Landon Donovan, the runner

Walcott beat Dwain CHambers.

When I get a soccer player coming out to middle distance practice, I'm always astounded as to their poor condition. I have to work hard to get them in shape.

In comparison, they are not even close to middle distance runners.

Thats because you're from Canada and Canadians suck at soccer.

Walcott could sprint for GB in 2012 if he wanted to.

Based on those times he's 3-4 metres behind the top dogs at 40m already. The difference between them and him is they're only getting faster at that stage.

I would love to see Dani Alves in an 800m.

He'd run sub 1.50 with a few months training.

I saw the qoute about his admiration Kenyans. He is quite wrong about that they "never jog'. Not that it matters, but I've run with some that go painfully slow on easy runs. Where did he come up with that?

There are likely dozens (possibly hundreds) of athletes in the world right now that could break the 800 or 1500 meter world records with a few years proper training. Think Desean Jackson might make a good half miler...?

dr. j. naismith wrote:

I saw the qoute about his admiration Kenyans. He is quite wrong about that they "never jog'. Not that it matters, but I've run with some that go painfully slow on easy runs. Where did he come up with that?

qfe, I was gonna mention that too... couldn't be farther from the truth, kenyans are jogging all the f***ing time (except for when they're running hard)

4.7 at 40m is Olympic level. He did that on grass. With spikes, track and specific training he could be faster than Bolt at 40m

Football analysed:

http://www.sportsscientists.com/2010/06/physiology-of-football-profile-of-game.html

Can't compare straight line speed of Bolt to football, for obvious reasons. I work in rugby, and I know that Olympic sprinters who've tried for that sport and can't cut it because they can't change direction. And the cost of slowing down is substantial too.

LOLKING wrote:

4.7 at 40m is Olympic level. He did that on grass. With spikes, track and specific training he could be faster than Bolt at 40m

uh, no..... check the NFL guys. Donovan has nothing on them.

LOLKING wrote:

4.7 at 40m is Olympic level. He did that on grass. With spikes, track and specific training he could be faster than Bolt at 40m

chikin wrote:

uh, no..... check the NFL guys. Donovan has nothing on them.

http://www.nfl.com/combine/top-performers

It's still probably a "non-african" record.

Except the NFL times are 40 YARDS = 36.576m

The last 3.4 m probably takes an additional 0.3 seconds, running at that top end speed

So the fastest 40 yard time of 4.28m translates to 4.58s. Still faster than Donovan (though I don't know the conditions under which the testing is done), but Donovan would make the top 10 of all those lists. That is assuming Donovan's time is accurate - these performances aren't always reported accurately.

Again though, if you read that Science of Sport post, footballers are not sprinters, they're endurance runners - wide receivers certainly ain't gonna be covering 12 km in a match and making 100 sprints, with only 20 seconds rest for every sprint.

Calvin Johnson did a 4.3 40yd, and later that day in a February "workout" he ran a 100m in 10.23. And that couldn't have been near top conditioning. So these 4.3 40yd / 4.7 40m guys do have a LOT of potential for speed. Imagine what Donovan could do for a 400.

[quote]ElDiego wrote:

I would love to see Dani Alves in an 800m.

I can see it now. Dani, on the overlap, rips one past the keeper and continues his celebratory sprint past the goal and up the stadium ramp some 800 meters past the gates.

The P.A. announcer exclaims, "Ladies and gentlemen, Alves has left the building."

dr. j. naismith wrote:

I saw the qoute about his admiration Kenyans. He is quite wrong about that they "never jog'. Not that it matters, but I've run with some that go painfully slow on easy runs. Where did he come up with that?

To non-runners (or even someone like Donovan), I imagine 6:00/mile pace or even 6:30 or 7:00 doesn't seem like jogging.

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.

Cherundulo can run all day up and down that wing, out of a defensive position. I have always loved his play, but did not know about his former track days. Those are some serious times for Wondolowski too. Donovan is a machine. I know we, as runners, like to claim superiority, but the guy can run for 90 minutes as a midfielder, getting kicked all day, and still accelerate like a sprinter time and time again (similar to a suging/kicking KB, I guess, in the 5 and 10).