Judge Lance Armstrong's running speed and form

Having run under and around 1:17 before I can guarantee that this is not the pace that you need to run for a 1h17m. This looks more like 1h30m pace to me.

I'd say he is a lot faster and has better form that you.

I come from a cycling background, and I feel like I run just like Lance--not much of a back-kick, so it looks like a shuffle--which can be misleading. I look just as slow, but for a half marathon I run about a 6:20 pace. Lance is obviously a better athlete than I am, and judging by how the other people in that video look when they run, I would say it's safe to say that he's running a sub 6:00 pace.

Cyclists have over-devolped quads, which makes their running gait look a bit awkward. But that doesn't mean they're running slowly.

Keep in mind what non-runners say when they see the elites in a marathon: "they look like they're running so easy!" Unless someone has totally bonked, they are probably going faster than you think they are.

He's running ~5:50. You can judge better from the side view. He's moving. You can also see by looking at the form of the runner he passed and beat handily.

Granted the straight on view is a little deceiving.

It looks like he has about 5 feet between strides based on the look at the expansion joints. So at about 30 strides per 10 sec which is about 10.2 mph or 5:52 minutes per mile.

Lance would be so impressed that you ran under 1:17 and can judge his form online! Guy is a beast and would crush you. Now with his commitment to triathlon rather than his dabbling in marathons, you will see him lose some weight/bulk and get into 2:30 marathon, 1:12 1/2 shape.

I think you have to be impressed with his debut and coming back yet again to combat the doping claims. He came back after a 2+ year layoff to place 3rd in the TDF at age 37 and now is debuting at the 1/2 Ironman Triathlon distance finishing second in the last mile to an Olympic medalist undefeated at the distance at the age of 40.

For a guy who supposedly doped, he is putting himself in the line of fire an awful lot, extending a succesful endurance career for close to 25 years from his early tri days...

We need to know how he paced himself throughout the entire run before drawing any conclusions. A 5:50 average pace says nothing about how the guy looked at any given point en route. He may have started out much quicker and slowly eroded.

Having done a few half ironmans before, your form is going to look like crap after a 56 mile bike no matter how fast you're running.

Looks like the first part of the video is shortly after the transition. He looks very tight at that point. Later footage shows him moving better.

He certainly does run like a triathlete. Arm carriage is high with all the upper body development from swiming. Stride is compact due to the muscle development from cycling. Frankly, he looks a bit heavy. Too much Chuys. If he drops some weight, he would be much faster on the run.

Y'all think he's dopin'?

Coming out of transition everyone looks like they are hobbling like that. I know from experience. It takes me +- 10 minutes to get my "run" legs under me.

Paul The Runner wrote:

I may be deceived by his short stride and bulky upper body. What do you think?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mS3P-1pFxlM

only on a running site would lance be considered to have a bulky upper body.

PTF wrote:

He's running ~5:50. You can judge better from the side view. He's moving. You can also see by looking at the form of the runner he passed and beat handily.

Granted the straight on view is a little deceiving.

Agreed.

Something is DESPERATELY wrong, somewhere.

If THAT is 5:50 pace, then I'm unbelievably fast, and my treadmill is calibrated wrongly.

Either that, or the course is measured or timed incorrectly, or both.

That looks like 7:30 pace to me, from what I know...that's 8 mph. Actually, it looks even slower than that! Maybe 7.5 mph.

Even if you give him 8.5 mph, that is far from the 10+ mph that is 5:50 pace, right?

No way.

Sprintgeezer wrote:

Something is DESPERATELY wrong, somewhere.

Let's start with you and move on from there.

I don't know what the big deal is 1:17 for a half is slow if you train. If you guys are complaining about his pace being too fast then you guys are slow. It just takes a mile or so to get into form.

HM_runner wrote:

Having run under and around 1:17 before I can guarantee that this is not the pace that you need to run for a 1h17m. This looks more like 1h30m pace to me.

Having run under and around 1:30 before I can guarantee that this is not the pace that you need to run for a 1h30m. This looks more like 1h17m pace to me.

The bike that leads the runner is also a good reference.

The bike looks like its going about 10 mph

look at the guy who beat him.... what do you think of his form?