{"id":675622,"date":"2026-11-05T10:08:13","date_gmt":"2026-11-05T10:08:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/675622\/"},"modified":"2026-11-05T10:08:13","modified_gmt":"2026-11-05T10:08:13","slug":"at-50-itvs-lucrezia-millarinis-sub-25-5k-time-is-advanced-for-her-age-see-how-you-compare","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/675622\/","title":{"rendered":"At 50, ITV’s Lucrezia Millarini\u2019s sub-25 5k time is \u2018advanced\u2019 for her age \u2013 see how you compare"},"content":{"rendered":"

We recently caught up with news journalist Lucrezia Millarini<\/a> about her fitness routine and how she balances building functional, lifelong strength<\/a> with maintaining a high level of cardiovascular fitness \u2013 both of which are important for healthy ageing.<\/p>\n

Her favourite way to get that all-important cardio in? Running. And she can run fast.<\/p>\n

\u2018My current 5k run time<\/a> averages around 25-26 minutes, but if I really push it, I can hit sub-25,\u2019 Lucrezia tells Women\u2019s Health.<\/p>\n

\u2018The fastest 10k<\/a> I did on a treadmill was 50 minutes. But you feel it in your legs!\u2019<\/p>\n

\u2018Recovery days are vital to maintain the balance between cardio<\/a> and strength building<\/a>, which is why I limit my cardio to a maximum of 3 x 5k runs a week, and I mix that up with three weights sessions a week, occasionally incorporating a shorter warm-up run.\u2019<\/p>\n

You certainly don\u2019t need to run fast to reap the health and fitness benefits of running<\/a> \u2013 and, as Lucrezia has highlighted, balance is key. But if you\u2019re a fan of digging into running data, her sub-25 5k is pretty impressive.<\/p>\n

In fact, it beats the average 5k time for women across all age groups (27:19) and is classed as an advanced time for her age group, according to data from Running Level<\/a> at the time of writing.<\/p>\n

How fast do women in their 50s run?<\/p>\n

Fancy seeing how your own times compare with Lucrezia\u2019s?<\/p>\n

According to Running Level\u2019s current data, these are the average times by ability level for women in their 50s.<\/p>\n

5k<\/p>\n

Beginner: 43:12<\/p>\n

Novice: 37:05<\/p>\n

Intermediate: 31:51<\/p>\n

Advanced: 27:33<\/p>\n

Elite: 24:09<\/p>\n

10k<\/p>\n

Beginner: 1:27:07<\/p>\n

Novice: 1:14:57<\/p>\n

Intermediate: 1:04:45<\/p>\n

Advanced: 56:29<\/p>\n

Elite: 50:00<\/p>\n

Half marathon<\/p>\n

Beginner: 3:04:21<\/p>\n

Novice: 2:38:37<\/p>\n

Intermediate: 2:17:26<\/p>\n

Advanced: 2:00:31<\/p>\n

Elite: 1:47:21<\/p>\n

Marathon<\/p>\n

Beginner: 6:45:09<\/p>\n

Novice: 5:45:53<\/p>\n

Intermediate: 4:55:56<\/p>\n

Advanced: 4:15:27<\/p>\n

Elite: 3:43:38<\/p>\n

But while looking at the numbers can be fun \u2013 we\u2019re looking at you, parkrun data enthusiasts \u2013 they ultimately aren\u2019t the point.<\/p>\n

What matters is getting out there, having a go and finding a way of moving that you enjoy and can sustain.<\/p>\n

\"liz<\/a><\/p>\n

Want to train like Liz Earle<\/a>?
Her PT, Michael Garry<\/a> has created a 4-week training plan exclusively for members of the WH COLLECTIVE. It’s designed to remove one of the biggest barriers to fitness: time. You’ll train for just 35 minutes three times a week \u2013 Liz’s exact strategy to build muscle, boost metabolism and support long-term health. Tap the link below to unlock 14 free days of training and start Liz’s plan today.<\/p>\n

Get the plan<\/a><\/p>\n

\"Headshot<\/p>\n

Hannah Bradfield is a Senior Health and Fitness Writer for Women\u2019s Health UK. An NCTJ-accredited journalist, Hannah graduated from Loughborough University with a BA in English and Sport Science and an MA in Media and Cultural Analysis. \u00a0She has been covering sports, health and fitness for the last five years and has created content for outlets including BBC Sport, BBC Sounds, Runner\u2019s World and Stylist. She especially enjoys interviewing those working within the community to improve access to sport, exercise and wellness. Hannah is a 2024 John Schofield Trust Fellow and was also named a 2022 Rising Star in Journalism by The Printing Charity. \u00a0A keen runner, Hannah was firmly a sprinter growing up (also dabbling in long jump) but has since transitioned to longer-distance running. While 10K is her favoured race distance, she loves running or volunteering at parkrun every Saturday, followed, of course, by pastries. She\u2019s always looking for fun new runs and races to do and brunch spots to try.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"We recently caught up with news journalist Lucrezia Millarini about her fitness routine and how she balances building…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":675623,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[37],"tags":[133356,131705,131377,1105,286138,1107,499,103,61,60,184510,1135,286137,223989,168349],"class_list":["post-675622","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-fitness","tag-collection-fit-at-50","tag-collection-fit-at-any-age","tag-collection-fitness-app","tag-content-type-news","tag-contentid-1efc5a26-9ad7-4910-a1d4-93c6a0883ede","tag-displaytype-standard-article","tag-fitness","tag-health","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-issyndicated-false","tag-locale-gb","tag-shorttitle-lucrezia-millarinis-5k-time-is-very-impressive","tag-sponsored-false","tag-subsection-running"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/675622","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=675622"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/675622\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/675623"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=675622"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=675622"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=675622"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}