Blog > 1km run records from around the world
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1km run records from around the worldIt seems I’m not the only one who has become interested in the 1km run. I’ve received a lot of emails from others who have been equally enticed by the 1km distance and who want to see what time they can make. I encourage it all.
A couple of readers have actually sent me Google maps of their 1km run routes, which I think is cool. Check it out:
Mikey B runs a 3 min 25 sec 1km run down the Marnixstraat in Amsterdam.
 Brad runs a 3 min 34 sec 1km run next to his local park in Perth.
 I'm impressed. To put it these times in perspective, I tracked down some 1km run times of members of an online running forum.
Times (and people’s ages): 3 mins 45 secs (28); 3 mins 51 secs (48); 3 mins 56 secs (40); 4 mins 8 secs (41); and 7 mins 41 secs (36).
So Mikey B in Amsterdam and Brad in Perth, you are running very good times.
1km run world record: here’s the video of Noah Ngeny setting the new world record back in 1999
Ngeny seems to be pronounced Ne-yen. He’s running at 13 seconds-per-100m pace – 10 times back to back. I am stunned.
The complete list of world record holders for the 1km run:
Outdoor Men -- Noah Ngeny (KEN), 2:11.96, 9/5/1999 in Rieti, Italy
Indoor Men -- Wilson Kipketer (DEN), 2:14.96, 2/20/2000 in Birmingham, UK Outdoor Women -- Svetlana Masterkova (RUS), 2:28.98, 8/23/1996 in Brussels, Belgium
Indoor Women -- Maria de Lurdes Mutola (MOZ), 2:30.94, 2/25/1999 in Stockholm, Sweden Are you going to give it a go?
Email me a Google map of your 1 km run route too.
Here’s how I’m training to get my 1km run time down to 3 minutes by the end of the year:
I run it 3 mornings per week (I do my 17 minute interval training on the rowing machine twice a week at the moment). Each morning is two 1km runs. The first one is my ‘serious’ time. The second run, I’m a bit worn out. The time for my second run averages 8 seconds more. That’s ok. Doing the run twice in a morning is for conditioning.
Conditioning is a very important process for the body to go through. Running 1km fast, when you are used to running longer distances slower (or running 1 minute different-speed intervals like me) requires everything in your body to work differently.
Different muscles now have to apply different (larger or smaller) forces; my calves and biceps (go figure) work much harder than they are used to. The cardiovascular system has a very different demand placed on it: for the last minute of the run you can no longer take much oxygen in, so your supply of blood you give your muscles is effectively of a much lower quality.
The fascinating thing to me is this: the body can adapt, in real-time, over just weeks and months, to these new demands. It’s a very real and actually very rapid process of change. Week by week, my muscles are developing in new ways to cope with the larger forces they need to provide. And, I’m sure my cardiovascular system is finding ways to firstly take in more oxygen than it used to, and secondly make the most of the oxygen it does receive.
Adaption is to me a most beautiful thing. Anyone who can make rapid changes to their body size, shape and composition (through changes to muscle and fat quantities) has simply ‘forced’ their body to adapt to new stimulus. And the most effective stimulus to effect this change is: some weight training, balanced with some cardio training, balanced with effective nutrition, overseen by an open and positive mindset. Simple, isn’t it?
Happy running.
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