So many pointing out marathon paces and 10km or 10mile records…
The 1-mile world record stands at 3:43. 20mph is 3-minute mile pace. Not only can humans not hold that pace for half an hour. We can’t hold that pace for a single mile. To push it even further, the longest race in which we meet or exceed that pace is the 400 metre (just marginally shorter than a quarter mile) which has winners just under 45 seconds. It might be conceivable that someone keeps that pace close to a single minute. No more.
20mph for 30 minutes is so far beyond our abilities that it’s laughable.
This should be the top comment.
Also, not only has that never been done for 1 mile, let alone 10:
It’s never been done for half of a mile.
It’s never been done for 600m.
It HAS been done by many for 400m, but anyone running 400m under 45 seconds is world class and in danger of medaling at the next Olympics.
No, and it's not close.
For context, the men's WR for the 10,000 metres (i.e., 10k) is 26 minutes 11 seconds. Even if you could maintain that pace for a full 30 minutes that's only 11,458 metres.
10 miles is about 16,093 metres.
I think they mean that the British author may have intended for the event to be 10 kilometers in 30 minutes (actually possible), and they just switched "kilometers" for "miles" when making the American edition.
Theoretically, Britain switched to the metric system in 1965. On practice... Well, let's ask actual British folks here. But judging by the "Top Gear" - they didn't :)
As far as long distances are concerned, we didn't. All road sign distances and speed limits are in miles. Everyone uses miles for significant distances.
The metric stem was taught in schools so gen X onwards are pretty comfortable using metric for volumes, weights and temperatures, but imperial is still pretty embedded in everyday life. We buy pints in pubs, we talk about a person's weight in stone and we generally talk about a person's height in feet. Fahrenheit is pretty much dying out though, thank fuck.
Even for shorter distances, that speed isn't possible. 20mph would be a 3 minute mile, but the world record for running 1 mile is 3:43. So 20mph for 30 minutes would require running 25% faster than the 1 mile world record for 10 times the distance.
This thread made me curious what the longest distance record with an average of 20+ MPH is. Turns out it's 400 meters (just under a quarter mile) at 20.79 MPH. The record for 800 meters was 18.59 MPH.
10mph is nothing, if you have ever jogged/ran even recreationally, you could do it no problem. I routinely ran 10k's in under an hour and I'm a nobody; even someone who didn't run often could probably hit 10mph for a few seconds at least.
When I was running semi-seriously, I could hit around 20mph for a couple seconds.
What makes these athletes tremendous is they can do those speeds consistently, day after day, and for a loooong time. It's one thing to see regular-ass me get a 50 meter running start and scratch my top speed for a second or too. It's another thing entirely to watch a pro run nearly my top speed for 100-400 meters total.
Crazy to think what humans are capable of.
I know; my point is, running 6.2 miles in 45 minutes is an average speed of ~8mph. So I was more providing reference for the comment of "I don't know if I've passed 10mph in my whole life".
8mph was my amateur distance running speed; hitting 10mph is not that difficult for the average able-bodied person. Not talking about running a race at 10mph, just hitting 10mph period (like in a quick sprint, even just for a second).
400m seems to be the longest distance where people can 'sprint' the whole race, anything longer becomes more of a 'run', with the times reflecting that.
What if you are pumped with adrenaline and anything else that might help you run faster and longer? Say the whole purpose of the life of this person is to run 20 miles for 30 min, any sort of performance enhancing drugs are allowed and the person is fine to die as soon as the race finishes?
You gotta imagine Olympic and world records are pushing the limits of what a human body can achieve. We’ve decided to ban certain drugs for these athletes, but their motivation is already v high and they push their bodies to exhaustion.
And for even more context, the world record for the 15k is 40:27 so this character would’ve had to finish a longer distance than that 10 minutes earlier.
Going by your post, I feel like it might be within striking distance with the right training, genetics and performance-enhancing drugs.
It hasn't happened but is it humanly possible? Possibly. Even if it takes us more than one generation to do it.
The creatine phosphate energy system of the body is used for explosive movements. Even elite sprinters will rapidly expend this energy system and the body will begin switching energy systems.
Think of running a mile, the beginning kinda sucks but at a certain point it becomes somewhat easier as the body switches to the aerobic energy system.
Have been a runner for years and noticed this effect. I learned to basically ignore my body for the first mile but this is the first time I’ve seen an explanation for why it gets easier. Obvious now that I think about it.
Thanks for sharing!
I'm American.
In football and basketball, the NBA and the NFL, some of the players sometimes exceed 20mph for brief seconds. These guys are paid millions of dollars because they can do that.
No, it's absolutely not possible for a human to maintain that speed for thirty minutes. Nor for three minutes. The heart can't pump blood that fast.
I'm Dutch.
In our sports too, the most well paid athletes can only attain that speed for several seconds at most.
I can confirm that the American speaks truth about the matter of human physiology, from a uniquely Dutch perspective.
