Landon Donovan, the runner

I don't think there will ever be a soccer player to run sub 10 for 100m

Soccer players pick up too many niggles and injuries and sub 10 is FAST!

once a soccer player wrote:

I run 14:30 for 5k and I played soccer in high school. Over the summer I jumped into my old club team's scrimmage at center midfield. Most of the guys play college soccer somewhere. These guys weren't even in peak season and the game didnt matter much but I was shocked at how hard it was for me to stay with them. A high level soccer game is most like a really tough fartlek. The walking breaks help alot but they aren't nearly long enough for full recovery, and there are 3-4 minute stretches of effort that feel almost like tough repeat 1000's. I wouldn't be surprised if guys like donovan went sub 14 in peak shape without even much additional training. And they would have nasty kicks too.

No chance on the sub 14 without much additional training. In fact, no chance on sub 15 w/o a bunch of training.

The thing is that every sport puts very different demands on the body and requires very different conditioning. The fact that you had trouble keeping up on the soccer field is not that surprising. I guarantee you that every single soccer player that you were having trouble keeping up with would find it impossible to keep up with you on your 14:30 5k.

I play sports. Pretty much all sports. Soccer, basketball, volleyball, racquetball, running, football... And every time I switch from one to the other I am reminded that no matter how great shape I am in for one sport, I am in terrible condition for the next - I get hammered and I am sore as hell the next day. After several weeks on the new sport my body adjusts and I am fit for that sport. But being fit to be able to compete at a high level in one sport simply does not translate.

I have no doubt that Donovan could have been a good mid-distance runner. But to actually be good he would have to quite soccer and focus on running.