Can an athlete from another sport step on the track and run a 4:30 mile?

this soccer midfielders doing it talk is nonsense. They may run around for 90 minutes, but they are going only a few dozen meters each time before they either stop, walk or jog. Imagine training for the mile with high volume reps of 50m. Wouldn't work.

Bad Wigins wrote:

this soccer midfielders doing it talk is nonsense. They may run around for 90 minutes, but they are going only a few dozen meters each time before they either stop, walk or jog. Imagine training for the mile with high volume reps of 50m. Wouldn't work.

Bob Schul training was mostly high volume reps of 100m.

I know my city’s HS boys soccer team runs 3 miles in the AM, 3 days/week. Not huge obviously, but a talented kid could run 4:30 on those run in addition to all the soccer training.

I really think a HS soccer player is the best bet, or perhaps a professional Triathlete.

Have you ever played soccer before ? The conditioning is even better than basketball. Why do you think they are drenched in sweat on hot days. That doesn't happen from walking around or doing short interval sprints.

Tennis is interesting sport to consider for this question.

I would say Rafael Nadal would do it. Yet, I've looked at Nadal's fitness routine and apparently he doesn't run. Most of his fitness comes from practicing on the tennis courts. That is supplemented by gym workouts. It makes sense because tennis is entirely about doing an endless series of short sprints and footwork is key.

Nevertheless,. That training combined with Nadal's god given athleticism and sheer desire tells me he would do it.

John Payne wrote:

Name the athlete and his sport.

Johannes Høflot Klæbo, XC skiing

BergLaufer wrote:

Bad Wigins wrote:

this soccer midfielders doing it talk is nonsense. They may run around for 90 minutes, but they are going only a few dozen meters each time before they either stop, walk or jog. Imagine training for the mile with high volume reps of 50m. Wouldn't work.

Bob Schul training was mostly high volume reps of 100m.

if true (and I don't believe it), extreme outlier, and still much farther than a soccer player runs in any one stretch. The entire field is about 100m long, nobody's running end-to-end all that often.

There's also the fact that they don't run with the form used in an actual running race. They're using short steps, kicking at the ball, kicking at each other's legs, going sideways, backwards, speeding up, slowing down. A 4:30 mile is a consistent 13mph. Doesn't happen in soccer.

Our college soccer team (one of the best in the country) could definitely take a crack at 4:30 in the mile. The women did mile time trials every once in a while and a couple of the better runners were around 5 flat. I have no doubt the men are in the same boat. They run 5-6 miles in games and condition appropriately. We've actively recruited from the soccer team occasionally. Kim Ruck at Clemson was a soccer player her freshman year, qualified from NCAA indoor 5k by the time she was a sophomore.

BergLaufer wrote:

Bad Wigins wrote:

this soccer midfielders doing it talk is nonsense. They may run around for 90 minutes, but they are going only a few dozen meters each time before they either stop, walk or jog. Imagine training for the mile with high volume reps of 50m. Wouldn't work.

Bob Schul training was mostly high volume reps of 100m.

That is a ridiculous and completely wrong

audio visual wrote:

A mid-30s, 230 lb power lifter with a dislocated hip and a completely detached hamstring.

Nice call on this one. I don't remember the guy's name, but remember this.

Bob Schul Country wrote:

BergLaufer wrote:

Bob Schul training was mostly high volume reps of 100m.

That is a ridiculous and completely wrong

Lionel messi probably

Bad Wigins wrote:

this soccer midfielders doing it talk is nonsense. They may run around for 90 minutes, but they are going only a few dozen meters each time before they either stop, walk or jog. Imagine training for the mile with high volume reps of 50m. Wouldn't work.

Bad Wigins wrote:

if true (and I don't believe it), extreme outlier, and still much farther than a soccer player runs in any one stretch. The entire field is about 100m long, nobody's running end-to-end all that often.

There's also the fact that they don't run with the form used in an actual running race. They're using short steps, kicking at the ball, kicking at each other's legs, going sideways, backwards, speeding up, slowing down. A 4:30 mile is a consistent 13mph. Doesn't happen in soccer.

Dude you are such a troll. You're saying there is no way that midfielders, some of whom are among the best athletes in the world, could run a 4:30 mile? These guys run 7+ miles a match, and regularly run that much on the training grounds. You said it yourself that the running they are doing is much harder and more athletic than an 'actual running race', wouldn't that translate positively? They are doing hard fartleks every day... for hours.

High school soccer players can do it. I ran 4:45 as a sophomore, I definitely could have run 4:30, likely under if I had played soccer until senior year. That's a gangly 15 year old 5' nothing kid with crap high school soccer training. Given how my track career turned out I'd agree I'm an outlier, but the cases of soccer players being able to run 4:30 are everywhere. And as to the world class midfielders of the world, you'd be closer if you said all of them could do it than the case you're making.

I ran a race like 20 years ago in Central Park, a guy who won the race ran like 21 minutes for 4 miles. The award presenter said he was a mountain biker. So I don't think it's uncommon for a top cyclist to run 4:30 mile off the bat. 4:20 would be tough though. That 10 seconds is night and day.

Only if they are registered. Otherwise their time will just get deleted!

John Payne wrote:

Name the athlete and his sport.

Me I ran xc and I did a mile time trial on the track and ran 4:30

There was one Tour De France biker that once ran a sub 4 minute mile.

Nate Jaqua

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nate_Jaqua

US professional soccer player (ret) ran 1:56 800m, 4:24 mile in HS

ck3237 wrote:

There was one Tour De France biker that once ran a sub 4 minute mile.

Michael Woods was a track guy first.