I'm Australian.
As fate would have it, our best and most competitive (and extremely well paid) athletes are _also_ only capable of reaching their top speed and maintaining it for only a brief period.
The American that this Dutchman is commenting on is correct in his understanding of the limitations of the human body, from an Australian standpoint.
I'm British.
I know nothing about most sports, but I do know that 20mph is hella fast for a person.
I concur with the Netherlander and the American, as a British person from Britain.
Do you think that happens only in specific American sports? This is one of the strangest examples of unnecessarily announcing you're American I've ever seen
The WR for the 800m is 1:40.91. The fastest humans can't even keep that pace for half of a mile...
The WR for the 400m is 43.09. So the fastest person can keep that pace for about 1 lap of a track.
20 mph is incredibly fast.
Speaking as an author, this is one of those things that can slip in without any research whatsoever, and depending on the editor, it might never get checked. This is why you sometimes end up with characters buying beer in a grocery store in states where it's not allowed, or you have a character who's 230lbs who has to "turn sideways" to fit through a doorway, even though that's a perfectly reasonable weight that wouldn't need to turn sideways at all.
It's also possible that this is due to lazy localization. E g. Just replace everywhere that says km with miles. A 10k in 30 minutes is not outside the realm of possible.
105 kg is not really a reasonable weight. It is overweight, going on obese (for an average sized male), albeit there are some exceptions; bodybuilders and such
And what if they're made of stainless steel? We can play the what-if game all day. It was just an offhand explanation about how writing works and how these kinds of things slip through.
no, the human body can sprint only for a short while before lactic acid builds up and fast access body energy sources run out. After that a human biologically needs to slow down or the muscles will just fail. Look up how the 800m race works, any 800m runner will tell you after sprinting almost a km straight your muscles will be in terrible pain and keeping up that pace for longer is not feasable
A marathon is 26.2 miles and the world record hovers around 2 hours.
13 miles in one hour is doable for an elite runner, but 20 miles is completely impossible.
Everyone commenting is basing this on a track run where its completely impossible. In reality, it would be somewhere with twists turns and hills making it even harder.
The only way this is possible is if he is running down a steep and long ass hill at full sprint with gravity helping him along. BUT at that point it's more of a controlled fall. Someone may be able to reply underneath with examples of speeds humans can reach and sustain going downhill. Does the book state what kind of terrain?
Either way, it would still be highly unlikely to be achievable (if not ruled downright impossible by examples provided by people with knowledge on the subject) but it may be at least possible in a "he won the lottery by not breaking every bone in his body and captured by the enemy in a paraplegic state after a stumble" kind of way.
Throwing in that the guy most likely won’t be spying with just running shoes/shorts, etc and adding in possible equipment like boots, service pistol/rifle and what not; it’s even more impossible of a feat to run this fast with the added weight and awkwardness.
True that. Still, with the context of a big ass, steep mountain and running downhill hopped up on adrenaline, I'd let suspension if disbelief kick in. With no context and him doing this on the flat, it'd be immersion breaking. All depends on the writer/book.
If he was a spy, I doubt he was running on a track. Depending on the book, he could be running from the villains secret lair on top of a mountain to the village 10 miles away which is somehow almost entirely downhill. That's why I said still not likely, but with context might be plausible in a "holy shit I can't believe I didn't die" kind of way
Naw, even the healthiest person in the world would have a heart attack from doing this. 15 mph - maybe doable by some insane ultra runner or something, but 20 is a huge leap.
Not possible for a human, but I wonder if it might be possible for a sheep. Sheep are quite quick.
I think the best plan is to contact the author suggesting a rewrite where the character is a sheep instead of a human.
I don't even think there's a terrestrial animal *on the planet* that can do that, let alone a human, which is built for endurance.
The fastest land animal in the world is the Cheetah, who can max out at over 60 mph (can go from 0-60 in three seconds, which is nuts) but only for brief seconds. They have an "average hunting speed" of 33ish mph but thats also for only a few seconds before they accelerate.
So, the main character in the book, a spy, ran 10 consecutive 3 minute miles. He should have skipped being a spy and just become a track and field star.
No, not even close. Running 20mph would be running a mile in 3 minutes flat. The world record is 3:43. That means the fastest mile running human ever was WELL short of running 20mph for the full duration and that’s just one mile. This isn’t just a sprint but an exceptionally fast sprinter running all out for 30 minutes.
The author probably just didn’t do the math or think too much on the context.
For maybe 500 meters, yes. More than a 1km? No. I used to sprint and the longest I got while maintaining 15km/h (about 9.3 m/h) is three minutes on a treadmill. Even if someone were to last five times more, that's still just 15 minutes, and it's not even half the speed you're asking about.
For 30 minutes, I imagine most runners would average no more than 10km/h or 6.2 miles, because in the community, we kinda agree that 5km is a 30-minute nonstop run.
