Are ther any NFL guys that could go sub 10 in the 2 mile?

hrunner wrote:

[quote]And a mile is only a mile but it sure is hard for a decathlete to break 5:00 despite being better trained for endurance races than any NFL guy.

This argument has run its course. You have realists on one hand and NFL fan-boys on the other and that's the way it will probably stay.

quote]

exactly right -

decathlete's train for the mile and are built a bit more like endurance athletes and they still have trouble breaking 5 min/miles

BUT nfl players are machines!

yes machines at doing things that makes them good in the nfl -

that has NOTHING do to with aerobic endurance - repeat NOTHING!!!!

So what's your point ? Joshua Cribbs has run 938 for the deuce and benches 225lbs. 27 times. He runs 30 miles a week.

i hope this isn't bold.. he doesn't run that anymore

ernest byner wrote:

So what's your point ? Joshua Cribbs has run 938 for the deuce and benches 225lbs. 27 times. He runs 30 miles a week.

No and Maybe.

Now if McMullen had stuck with football he may have been good enough to be a pro bench warmer and the engine to break 10.

Also, consider the decathletes - Many could break 10 and it is reasonable to think they have the skills to be a pro football player.

"Not true. Are you saying that every NFL RB is faster than all NFL DBs? I doubt it. If a RB breaks out into open field and gets run down, it's still a huge run despite the fact that the DB was faster. You do not need the top-end speed of Tyson Gay to be a good RB, and being as fast as Tyson Gay will not automatically make you a good RB."

You don't seem to be reading my whole argument. Instead you extract single sentences and make incorrect inferences from them. When in my argument did I say that an NFL RB needs to be as fast as Tyson Gay or that speed makes a good RB? What I said was that they had to outrun a DB which a lot of them can. Of course some RB's get caught from behind because an opposing DB might have an angle on them or maybe the RB was hit a few times getting through the D line. I would argue that on the whole they are just as fast as DB's. Look at their 40 yard dash times from the this NFL combine and compare. RB's actually had faster times. Michael Bennett ran 4.31 while the fastest DB was a 4.38.

http://espn.go.com/melkiper/s/2001/0307/1136944.html

"Natural ability and physical gifts for what? You have to be specific. The physical gifts that make certain RBs better than Wheatley could very well make them worse at the hurdles. Again, you're sweeping broad strokes with a narrow definition of athleticism; you're using NFL running backs as the definition of athleticism, which is biased. Everyone keeps touting the god-like talents of NFL players as if they could do any sport better than any other athlete. That's ridiculous. Yes, many of Wheatley's NFL opponents were also good sprinters in college, but most of them were better at football to begin with. And, the fact that there are a few who were outstanding at both does not mean any NFL player can step on the track and school everyone in the USATF."

I was specifc. I cited their ability as strength, speed and agility. If you are trying to point out that there are different types of athletes i.e endurance athletes I will agree however when thinking of an athletic person the things that generally come to my mind and likely everyone else not affiliated with endurance sports are strength, speed, and agility. Of all the major sports in this country and around the world I can think of no athlete with a better combination of those attributes than an NFL RB. I would even argue that they have excellent endurance citing that they get 25-30 carries a game while being tackled and hit by 330 lb. lineman.

I also happen to think that elite distance runners are genetic freaks in that they possess a combination of aerobic & cardiovascular threshold, more speed, and a better pain threshold than 99.9% of the overall population. I recognize these attributes as physical gifts as well however they do not fall under the generally accepted definition of "athlete". Whether that is fair or not is a different debate. I for one highly respect elite endurance athletes but I am in the minority in that dept., not here on Letsrun though.

The Blue Oval wrote:

No and Maybe.

Now if McMullen had stuck with football he may have been good enough to be a pro bench warmer and the engine to break 10.

Also, consider the decathletes - Many could break 10 and it is reasonable to think they have the skills to be a pro football player.

If McMullen was a good enough football player he would have stayed with football. If a decathlete could play good football he would have. Football is a sport that may lead to a lot more money and fame than track.

Alan

Floyd Mayweather said today he runs 5 miles in 29 minutes. He wouldn't be too far away from 10 for 2 miles with a little speed work.

