Do I need to log miles? Or can I just play soccer?

Training Advice/Discussion

10 years ago 03/24/2014 1:35pm EDT

As someone who logs very few miles, I'm curious how much room for improvement I might have. If I buckle down and really start putting in more miles, would I see significant gains, or am I even close to peaking from just playing other sports?

I've never been much of a runner, but I have played soccer (and other sports) my entire life. I've been getting in to running now in my late 20s and have started to really enjoy dropping my times. I've had PRs in the 5k, 10k and half marathon in the last few months.

I'd say I'm in pretty good overall shape, but I don't JUST run very often. I play soccer 2-3 times a week, occasionally play basketball, and much less frequently just go run.

I ran the NYC Half Marathon in just over 1:26 last weekend. In the 8 weeks leading up to the event, I ran a grand total of 47 miles, and 10 miles of that came from other road races.

If I switched from soccer to straight running, how much could I reasonably expect to improve? How quickly would I see improvement? Is it possible to continue to improve from only playing soccer?

10 years ago 03/24/2014 2:16pm EDT

re: JamesHaywoodCumberbatch

JamesHaywoodCumberbatch wrote:
If I switched from soccer to straight running, how much could I reasonably expect to improve?

A huge amount. No way to know how much until you do it.

10 years ago 03/24/2014 2:16pm EDT

re: Mush

Or you would get hurt.

10 years ago 03/24/2014 3:02pm EDT

re: JamesHaywoodCumberbatch

It is really hard to say. I don't think that you should switch straight to running only because you most likely will get hurt. Also, you might not even make that much progress if you just "go for runs" because that only trains parts of your aerobic system while playing soccer is way more diverse (i.e., short sprint intervals).

However, going for a 45-60min run twice a week next to your soccer workouts or maybe instead of one of your soccer workouts will help you better your PRs. I bet you will be around 1:20 for the Half Marathon if you did that for a few months. You might make some improvement from just playing soccer but this will most likely come from racing smarter because of previous experiences or being able to push yourself harder than does it come from actual physiological improvements.

A friend of mine played only soccer for a long time and then dropped in an 800m. Without any specific running training he ran 2:09min, which is pretty decent. After a couple months of training he brought this down to 1:59. After that, however, he got stuck and didn't make any progress for a few months. I think it was because he was just too heavy to really run fast (5'10 and 190lbs). He eventually decided to go back to soccer because he liked it better.

10 years ago 03/24/2014 11:12pm EDT

re: JamesHaywoodCumberbatch

Wejo ran a 2:58 on soccer and minimal mileage. Ideal? Hardly. Is your first love soccer or running?

Running translates to soccer about as much as swimming does to surfing.

If you can't run, you can't play soccer well.

If you can't swim, you almost certainly can't surf (unless you cheat and do stupid tow-in surfing).

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