Journalist, presenter, author and long-time star of the BBC Breakfast red sofa (soon to be swapped for the BBC Radio 5 Live Breakfast mic) Naga Munchetty, 51, often posts about her running and golfing endeavours on Instagram.
‘When I was 40 I got told I need to start thinking about osteoporosis and actually you need impact exercise. So that’s actually why I started running,’ she said previously on Morning Live while discussing when and why she initially got into the sport.
Indeed, running is a weight-bearing activity, which the NHS says is ‘particularly important for improving bone density and helping to prevent osteoporosis’.
While you absolutely don’t need to run fast to reap the health and fitness benefits of running, if you are a fan of digging into running-related data, compared to the averages, Naga has clocked some seriously impressive times – particularly over the 5k distance.
Despite having been hampered by some injuries over the years, including Achilles tendinitis and a knee dislocation, Naga has stayed consistent with running, clocking a 25-minute 5k time in 2020 – as documented on her Instagram. That’s a pace of 5:00 min/km.
And while we can’t verify that she hasn’t gone even faster than that since, the time already beats the average 5k time for women across all age groups (26:07), according to data from Running Level.
While Naga would have been in a different age group at the time, she still would have hit the ‘intermediate’ category (27:47) with her time, being well on her way to the ‘advanced’ category (24:33).
And if she can still clock a 25-minute run now, she’s solidly in the ‘advanced’ category for her age group (25:49), according to Running Level’s data.
The average running times for women in their 50s
Fancy digging into the data to see how your times compare to Naga’s? Going on Running Level’s data, these are the numbers to aim for by distance.
5k
Beginner: 39:39
Novice: 33:43
Intermediate: 29:13
Advanced: 25:49
Elite: 23:16
10k
Beginner: 01:23:41
Novice: 01:11:03
Intermediate: 01:01:27
Advanced: 54:15
Elite: 48:52
Half marathon
Beginner: 03:04:28
Novice: 02:37:06
Intermediate: 02:16:03
Advanced: 02:00:05
Elite: 01:13:01
Marathon
Beginner: 06:14:41
Novice: 05:21:08
Intermediate: 04:39:42
Advanced: 04:08:00
Elite: 03:43:59
That being said, while looking into the numbers can be fun, the most important part remains getting out there. One of our favourite quotes here at WH? You don’t have to run every day to be a runner every day? Whoever coined that one absolutely knew what they were talking about.
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Hannah Bradfield is a Senior Health and Fitness Writer for Women’s 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. She has been covering sports, health and fitness for the last five years and has created content for outlets including BBC Sport, BBC Sounds, Runner’s 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. A 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’s always looking for fun new runs and races to do and brunch spots to try.