Gun to my head wrote:

Im really curious what you think the single fastest time would be in the inaugural "FOX NFL Superstar Bad-AZZ 2 -Mile Showdown and Celebrity Relay on FOX! presented by Chipotle"

100,000$ to the winner's charity.

If 10 minutes would be so easy , What would the fastest time be?

Floyd Mayweather (a) is a boxer and needs aerobic talent/conditioning and (b) claims to run 40-50 miles per week.

I found this funny item about Mayweather --- any LetsRunners getting any ideas?

"Although he doesn't use an ipod when running, he does have his assistant trainers follow him in a vehicle with a blasting sound system."

Runningart2004 wrote:

The Blue Oval wrote:

No and Maybe.

Now if McMullen had stuck with football he may have been good enough to be a pro bench warmer and the engine to break 10.

Also, consider the decathletes - Many could break 10 (NOT many could break ten; that's essentially two 4:40 1500's in a row, which would be a stretch for just about all of them) and it is reasonable to think they have the skills to be a pro football player.

If McMullen was a good enough football player he would have stayed with football. If a decathlete could play good football he would have. Football is a sport that may lead to a lot more money and fame than track.

Alan

Not sure if McMullen's career has panned out quite like he wanted, but if you were a real good athlete you could make a case that decath is a smarter choice than football; the average NFL career is something slightly longer than a nanosecond, you won't have to worry about your career being derailed if your coordinator doesn't run a scheme that maximizes your draftability, you have a much smaller chance of suffering a career-ending injury before you have a chance to make a dime, and, all things considered, track is probably a more popular sport than football.

There are 300 million people in the U.S., many of whom are American football devotees. The rest of the world cares about football about as much as Americans care about table tennis. There are plenty of track afficianadoes around the globe, however: there are a billion Chinese who care more about Liu Xiang than the Dallas Cowboys, a continent full of Europeans who value track more than football, a couple countries in East Africa where the villagers care more about distance running, etc. Many Australians will whip your ass if you try to argue that American football is better than Ausie rules. I think it's strangely Americentric to assume that football is this incredible popular sport, when globally, it's a niche game.

Runningart2004 wrote:

If McMullen was a good enough football player he would have stayed with football. If a decathlete could play good football he would have. Football is a sport that may lead to a lot more money and fame than track.

Alan

And you know this to be a fact, Alan? How? I realize that you have spent some time in a gym so it is safe to assume that your scrawny self has built up an adolation for the muscular meat heads and general football player stereotype.

I don't know this for sure but what I do know is that not every person who plays football and who is good at it wants to be a football player. As far as decathletes - ever heard of Jim Thorpe?

My father was offered a full ride to play football at Minnesota but turned it down. After starting 4 years of HS ball both ways he had enough of the punishment and mentality of football and had the foresight to know that it would only get worse in college. He competed in track in college.

He has a bum knee that he hobbles around on, had he stuck with football he probably would be barely walking.

Yea I would definately say Brian Moorman of the bills could. If I am not mistaken he went 48.9 in the 400 HURDLES in college. Also I am sure some people specifically defensive backs could break it with some training

I (Carlos Boozer) could most definately break 10 in the 2 mile. I have done that running backwards. I know I dont play in the NFL but I was drafted #1 overall in front of payton manning. But I decided to go and play in the NBA. If I was in the NFL I would probably be playing QB and middle line backer. I would hae also destroyed Brady and the Colts would be undefeated with me in the lineup.

Thats all,

Carlos

No Way!

You would be hard pressed to fine someone in the NFL who could run a 5 minute mile, let along put two sub 5 minute miles back to back. Heck, there are runners who train every day and can not break 10 minutes in the two mile.

Btw - Tiki Barber who was one of NFL's fittest athletes holds the 800m record for the battle of the NFL stars competition and that's 2:08. I think that is the record by several seconds. Tiki probably could have come close to a 5 minute mile, but sub 10 in the 2 mile is a different story. - You are talking about two difference muscle systems; the training required to run a sub 10 2 mile would be counterproductive for a football player. If you are talking professional soccer, lacrosse or swimmers, you might find few who are capable.

