Lance Armstrong and the Marathon

i watched too much of that Tour coverage and i never once heard him say anything about spending time with Sheryl and MANY times heard him say "i wanna take care of these guys" (referring to his kids). Now obviously he'll be with sheryl most days but his kids are far more important to him.

it seems like lance was probably just throwing the 2:15 time out there without much thought. he has probably spent about 3 minutes thinking about his marathon capabilities while letsrun has about 190 posts on this thread alone. we are a bunch of losers!

to burst your bubble, but...

Here's some perspective from a competitive cyclist...

>Triathlete Chris Lieto started taking up cycling in the hardest district in the nation, Northern California.

Northern CA is a cakewalk relative to Europe. If the few Euro-pros that hail from there (Rodriguez, Leipheimer) ever raced there they would win everything by miles and miles. But they never bother, obviously. As soon as they could, they got the heck out to Europe.

>Three years ago, collegiate runner, Justin England, decided to take up competitive cycling. Just like everyone else, he started in the amateur newbie class (Cat5), where he won the majority of his races. He cat'd up in quick fashion and became a pro. Not just any pro. He became Chris Horner's right hand man at Webcor.

Webcor is a small regional team in the US. Not even the strongest team in, gasp, Northern CA.

>He also recently smashed a 15 year old hill climb record at Mt. Tamalpasi by 3 minutes!!! This was a record that pros had been trying to beat this whole time because it comes with a cash prize.

Nobody, NOBODY has ever shown up for the Mt Tam Hill Climb. It is the ultimate race of small fishes in a small pond. The "cash prize" is peanuts.

>The folks that "dance on the pedals" in the mountains (just like Lance), are usually runners as well. The sports lend themselves well to each other.

No and no.

I'm Sorry, why are you up so early?

I don't do the Tour, and I don't listen to much Lance Armstrong. My comments are based only on the article linked to letsrun.com and his input on the matter. Such as the following:

'In the near future, Armstrong actually might assist Sheryl Crow in the pursuit of her career, just as she did for him, too - another indication that Armstrong can't sit still for long.

"To have Sheryl at the Tour gave me strength," he said. "Now it’s my turn. Certainly, I could follow her on a world concert tour. I am retired from the bike and I want to get back some good nights filled with rock n’ roll, good food, good wine. And if she needs it I could play guitar," '

That's all.

Lance will be the next great Eminem!

The one thing going against a fast marathon time for Lance is his size. I think he weighs in at about 70kg or just above.

He is an incredible athlete, and he has a large capacity to produce huge power for prolonged amounts of time. He also has a huge capacity to suffer through pain.

However, who was the last 70kg+ runner to do sub-2:20? It seems like the sub-2:20 runners are all about 60kg (or less).

I am not that familiar with running at the moment so I am relying on the experts in this forum to answer that question.

Lance said in the Sports Illustrated article last week that he weighed 165 and that he would never be that light again in his life. Maybe you know is weight better than he does.

armstrong did not finish the tour @ 165lbshis tour riding weight at the start is about 158lbs. these guys burn so many calories per day and most lose weight over the course of the tour so he likely finished with a weight in the low 150s.do a google search and look for the rider stats as the Tour organizers conduct thorough physicals before the start of the race, including weigh ins. and for what it is worth, I weight 160 lbs and have run a 2:33 marathon and i have no doubt armstrong could kick my ass in any endurance event around, including the marathon

Earl wrote:

His weight might limit him. He said he was 165 when he finished the tour this year and stated that he will never be that light again the rest of his life. Even if he puts on just five pounds that would put him at 170 and there are not too many 170 pound 2:30 marathoners.

Armstrong is scared of being caught and is retiring prematurely with all of his clams. Sooner or later he will be caught as the science catches up. His blood and urine are still in the warehouse and will be tested again and again as labs warrant. Armstrong better enjoy his fame now. Cheaters never prosper.

Old track/triathlete wrote:

I think every young athlete on this board who is convinced that Lance can run under 2:30 should review Mark Allen's own works on his attempt (I will find a link and post it). He was very humbled by it.

Actually, Mark Allen himself predicted Lance could run 2:20-2:30 in Amby's write-up. So maybe Mark should review his own works?

I haven't read the whole thread, so maybe this has already been mentioned,but of course Jack Foster was a competitive cyclist before taking up running at 32. He eventually ran 2:11 and I'm sure Lance is a better athlete. I doubt Lance would be serious about becoming a full time runner, though.

I doubt the Kiwis would agree Lance is a better athlete than Jack Foster.

A lot of people would disagree with Lance being better. About all you can really say about him is he's the most successful cyclist of the generation, perhaps of all time. All of this 'best athlete' and the tour being the most difficult sporting event is debatable at best. If you're a cyclist or triathlete then of course you'll think it is. For the other 99% of us, most of us do not agree.

Could not have said it better myself.

I lie somewhere in between the two extremes mentioned here in my prediction but one point hasn't really been mentioned about this. As any of us Americans here know (I'm sure this probably applies for any other country too) many of the greatest athletes we've had in any sport seem to have a very difficult time letting go at the end of their careers. Michael Jordan, Jerry Rice, most any former heavyweight champion who had a decent reign, etc... They are so driven by competition that they got to the top largely by outworking everyone, and continued their careers for what some would say too long based almost solely off their fanatical level drive and discipline. If Lance can truely make a clean break from cycling and starts running and shows any type of progress early on, I have a feeling that he will become more and more motivated as time goes. I think the first 4-6 months will be crucial. If he makes it through whatever type of running he will start with, 20 miles a week, or 50 for example, and he feels that he has something special with running, he may just do the work in the next 3 years to prove almost everyone here wrong. I voted for the 2:22- 2:30 category by the way but it would be sweet to see him under this.

maybe we could see a reverse of sports and see a top runner take up cycling, possibly ride the tour. For the sake of this website, How would El Guerrouj go in the tour? He's just across the water from France!

Well he is certainly a better cyclist. I see no reason he wouldn't be a better runner if he put in the work. Not that this is a slight towards Foster, he was a great athlete and a great inspiration.

There is no way in hell Lance Armstrong will run a 2:15 marathon...he can't go sub 2:40 in a marathon. Granted he's in amazing shape but that's all biking shape...it doesn't just easily transfer to running....Great runners who have been training for years and years are happy when they go sub 2:40. There's no way Lance will do it...not even with any "help" he may have.