours of easy running between hard workouts.
What is the Average Running Speed By Age
The average running speed by age is going to vary from athlete to athlete. I ran my fastest when I was 31 years old. In fact, I couldn't come close to running as fast as I did at 31 when I was in my teens or 20s. I was able to hold 5:19 per mile or 3:18 per kilometer for the marathon distance. Again, the focus was always on training closer to 4 minute mile pace during my harder track workouts.
My tempo runs usually were run between 5:20s to 5:30s per mile pace. In addition, I did faster, varied pace long runs which were often times only slightly slower than my tempo runs. Yes, race pace declines as we age. That being said, there are still many runners out there in their 40s, 50s and older sprinting and running longer distances very fast.
I recommend subscribing to the RunDreamAchieve YouTube channel. I create new videos there each week to help runners of all ability levels get to the next level with your training and racing.
Is 20 mph Fast For a Human
Yes, running 20 miles per hour is extremely fast. In fact, if you were to sustain this effort for 100 meters you would run an outstanding, 11.1 seconds over 100 meters. The average sprinting speed would more than likely be between 13 to 14 miles per hour. Of course, the top speed throughout the race wouldn't be 20 miles per hour unless the athlete could maintain it.
So, the finishing time would be right around 13 seconds for the 100 meter race. Again, pace sustainment can only be improved by improving the body's lactate tolerance. How can we improve this? You need to train at or far below your goal race pace and often. The best middle to long distance runners spend about 40 percent of their weekly volume at this effort.
CHECK OUT OUR RUNNING COURSESWho is the Fastest Runner in the World
The fastest runner in the world is Usain Bolt. Bolt also could run a 400 meter in 45.28 seconds. So, the man definitely had a lot of range when it comes to running and his average sprinting speed was far greater than the average. He ran his 200 meter in 19.19 seconds breaking Michael Johnson's previous world record time of 19.32 seconds.
Usain also ran 19.30 seconds which was his second fastest 200m time. Bolt's teammate, Yohan Blake ran an incredible 19.25 seconds for 200 meters which was the second fastest 200m time in history. He is the closest anyone has ever gotten to Usain Bolt's 200m time.
How to Get Faster at Sprinting
Do strides and do 1, vo2 max workout per week. Your vo2 max is your maximum oxygen update. We can only spend a few seconds to minutes at these types of efforts. The reason being is we are building up far more lactic acid than we can handle. So, we have to stop, rest and re-start these types of interval workouts. Strides are great in that they don't build up a great deal of lactic acid. They are short, 50 to 100 meter long sprints which help the athlete to work on leg turnover.
Also, strides are great for practicing your acceleration. Have you ever watched Yohan Blake or Usain Bolt sprint? They always do strides prior to the start of their races. In addition, so do middle to long distance runners. You can get your heart rate up and warm up by doing these acceleration drills.
Closing Thoughts
You also focus on staying as relaxed as you can when sprinting. The best sprinters as well as middle to long distance runners always keep their muscles relaxed. Remember, there is no sense in wasting any mental or physical energy when it can be better used for when you race. The faster you train the more efficient you are going to be bale to race when it comes time to do so.
Yes, you should still run long too and easy. It helps to build endurance and burn fat. That being said, sprinting involves high use of glycogen. The sprinting events are over in a matter of seconds rather than several minutes or even hours like the marathon.
So, more emphasis has to be placed on training at very high speeds. Shorter tempo runs of around 3 to 4 miles will make average sprinters become great. The reason being is they are focusing on all the fundamentals.
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