This should end the debate.

He's retired, but here is Jerry Rice's offseason workout.

"Rice's six-day-a-week workout is divided into two parts: two hours of cardiovascular work in the morning and three hours of strength training each afternoon. Early in the off-season, the a.m. segment consists of a five-mile trail run near San Carlos on a torturous course called, simply, The Hill. But since five vertical miles can hardly be considered a workout, he pauses on the steepest section to do a series of ten 40-meter uphill sprints. As the season approaches, however, Rice knows it's time to start conserving energy — so he forgoes The Hill and instead merely does a couple of sprints: six 100-yarders, six 80s, six 60s, six 40s, six 20s, and 16 tens, with no rest between sprints and just two and a half minutes between sets"

http://outside.away.com/magazine/0898/9808hardway.html

i believe i also saw another article on jerry rice that says when he does flat road runs he chugs along at 9 minute pace

john belushi wrote:

He's retired, but here is Jerry Rice's offseason workout.

"Rice's six-day-a-week workout is divided into two parts: two hours of cardiovascular work in the morning and three hours of strength training each afternoon. Early in the off-season, the a.m. segment consists of a five-mile trail run near San Carlos on a torturous course called, simply, The Hill. But since five vertical miles can hardly be considered a workout, he pauses on the steepest section to do a series of ten 40-meter uphill sprints. As the season approaches, however, Rice knows it's time to start conserving energy — so he forgoes The Hill and instead merely does a couple of sprints: six 100-yarders, six 80s, six 60s, six 40s, six 20s, and 16 tens, with no rest between sprints and just two and a half minutes between sets"

http://outside.away.com/magazine/0898/9808hardway.html

There's a decent amount of world-class decathletes that could've easily broken 10:00 for 2 miles. We've got good ole Bruce Jenner who ran 4:12 for 1,500... Kip Janvrin, who's run 4:09... and then there's THESE guys (Top 10 times in the world for 7000+ Decathletes):

1500 m

P Decathlete Nat Result Points Venue Date

1 Robert Baker USA 3.58,7 7479 Austin 03.04.1980

2 Herbert Peter GER 4.00,51 7127 Bernhausen 30.07.1978

3 Vladimir Kuznetsov URS 4.00,8 7028 Zhitomir 25.08.1973

4 Robert Fournier USA 4.01,4 7028 Sacramento 13.04.1985

5 John Gamble CAN 4.03,7 7021 Ottawa 21.08.1976

6 Dietmar Jentsch GER 4.04,1 7416 Erfurt 16.06.1979

7 Leonid Litvinenko UKR 4.05,91 7963 München 08.09.1972

8 Thomas Stewens FRG 4.06,65 7300 Brescia 22.05.1988

9 Jan Podebradsky CZE 4.07,20 7876 Lyon 03.07.1994

10 Fritz Mehl GER 4.08,08 7837 Krefeld 16.06.1979

These aren't all world-class decathletes, but they're all national-caliber. With these times at the END of a decathlete... ALL these guys could've EASILY coasted through a SUB-10:00 2 miler!

Jerry Rice, in his prime, would have been close. There is a story that some other NFL guy was staying with Rice in San Fran one weekendin the off-season, and Jerry asked him if he wanted to get up the next morning to join him for hill training. So the guy did. As they were driving out to the "hill" the guy asked, "so how many hills are we doing?" Jerry said: "Just one. It's 4 miles long." That may be a bit of an exaggeration, but the point is that Jerry Rice was pretty aerobically fit.

Warren Moon, at age 35, was reportedly able to squat 400+, bench 300+, and run a mile in 5:30. That is a long ways from 10:00 for 2 miles, but still pretty impressive in conjunction with the weightlifting stats.

Sean Nunn

Raytown MO

"END of a decathlete..."

Make that "decathlon"!

DecaDude wrote:

There's a decent amount of world-class decathletes that could've easily broken 10:00 for 2 miles. We've got good ole Bruce Jenner who ran 4:12 for 1,500...

from wikipedia

"Jenner earned a football scholarship and attended Graceland College (now Graceland University), but a knee injury forced him to stop playing football and switch to the decathlon."