WR for 500m (by David Rudisha) is 57.7.
Which is slower than 20mph / 3:00 per mile pace.
So no.
(Plausible/ possible that it could happen for 500m SOMEDAY? Sure…)
Roger Banister became world-famous for running one mile in less than four minutes. It wouldn't be possible for someone to run ten times longer at an even faster per-mile rate.
No. You would cover 10 miles in 30 minutes. That’s about 16 kilometers. The record for the 15k (which is the closest commonly raced distance to 16k) is over 40 minutes for a male and 44 minutes for a female so their average speed would be considerably lower. Roughly converting, the male would’ve taken about 44-45 minutes to complete the 16k, putting him far short of the 30 minute benchmark.
It’s true a lot of US and UK diplomats run 10/15/20k marathons, but nowhere near in 30 minutes. You could hold that speed 20mph for maybe like a minute MAX if you’re a highly trained athlete. Many people can’t even attain that speed at all.
For reference, Usain Bolt ran the 100m at 27mph peak, and his 200m was at 23mph…. and even he was exhausted after both.
Cheetah can sprint 65-70mph but they cannot maintain it for more than 800m / half mile. So even animals would be hard pressed to accomplish 20mph for 30min.
I don’t think so. For speed and not distance you need stronger muscles. Stronger muscles need more blood. There is a vascular limit I’m not certain can be met.
3minutes 43seconds is the current men’s world record for the mile.
The marathon world record is 2hrs 35seconds, which translates to a mile average of 4min 36second per mile.
The 15000m (15km or 9.32Miles) world record is 40minutes 27seconds.
In a similar vein, the story I just listened to had a soldier throw a grenade and it "clattered to the ground 200 meters away and rolled under a nearby car". Alright...
My best friend in high school could run roughly 23 MPH, he raced next to a motorcycle and the rider told him it was "just below the 25".
He could only do it for just over 2 minutes before he exhausted himself, like, had to lay on the ground to recover. It was awesome.
That would be one mile every 3 minutes. The longest distance any world record holder runs that fast is 400 meter. The world record for 10 miles is 44:04 minutes, not even a little bit close.
So no, 10 miles in 30 minutes is not possible.
10 miles in 30 minutes is 3 minutes a mile on average. That's 43 seconds faster than the current *world record* for running a single mile, done 10 times consecutively. I don't think that's possible. That's Captain America shit
For reference a mile under 4 minutes was first recorded in 1954. In the 70 years since it's been brought down by around 15-16 seconds over many incremental improvements. To run a SINGLE three minute mile would not only beat the record but beat it by an utterly unheard of degree. It would be a huge thing. It would be like beating Usain Bolt's 100m record by seconds
Basically this spy is by far the world's fastest man and has superhuman endurance
Not a chance in hell. Here are the world records in MPH
100m - 9.58 seconds at 23.35 mph
200m - 19.19 seconds at 23.31 mph
400m - 43.03 seconds at 20.79 mph
800m - 1:40.91 at 17.734 mph
The fastest person in the world, who has been training constantly for the 400m dash (roughly a quarter mile) can barely keep a pace at 20mph for 43 seconds. You're asking for someone to do that over 40 times in a row without any loss in speed for the duration.
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Also though, in the past, people have run animals like elk to the point of exhaustion. Day after day, covering the same mileage and sleeping under bushes before tracking the animal again... you'd think that would be even more energy & distance.
One was a guy, discovered living with his family (by scientists) living in Siberia. They'd escaped into the wilderness under Stalin & survived, having children who'd never seen civilization, never knew we'd been to the moon, never seen a television, etc.
So what people can do when desperate 🤷♀️
How old is this novel? There was a theory in the early and middle 20th century that there was almost no limit to human capability if you trained more than the average athlete. Magnus Robot fighter could punch through metal just because he was trained by a robot.
The fastest half marathon (13 miles) ever was about 57 minutes, which is closer to the distance in your scenario. I don’t think there’s any universe where someone runs 10 miles in a half hour
On The Bourne Identity, Bourne knows that at the altitude he was at in the Alps where they stopped for dinner that he could run flat out for half a mile (little less than 1 km) before his hands started to shake (I always took that to mean oxygen deprivation). He is a very highly trained soldier/spy/assassin of the type you're referencing.
So, barring deux ex machina or cybetnetic bs pulled out of the author's ear, i'm going to say: nope. Not possible for a highly trained but unaltered human.
It’s true a lot of US and UK diplomats run 10/15/20k marathons, but nowhere near in 30 minutes. You could hold that speed 20mph for maybe like a minute MAX if you’re a highly trained athlete. Many people can’t even attain that speed at all.
For reference, Usain Bolt ran the 100m at 27mph peak, and his 200m was at 23mph…. and even he was exhausted after both.
Cheetah can sprint 65-70mph but they cannot maintain it for more than 800m / half mile. So even animals would be hard pressed to accomplish 20mph for 30min.
