What is the average speed of men in running?

“Am I running well?” Am I running fast enough? Am I better or worse than the other runners

These questions are perfectly normal if you regularly practice running. You begin to be interested in the “speed” aspect of this sport, and naturally, you want to compare and position yourself relative to other runners. Mileage is useful for measuring the amount of effort exerted, but pace allows you to measure the speed at which you covered those kilometers. Indirectly, you will thus be able to measure the intensity of the effort you have put in. Even if you consider running as a hobby and do not compete, knowing how you stand compared to other runners of the same gender is interesting, motivating, and perhaps even reassuring.

To understand well, let's start by defining average speed and average pace. Speed is expressed in kilometers per hour (km/h), while pace is expressed in minutes per kilometer (min/km). To put it simply, if we often talk about pace, it's because thinking in this way allows us to be more precise.

One's pace and average speed is basically the average of the paces at which a person runs. You've got it, the average speed of men in running is simply the average speed of each man!

There is one subtlety to remember: each runner has a whole range of paces, which depends on the type of workouts and the distance of the runs. We can therefore not really derive a single average speed since the paces vary from "very slow" to "very fast";.

The median speed is the speed that exactly divides the group of studied runners into two: there are as many men running above this speed as there are men running below.

In this article, we therefore detail the average and median paces of men in jogging (since this is the most commonly done type of running workout), but also on race types like 10km, half-marathon, and marathon, of course.

So we’ll help give you an idea of your level compared to other men. To calculate the average speed of men in running, we studied the training data of 75000 men running with Campus. Of course, when comparing this data to yours, remember these are just averages! It is not necessarily the heterogeneity of levels and speeds that exist in everyday life.

For a jogging workout, men run at an average pace of 6:29min/km. This is approximately equivalent to 9.3km/h. The median is not far, at 6:10min/km.

Regarding 10km races, men run at an average pace of 5:42min/km. This totals a time of 57 minutes, with an average speed of 10.5km/h. The median, on the other hand, is 4:39min/km for a total time of approximately 46min45.

Men run at an average pace of 5:57min/km in a half-marathon. With this pace, they finish a race in approximately 2h05, with an average speed of 10.1km/h. The median is 5:02min/km, for a time of 1h45.

Finally, men take an average of 4h16 to complete a marathon, while the median is 4h01. This is equivalent to an average speed of 9.9km/h, and an average pace of 6:07min/km. The median speed of men on Campus is 5:42min/km.

Now that you know these values, always remember that running is an individual sport! Your goal should therefore be to make progress while enjoying yourself. It is normal to want to improve in running, whether in terms of endurance, speed, distances… These averages can certainly help you set the next areas of improvement you're interested in, but you must maintain some perspective on these numbers. Running is a challenge against yourself before it's a challenge against others.

That's why, on Campus, we offer personalized training plans: they are individual and unique, which allows you to have training genuinely suited to your level, your needs, and your goals. Feel free to explore what we offer in more detail!

And if you want to know the times you could achieve in 5km, 10km, half-marathon, or marathon races, you can use our pace calculator. It is free and very easy to use!