How Fast can Katie Ledecky run a mile?

I think she's a pretty beefy gal up top compared to a runner. I see her as a 7:00+ gal

http://files.mom.me/photos/2012/07/05/6-10347-katie-ledecky-ap120701128585-1341517999.jpg

Loved hearing a story about how she was All-Met when swimming for her high school as a freshman. No shit!

Justin Time wrote:

At age 15, Olympic gold medalist and second fastest all-time in the 800m freestyle: 8:14.63. Unless she is totally uncoordinated, I think she would crack 5:00 first time out.

I'd be shocked if she ran that fast first time out. We had an excellent swim team in high school (no Ledecky-level swimmers but a few Olympic trials qualifiers, including a girl who was edged out for an Olympic spot), and none of them could run at all. Swimming and running just require way different body types.

That being said, she's obviously an aerobic monster and could probably get pretty fast with some training.

These are legitimately some of the dumbest threads on letsrun.

Sorry I don't mean it in a really negative way, but there's way too much speculation in these threads and they're also just completely irrelevant.

She looks a lot older than 15.

DMV area wrote:

These are legitimately some of the dumbest threads on letsrun.

Your point being? 90% of what's posted here is complete, mindless crap. For something to be one of the dumbest threads, when there's so much competition, is actually something of a perverse accomplishment.

Faster than Colin Cowherd's Mile (huh, 1600)!

How fast could former swim star Mary Cain swim the 800m freestyle?!?!

She broke the oldest american swim record on the books, Janet Evans' record from 1989. This was a huge deal. And she is only 15, incredible!

Well, in practice, when we do dryland, we usually do 1-2 mile runs. She's hit somewhere in he 6:30s before, my guess if she wanted to, she could give sub-6 a go in an all out mile.

Justin Time wrote: How Fast can Katie Ledecky run a mile?

Depends...On or off drugs?

Forgive me LR posters; that was a stupid question on my part. She's already had success so, of course, she's doping. My guess is 4:36.

6:30 right now, which isn’t too shabby for a non-running female. She even joked at one point about how she is completely average out of the pool. She is a truly phenomenal athlete and if she focused on running for even 6-9 months she would be closer to 5 than she would 6. With a few years of training I think she could go sub 5 and sub 17. Talent of the century in my opinion. And also for my money, one of the only clean phenomenons out there.

5:15 looking gangly

She'd be a fish out of water.

How fast can a fish run the mile I wonder? Their running gait pattern is to flop haphazardly, much like a swimmers.

Look at her build, I think she would probably find it easier to go sub 60 in the quarter.

I can't possibly know how Katie Ledecky would fare in a mile run, but here's one example of a great runner who said he was only an average swimmer (his words).

In 1986, at my local Rhode Island YMCA, I found myself at a locker next to the 2-time world XC champ and '84 Olympic men's marathon silver medalist, John Treacy. It was an honor to chat with this friendly Irishman (who had attended nearby Providence College) and fellow runner.

He was at the YMCA to swim. What struck me as intriguing was the fact that he admitted to being slow in the water, despite his elite running prowess.

My guess is that a dedicated runner with little or no swimming background (like Treacy) would generally have more difficulty excelling at swimming than a dedicated swimmer trying to race on a track, only because the opportunities to participate in swimming (and to develop the muscles, form, etc. needed to be decent at swimming) are much rarer for a typical person than the opportunities to jog or run.

For either transition, muscles developed for one focus may - I say may - be inadequate for another. The heart, lungs, and competitive mindset that make Katie Ledecky a swimming world recordholder can be applied to the challenge of racing a mile, but many muscles, etc., that are needed to, say, break 5:00 in the mile are different than those which make her an all-time great as a swimmer.

That said, of course there are many who are good at both running and swimming. Alan Webb, for example, was a competitive swimmer before he became a dedicated runner. (Triathletes train at both sports, so I'm not counting the likes of Lukas Verzbicas and Stephanie Jenks.)

And it might take more than one race on the track for Katie to hit her stride. There's some stat about Jim Ryun's first-timed mile in high school, which was slow. His second-timed mile was an eye-opener. His next, even more stunning. Something like that. The body and mind learn by doing, and that would apply to Katie on the track.

Probably 7:00 at best unless she does some form of cross training. A lot of female swimmers are "beefy" since buoyancy is a huge assist (essentially no gravity) and the fact that stronger arms are needed to propel themselves through the water. This leads to a body figure that is less efficient for running.

Swimming is easy wrote:

Probably 7:00 at best unless she does some form of cross training. A lot of female swimmers are "beefy" since buoyancy is a huge assist (essentially no gravity) and the fact that stronger arms are needed to propel themselves through the water. This leads to a body figure that is less efficient for running.

That's bs. Strong arms aren't very important, you can see young 10-12 year old girls swim fantastic times already. It's all about technique and reducing drag. Their times are even better relative to what top runners at young age like Ping did.

Also, swimmers are known to transition to running and run EXTREMELY fast. Many triathletes are great runners. Some D1 runner girls are former swimmers, or heavily cross-train it.

E.g. Michigan freshman Jessi Larson has been swimming over 30,000 yards every week since her sophomore year of high school because she is very injury prone. And she still looks like a real runner, and runs real times (sub 17 5k, equivalent to sub 15 for males)

The phenomenon of elite runners being less-than-average swimmers is well known.

Ovett 1984 off Bondi Beach, gets into trouble and is hauled out by bronzed Aussie lifeguard. "You're Steve Ovett the runner?" "Yes" "Not much of a swimmer though..."

Exception ( as always): PETER SNELL.