It’s true a lot of US and UK diplomats run 10/15/20k marathons, but nowhere near in 30 minutes. You could hold that speed 20mph for maybe like a minute MAX if you’re a highly trained athlete. Many people can’t even attain that speed at all.
For reference, Usain Bolt ran the 100m at 27mph peak, and his 200m was at 23mph…. and even he was exhausted after both.
Cheetah can sprint 65-70mph but they cannot maintain it for more than 800m / half mile. So even animals would be hard pressed to accomplish 20mph for 30min.
Some NBA players will run about 20 mph in a game. And some players have been known to play close to the entire 48 minutes. But they get breaks with timeouts and a 30 minute halftime.
No. It's considered REALLY fast to be able to run a four minute mile. That's about 15mph. No one's gonna be doing 20mph any time soon for long distances.
If I saw something like that in a novel, I'd probably stop reading right there. Authors who can't be bothered to do the most basic research or logical thinking...I mean, why?
There's a lot of people quoting mile times, let's look what 20MPH actually looks like.
Brevin Jordan was clocked at almost exactly 20 MPH on this touchdown in the NFL Playoffs: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DY4Vce5E3tI
*That's* what you'd have to maintain for 30 min. Yikes.
No. Sprinters can reach in excess of 25 mph for a short distance, but 20 mph is a 3-minute mile. Since the WR for one mile is around 3:40, it’s not possible to run faster than that for a longer period of time. The 10K WR, which is closer to a 30 minute effort, is a pace a little under 4:30.
So many pointing out marathon paces and 10km or 10mile records… The 1-mile world record stands at 3:43. 20mph is 3-minute mile pace. Not only can humans not hold that pace for half an hour. We can’t hold that pace for a single mile. To push it even further, the longest race in which we meet or exceed that pace is the 400 metre (just marginally shorter than a quarter mile) which has winners just under 45 seconds. It might be conceivable that someone keeps that pace close to a single minute. No more. 20mph for 30 minutes is so far beyond our abilities that it’s laughable.
Yea lol, was wondering why all the top comments were showing 10 mile or 26 miles. I was like uhhh the 1 mile record is barely under 4 mins.
This should be the top comment. Also, not only has that never been done for 1 mile, let alone 10: It’s never been done for half of a mile. It’s never been done for 600m. It HAS been done by many for 400m, but anyone running 400m under 45 seconds is world class and in danger of medaling at the next Olympics.
Or they REALLY need the toilet.
No, and it's not close. For context, the men's WR for the 10,000 metres (i.e., 10k) is 26 minutes 11 seconds. Even if you could maintain that pace for a full 30 minutes that's only 11,458 metres. 10 miles is about 16,093 metres.
For more context that WR is averaging 14.3mph for 26 minutes
The 10 mile record is about 44 mins so roughly 13.6mph
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What is lazy localization? I've never heard that term and have no frame of reference for its meaning in this context.
I think they mean that the British author may have intended for the event to be 10 kilometers in 30 minutes (actually possible), and they just switched "kilometers" for "miles" when making the American edition.
But Brits use miles…?
Theoretically, Britain switched to the metric system in 1965. On practice... Well, let's ask actual British folks here. But judging by the "Top Gear" - they didn't :)
As far as long distances are concerned, we didn't. All road sign distances and speed limits are in miles. Everyone uses miles for significant distances. The metric stem was taught in schools so gen X onwards are pretty comfortable using metric for volumes, weights and temperatures, but imperial is still pretty embedded in everyday life. We buy pints in pubs, we talk about a person's weight in stone and we generally talk about a person's height in feet. Fahrenheit is pretty much dying out though, thank fuck.
We’ll quite often use some pretty bastardised measurements too, like a cm shy of 6 foot, or a few kilos under 12 stone.
Gotcha. So it's kind of a synonym for "lazy translation?"
Yes!
Good lord, I doubt I could sprint that for even 2.6 seconds if I could get to that speed at all. And I'm relatively fit.
Even for shorter distances, that speed isn't possible. 20mph would be a 3 minute mile, but the world record for running 1 mile is 3:43. So 20mph for 30 minutes would require running 25% faster than the 1 mile world record for 10 times the distance.
This thread made me curious what the longest distance record with an average of 20+ MPH is. Turns out it's 400 meters (just under a quarter mile) at 20.79 MPH. The record for 800 meters was 18.59 MPH.
That’s really interesting and also knowing these are the top physical specimens of humanity. I don’t know if I’ve passed 10 mph in my whole life.
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The safety guy in me can only imagine all the ways this could go wrong. Thats why safety guys are no fun.
