Road Cycling - Can Lance do a marathon in 2:10???

Some columnists believe that Lance can finish a marathon as fast as 2:10. :eek: Check out this article. What do you think?

http://www.runnersworld.com/article/0,5033,s6-78-0-0-6573,00.html

Given his 3 mile time of 20 minutes 16 seconds, McMillan running has Lance running a marathon in a little over 3:22. That's still a really good marathon. However, he has a really impressive VO2 max, so who knows. He was born to be an athlete.

Some columnists believe that Lance can finish a marathon as fast as 2:10. :eek: Check out this article. What do you think?

http://www.runnersworld.com/article/0,5033,s6-78-0-0-6573,00.html


On a bike, sure. He could probably cut that to 45 minutes. Without a bunch of running training, I have doubts as to his abilities to run that kind of marathon time. He'd probably do well just due to his extraordinary conditioning, but nothing as hardcore as that.

Given his 3 mile time of 20 minutes 16 seconds, McMillan running has Lance running a marathon in a little over 3:22. That's still a really good marathon. However, he has a really impressive VO2 max, so who knows. He was born to be an athlete.



That was a cross country race, part of the course was loose sand.

If he dedicated a season or more to training for 26.2, I would bet he would be close to or sub 2:10, but he wouldn't be winning le Tour. The mechanics of each sport are too different to be dominant in both at the same time.

That was a cross country race, part of the course was loose sand. Okay, then, McMillan running has his potential trail marathon at just over 3:22. Since they were using that as a benchmark in the article, I chose to use it also.

Yes, maybe ... if he trained for years as a runner and nothing else. You got to be kidding me...There aren't 25 runners in the world who can run sub 2:10 (I may be off a bit here, but not by much.) And these guys train at running as much as Lance does at biking.

Without a bunch of running training, I have doubts as to his abilities to run that kind of marathon time. He'd probably do well just due to his extraordinary conditioning, but nothing as hardcore as that.

Precisely. He might be sub 3hrs or right around though, on conditioning alone.

He might do the cardio part, but his legs won't hold up without a lot of training. I ran several marathons in the '70s and '80s, before my knees gave up, then switched to cycling about 1990. My century times put me at about the same place in the pack that my marathon times used to (that's me WAAAY back there), but you have to do quite a bit of specific work to get there. You can't just hop off the bike and run, or hop on it and ride, based on training for the other sport.

I would imagine that right now he could run a marathon in around 2:45 to 3 hrs. If he trained solely for running I'd say he could get to around 2:30 or maybe a little under. There's so much natural ability involved that just training alone wouldn't do it. Just like in cycling, where guys like LA and Ullrich have unbelievable natural talent to go along with their training, the same is true with running.

Before he went full time bike pro he was the US Jr National champion triathlete cerca
'90 or '91. IIRC it was short course. So yes, he can run, probably a good bit under 3hrs if he tackled running like he does cycling. Steve

Some columnists believe that Lance can finish a marathon as fast as 2:10. :eek: Check out this article. What do you think?

http://www.runnersworld.com/article/0,5033,s6-78-0-0-6573,00.html


Well given the fact that under 2:10 is a superlative time, I don't think so. Sure Lance Armstrong is a great cyclist. But being a great cyclist does not make him a great runner, chess player, golfer, art critique, or anything else. Being a great cyclist makes you are great cyclist. Most sports are pretty specific and the skills and abilities just do not transfer over.

I forget the name of the first real good triathalete, but the guy was just an ordinary college swimmer. What made him a great triathalete was the fact that he had incredible recovery so he could train and train and train.

With training lance could do maybe 2:35, hes a good athlete but anything under 2:25 is ridiculous. His body isn't a runners body, its a triathletes and bikers body. his height and weight (5'10" and about 165 lbs?) suggest he would have to lose +35 lbs to be a competitive marathon runner.

I guess my info is just as easily achieved from reading the article(I read some of it after posting), haha, well I guess I had nothing new to add.

Guys here that think he wouldn't be far below three hours are IMHO completely wrong. I am not a great runner and have been running plenty of half-marathons in less that 1h15, 1h20... So I bet he would be under 2h35.

Given his 3 mile time of 20 minutes 16 seconds, McMillan running has Lance running a marathon in a little over 3:22. That's still a really good marathon. However, he has a really impressive VO2 max, so who knows. He was born to be an athlete.

thats not that fast. I'm an ok runner, and I ran an 18:18 on the road and an 18:55 on a CC course. but, not to brag, right? to be fair, that was the second 5K after a first 5K run and then a longer mountian bike ride.

anyway, I think that if lance trained for a marathon for a year or so, he might be able to be in the 2:20 range. he is too big right now, many of the good marathoners are in the 120-130 pound range. if he ran a lot though, I think he'd lose 15 pounds of muscle...putting him in the 150 pound range, which is decent.

I think that the area where he would to well is in the 10K. 10Ks are some of the most painful races ever, and they bear a distinct resemblance to the time trials that lance is so good at.

He did the "Dirty Duathlon" here last year and did ok in the run. Of course he ended up winning it by his work on the bike. he caught and passed the Tx. state MTB champion for the win.

He did the "Dirty Duathlon" here last year and did ok in the run. Of course he ended up winning it by his work on the bike. he caught and passed the Tx. state MTB champion for the win.

Actually, Lance lost over 2 minutes to Jason Sager on the MTB portion, but won the race by beating him by 3 minutes on the final 3 mile run.

Next, the pundits will have Lance winning the discus at the Olympics ...

Next, the pundits will have Lance winning the discus at the Olympics ...

Obviously, one has to be aware that the step from 2:30 to 2:20 is steeper than 2:45 to 2:30. Saying that Lance could do it in less than 2:35 is not stating that he could beat any kenyan marathonian...

I do like his chances in the pole vault but this talk about shot putting has to stop.... :)