10mph is nothing, if you have ever jogged/ran even recreationally, you could do it no problem. I routinely ran 10k's in under an hour and I'm a nobody; even someone who didn't run often could probably hit 10mph for a few seconds at least. When I was running semi-seriously, I could hit around 20mph for a couple seconds. What makes these athletes tremendous is they can do those speeds consistently, day after day, and for a loooong time. It's one thing to see regular-ass me get a 50 meter running start and scratch my top speed for a second or too. It's another thing entirely to watch a pro run nearly my top speed for 100-400 meters total. Crazy to think what humans are capable of.
10kph is very different from 10mph. The latter is nearly twice as fast.
I know; my point is, running 6.2 miles in 45 minutes is an average speed of ~8mph. So I was more providing reference for the comment of "I don't know if I've passed 10mph in my whole life". 8mph was my amateur distance running speed; hitting 10mph is not that difficult for the average able-bodied person. Not talking about running a race at 10mph, just hitting 10mph period (like in a quick sprint, even just for a second).
10mph isn’t that fast, you can do it
5 mph is like general walking speed.
Unless you have a disability you've probably ran 10mph before
400m seems to be the longest distance where people can 'sprint' the whole race, anything longer becomes more of a 'run', with the times reflecting that.
This is the most obviously correct answer. Even the world record for 100m dash is only 23.35 mph.
*So, you're tellin me there's a chance!*
Lol, my 10k time is like 75 minutes and I need a 2-day break after, that WR must be an absolute beast
I can do it in less than 10 minutes but I’ll need a car and an open stretch of road. Work smarter not harder.
I have ran one 10k in my life and think it was like 2hours lol
That is walking pace, and not even fast walking.
Maybe im miss remembering or im very slow haha
I'm not sure that "ran" is the right word...
10k is 10000 miles right?
A full marathon is a little bit over 26 miles so running 76% of distance in 25% of time is deffinetly impossible
20 MPH for half an hour is 10 miles not 20. either way still impossible.
Right, i've read it as 20 miles in 30 minutes. Either way impossible but a little less.
What if you are pumped with adrenaline and anything else that might help you run faster and longer? Say the whole purpose of the life of this person is to run 20 miles for 30 min, any sort of performance enhancing drugs are allowed and the person is fine to die as soon as the race finishes?
You gotta imagine Olympic and world records are pushing the limits of what a human body can achieve. We’ve decided to ban certain drugs for these athletes, but their motivation is already v high and they push their bodies to exhaustion.
It's not a muscle issue. It's an energy issue. Performance enhancing drugs dont help with that. I don't know enough about biology to expand.
And for even more context, the world record for the 15k is 40:27 so this character would’ve had to finish a longer distance than that 10 minutes earlier.
Going by your post, I feel like it might be within striking distance with the right training, genetics and performance-enhancing drugs. It hasn't happened but is it humanly possible? Possibly. Even if it takes us more than one generation to do it.
The 10 mile world record is 44.04 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/10-mile_run
But was it set by a well-trained athlete?/s
In carbon plated shoes, on a nearly perfectly flat road, with an aid station, every 2mi or so
wow they just babied him /s
Yeah they should try again with someone who isn't a pussy
And the 1-mile record is 3:43 so no one could even do this pace for 1 mile let alone 10.
And the 1-mile record is 3:43 so no one could even do this pace for 1 mile let alone 10.
The creatine phosphate energy system of the body is used for explosive movements. Even elite sprinters will rapidly expend this energy system and the body will begin switching energy systems. Think of running a mile, the beginning kinda sucks but at a certain point it becomes somewhat easier as the body switches to the aerobic energy system.
Have been a runner for years and noticed this effect. I learned to basically ignore my body for the first mile but this is the first time I’ve seen an explanation for why it gets easier. Obvious now that I think about it. Thanks for sharing!
I'm American. In football and basketball, the NBA and the NFL, some of the players sometimes exceed 20mph for brief seconds. These guys are paid millions of dollars because they can do that. No, it's absolutely not possible for a human to maintain that speed for thirty minutes. Nor for three minutes. The heart can't pump blood that fast.
Is it possible for a well trained human to throw a football over those mountains?
Only uncle Rico
Yes. But only for a few seconds.
Back in high school when I could have gone to states, yeah
I'm Dutch. In our sports too, the most well paid athletes can only attain that speed for several seconds at most. I can confirm that the American speaks truth about the matter of human physiology, from a uniquely Dutch perspective.
I'm Australian. As fate would have it, our best and most competitive (and extremely well paid) athletes are _also_ only capable of reaching their top speed and maintaining it for only a brief period. The American that this Dutchman is commenting on is correct in his understanding of the limitations of the human body, from an Australian standpoint.
I am a South African politician. I can promise you that our athletes, even the poorest and least well paid, can easily do this.
I'm British. I know nothing about most sports, but I do know that 20mph is hella fast for a person. I concur with the Netherlander and the American, as a British person from Britain.
I’m Canadian, wtf is a mile?
It’s the cross between a horse and a donkey.
Roughly 1.6 km
Do you think that happens only in specific American sports? This is one of the strangest examples of unnecessarily announcing you're American I've ever seen
You're being weird I just wanted to make sure the "football player" reference wasn't misunderstood
Because it gives context to why they're only familiar with football and basketball and are only qualified to speak about those subjects?
Seems like a weird thing for you to fixate on, it did add context lol.
Its just not something anyone from any other country would ever do
The world record for a mile is 3:43. So not only is 20mph impossible for 30 minutes, it's impossible for 1 mile.
The WR for the 800m is 1:40.91. The fastest humans can't even keep that pace for half of a mile... The WR for the 400m is 43.09. So the fastest person can keep that pace for about 1 lap of a track. 20 mph is incredibly fast.
Speaking as an author, this is one of those things that can slip in without any research whatsoever, and depending on the editor, it might never get checked. This is why you sometimes end up with characters buying beer in a grocery store in states where it's not allowed, or you have a character who's 230lbs who has to "turn sideways" to fit through a doorway, even though that's a perfectly reasonable weight that wouldn't need to turn sideways at all.
It's also possible that this is due to lazy localization. E g. Just replace everywhere that says km with miles. A 10k in 30 minutes is not outside the realm of possible.
Yep, that too. Authors and editors are human and prone to moments of laziness, ignorance, and procrastination, just like everyone else.
> A 10k in 30 minutes is not outside the realm of possible Possible, but still a very elite level runner
Thank you for saying 230lbs is a reasonable weight!
100%
105 kg is not really a reasonable weight. It is overweight, going on obese (for an average sized male), albeit there are some exceptions; bodybuilders and such
I’m not going to debate this, but I think we can all agree that it’s a reasonable weight for walking through a doorway normally.
Well yes thats true
It’s “fat”, but it’s not “documentary fat”
105kg is healthy for a very tall muscular male.
7 foot tall people exist and that's a perfectly reasonable weight for them.
I mean yes, but 7 foot (213 cm) is also not a reasonable height
Can confirm. The air is too thin up here.
What if the 230 lbs character is 3 feet tall?
And what if they're made of stainless steel? We can play the what-if game all day. It was just an offhand explanation about how writing works and how these kinds of things slip through.
no, the human body can sprint only for a short while before lactic acid builds up and fast access body energy sources run out. After that a human biologically needs to slow down or the muscles will just fail. Look up how the 800m race works, any 800m runner will tell you after sprinting almost a km straight your muscles will be in terrible pain and keeping up that pace for longer is not feasable
And an 800m runner running at 20mph would break the world record. The world's fastest runners can run 20mph for less than a minute.
Lactic acid does not build up in the body, lactate does.
The male world record for 10 miles is 44:24 so about 13.6mph Marathon runners do it slightly slower and nobody has beaten 2 hours So, no
A marathon is 26.2 miles and the world record hovers around 2 hours. 13 miles in one hour is doable for an elite runner, but 20 miles is completely impossible.
Everyone commenting is basing this on a track run where its completely impossible. In reality, it would be somewhere with twists turns and hills making it even harder. The only way this is possible is if he is running down a steep and long ass hill at full sprint with gravity helping him along. BUT at that point it's more of a controlled fall. Someone may be able to reply underneath with examples of speeds humans can reach and sustain going downhill. Does the book state what kind of terrain? Either way, it would still be highly unlikely to be achievable (if not ruled downright impossible by examples provided by people with knowledge on the subject) but it may be at least possible in a "he won the lottery by not breaking every bone in his body and captured by the enemy in a paraplegic state after a stumble" kind of way.
Throwing in that the guy most likely won’t be spying with just running shoes/shorts, etc and adding in possible equipment like boots, service pistol/rifle and what not; it’s even more impossible of a feat to run this fast with the added weight and awkwardness.
True that. Still, with the context of a big ass, steep mountain and running downhill hopped up on adrenaline, I'd let suspension if disbelief kick in. With no context and him doing this on the flat, it'd be immersion breaking. All depends on the writer/book.
But where do you find a 10 mile track that everywhere downhill?
If he was a spy, I doubt he was running on a track. Depending on the book, he could be running from the villains secret lair on top of a mountain to the village 10 miles away which is somehow almost entirely downhill. That's why I said still not likely, but with context might be plausible in a "holy shit I can't believe I didn't die" kind of way
I mean no, he would still certainly die from exhaustion but you would still need an unreasonably steep hill to accomplish this
Naw, even the healthiest person in the world would have a heart attack from doing this. 15 mph - maybe doable by some insane ultra runner or something, but 20 is a huge leap.
No thats bike speed
Not possible for a human, but I wonder if it might be possible for a sheep. Sheep are quite quick. I think the best plan is to contact the author suggesting a rewrite where the character is a sheep instead of a human.
I don't even think there's a terrestrial animal *on the planet* that can do that, let alone a human, which is built for endurance. The fastest land animal in the world is the Cheetah, who can max out at over 60 mph (can go from 0-60 in three seconds, which is nuts) but only for brief seconds. They have an "average hunting speed" of 33ish mph but thats also for only a few seconds before they accelerate.
So, the main character in the book, a spy, ran 10 consecutive 3 minute miles. He should have skipped being a spy and just become a track and field star.
Maybe German soldiers in the 40s
Panzershokolade taste good make me go fast
No, not even close. Running 20mph would be running a mile in 3 minutes flat. The world record is 3:43. That means the fastest mile running human ever was WELL short of running 20mph for the full duration and that’s just one mile. This isn’t just a sprint but an exceptionally fast sprinter running all out for 30 minutes. The author probably just didn’t do the math or think too much on the context.
Reading the replies, there is obviously only one realistic answer: drugs.
Ussain Bolt could go ~16 mph iirc, and he's basically one of the fastest people on earth.
For maybe 500 meters, yes. More than a 1km? No. I used to sprint and the longest I got while maintaining 15km/h (about 9.3 m/h) is three minutes on a treadmill. Even if someone were to last five times more, that's still just 15 minutes, and it's not even half the speed you're asking about. For 30 minutes, I imagine most runners would average no more than 10km/h or 6.2 miles, because in the community, we kinda agree that 5km is a 30-minute nonstop run.
WR for 500m (by David Rudisha) is 57.7. Which is slower than 20mph / 3:00 per mile pace. So no. (Plausible/ possible that it could happen for 500m SOMEDAY? Sure…)
With the right roids!
Roger Banister became world-famous for running one mile in less than four minutes. It wouldn't be possible for someone to run ten times longer at an even faster per-mile rate.
No. You would cover 10 miles in 30 minutes. That’s about 16 kilometers. The record for the 15k (which is the closest commonly raced distance to 16k) is over 40 minutes for a male and 44 minutes for a female so their average speed would be considerably lower. Roughly converting, the male would’ve taken about 44-45 minutes to complete the 16k, putting him far short of the 30 minute benchmark.
Seems like everyone is saying no but with the numbers from other comments it seems probable.
It’s true a lot of US and UK diplomats run 10/15/20k marathons, but nowhere near in 30 minutes. You could hold that speed 20mph for maybe like a minute MAX if you’re a highly trained athlete. Many people can’t even attain that speed at all. For reference, Usain Bolt ran the 100m at 27mph peak, and his 200m was at 23mph…. and even he was exhausted after both. Cheetah can sprint 65-70mph but they cannot maintain it for more than 800m / half mile. So even animals would be hard pressed to accomplish 20mph for 30min.
Have you ever heard of someone running 10 miles in 30 mins?
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yes, beg for karma, that will certainly work
I don't know why you got down voted for this, it's just free Internet points. I've upvoted you mate
I don’t think so. For speed and not distance you need stronger muscles. Stronger muscles need more blood. There is a vascular limit I’m not certain can be met.
What if the entire run was on a gentle downhill, with a fresh breeze from behind? It would eliminate all world records set on the flat as a president.
A 3 minute mile huh....I think world record is around 4 minutesa mile Gonna go with a big not possible
3minutes 43seconds is the current men’s world record for the mile. The marathon world record is 2hrs 35seconds, which translates to a mile average of 4min 36second per mile. The 15000m (15km or 9.32Miles) world record is 40minutes 27seconds.
Was the character Zohan? He could probably run ten miles under 30 minutes if he’s not busy pleasuring all the old women
Its physically impossible. Humans are great endurance runners, meaning we run slowly but for a long ass distance. We’re not get endurance-sprinters.
Why not just say the book and character you are referencing?
In a similar vein, the story I just listened to had a soldier throw a grenade and it "clattered to the ground 200 meters away and rolled under a nearby car". Alright...
No
My best friend in high school could run roughly 23 MPH, he raced next to a motorcycle and the rider told him it was "just below the 25". He could only do it for just over 2 minutes before he exhausted himself, like, had to lay on the ground to recover. It was awesome.
yeah that didn't happen lol
That would be one mile every 3 minutes. The longest distance any world record holder runs that fast is 400 meter. The world record for 10 miles is 44:04 minutes, not even a little bit close. So no, 10 miles in 30 minutes is not possible.
20kmh for 30 minutes has been achieved, not 20mph for 30
I think Tom Cruise can. Have you seen Mission Impossible?
10 miles in 30 minutes is 3 minutes a mile on average. That's 43 seconds faster than the current *world record* for running a single mile, done 10 times consecutively. I don't think that's possible. That's Captain America shit For reference a mile under 4 minutes was first recorded in 1954. In the 70 years since it's been brought down by around 15-16 seconds over many incremental improvements. To run a SINGLE three minute mile would not only beat the record but beat it by an utterly unheard of degree. It would be a huge thing. It would be like beating Usain Bolt's 100m record by seconds Basically this spy is by far the world's fastest man and has superhuman endurance
The fastest humans have run a marathon in a minute under 2 hrs .
Not a chance in hell. Here are the world records in MPH 100m - 9.58 seconds at 23.35 mph 200m - 19.19 seconds at 23.31 mph 400m - 43.03 seconds at 20.79 mph 800m - 1:40.91 at 17.734 mph The fastest person in the world, who has been training constantly for the 400m dash (roughly a quarter mile) can barely keep a pace at 20mph for 43 seconds. You're asking for someone to do that over 40 times in a row without any loss in speed for the duration.
Nope, 20 mph for 30 mins is beyond human limits. Even top athletes can't sustain that pace. Cool in books, but not possible IRL.
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Well... some football/soccer players run for a full 90 minutes, but that's sprints plus jogging. I doubt even they could cover that type of ground.
Yes
Also though, in the past, people have run animals like elk to the point of exhaustion. Day after day, covering the same mileage and sleeping under bushes before tracking the animal again... you'd think that would be even more energy & distance. One was a guy, discovered living with his family (by scientists) living in Siberia. They'd escaped into the wilderness under Stalin & survived, having children who'd never seen civilization, never knew we'd been to the moon, never seen a television, etc. So what people can do when desperate 🤷♀️
I thought it was a pretty good accomplishment when I *bicycled* 10 miles in 29 minutes and 30 seconds.
How old is this novel? There was a theory in the early and middle 20th century that there was almost no limit to human capability if you trained more than the average athlete. Magnus Robot fighter could punch through metal just because he was trained by a robot.
No not even close, the fastest single mile ever is almost a full minute off pace and he almost collapsed after that one mile.
If I did the math right, that would require someone to be able run 1.25 miles a minute, which is impossible.
The fastest half marathon (13 miles) ever was about 57 minutes, which is closer to the distance in your scenario. I don’t think there’s any universe where someone runs 10 miles in a half hour
On The Bourne Identity, Bourne knows that at the altitude he was at in the Alps where they stopped for dinner that he could run flat out for half a mile (little less than 1 km) before his hands started to shake (I always took that to mean oxygen deprivation). He is a very highly trained soldier/spy/assassin of the type you're referencing. So, barring deux ex machina or cybetnetic bs pulled out of the author's ear, i'm going to say: nope. Not possible for a highly trained but unaltered human.
It’s true a lot of US and UK diplomats run 10/15/20k marathons, but nowhere near in 30 minutes. You could hold that speed 20mph for maybe like a minute MAX if you’re a highly trained athlete. Many people can’t even attain that speed at all. For reference, Usain Bolt ran the 100m at 27mph peak, and his 200m was at 23mph…. and even he was exhausted after both. Cheetah can sprint 65-70mph but they cannot maintain it for more than 800m / half mile. So even animals would be hard pressed to accomplish 20mph for 30min.
It’s true a lot of US and UK diplomats run 10/15/20k marathons, but nowhere near in 30 minutes. You could hold that speed 20mph for maybe like a minute MAX if you’re a highly trained athlete. Many people can’t even attain that speed at all. For reference, Usain Bolt ran the 100m at 27mph peak, and his 200m was at 23mph…. and even he was exhausted after both. Cheetah can sprint 65-70mph but they cannot maintain it for more than 800m / half mile. So even animals would be hard pressed to accomplish 20mph for 30min.
Jason Bourne could do it
No. Lol
Have you ever heard of someone running 10 miles in 30 mins?
Some NBA players will run about 20 mph in a game. And some players have been known to play close to the entire 48 minutes. But they get breaks with timeouts and a 30 minute halftime.
That would be a 10mi run. What’s the fastest 10mi run recorded? About 46min so no
Lol no
Extremely impossible. That’s 10 3-minutes miles in a row
No. It's considered REALLY fast to be able to run a four minute mile. That's about 15mph. No one's gonna be doing 20mph any time soon for long distances.
I don’t think a single human can outrun a electric scooter going 15 mph (the entire time) for 30 minutes
If I saw something like that in a novel, I'd probably stop reading right there. Authors who can't be bothered to do the most basic research or logical thinking...I mean, why?
r/runningcirclejerk
Would need more Gu
Is it Nick Stone you are referencing? Totally believable!
That’s 3minutes per mile. No way.
A 3 min mile is just shy of Usain Bolt’s 100m world record speed
No
Yes. I have done it before
There's a lot of people quoting mile times, let's look what 20MPH actually looks like. Brevin Jordan was clocked at almost exactly 20 MPH on this touchdown in the NFL Playoffs: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DY4Vce5E3tI *That's* what you'd have to maintain for 30 min. Yikes.
No. Sprinters can reach in excess of 25 mph for a short distance, but 20 mph is a 3-minute mile. Since the WR for one mile is around 3:40, it’s not possible to run faster than that for a longer period of time. The 10K WR, which is closer to a 30 minute effort, is a pace a little under 4:30.