what can a TDF cyclist run in the 5k without training for it?

Cancellera (aka/"Spartacus") is time trialist & classics rider. A big, powerful rider at over 180lbs+. This discipline requires power & strength, and these riders are generally bigger and more muscular than the average rider.

Froome (aka/ "Froomdawg") is a Grand Tour contender (e.g., Tour de France, Giro, Vuelta). He's anorexic looking and basically a bean pole on a bike. GT contenders are generally small & diminutive and have to be able to climb huge mountains. Basically jockeys on a bike.

Froomdawg should be able to smoke Spartacus in a 5k. Lol.

Back in about 2010 I was a Cat I cyclist, so definitely not TDF level but making some of my income from cycling and certainly closer to a TDF rider than the average MAMIL. My girlfriend at the time was an occasional runner and talked me into running a 5k for charity, I ran once the week before just to see if I could even run a few miles and then ran the race. I ran 18:38 and was sore for days!!!

When I quit cycling I was able to drop that to 16:50 within a not very dedicated year of 20~ miles a week, so the arobic fitness translates just fine, but going from cycling to running isn't a smooth transition necessarily...

I never ride and rarely run 5k, but i'm at 10.8s 100. how does this transfer over to the TDF and marathon?

Nope - France. Wasn't even top 5 last week in 10k in my age group (though I ran a low 37 - achilles injury). I called myself a "hobby jogger" now because anybody on this forum that doesn't run under 30 is a hobby jogger apparently.

You are all underestimating. Maybe it is because you hate to think of someone without training going out and crushing your PR.

My friend coaches DII basketball and had the whole team run a 5K. Most of the kids were in the 18s and a few where in the 16-17 range. Everyone other than their chubby center was under 20 minutes.

None of those kids will ever be pro. If you don't think pro endurance athletes can't do better, you are sadly mistaken.

faster than you think wrote:

You are all underestimating. Maybe it is because you hate to think of someone without training going out and crushing your PR.

My friend coaches DII basketball and had the whole team run a 5K. Most of the kids were in the 18s and a few where in the 16-17 range. Everyone other than their chubby center was under 20 minutes.

None of those kids will ever be pro. If you don't think pro endurance athletes can't do better, you are sadly mistaken.

Yes, but you need to run that 5km on the track. It isn't 5 laps of the basketball court as you and your friend seems to think.

1/10

While I agree any top level cyclist can pop a half decent 5k after minimal training I agree with this guy above. Just because you call it a "5k" doesn't mean your 2.5 mile run is 5000 meters.

Quintana sub 16:00 for sure. Most other than sprinters under 17:00.

I have run background. 16 low 5K.

A few years back I ran a local legit 5K race after riding and swimming only for 2 years. Not a single step of running for 2 years. I ran 19 flat.

My talent level cycling compared to a tour pro is not close. My 5 minute power is about the same as their threshold or 1 hour power.

Therefore I have no doubt some of the top tour guys could go sub 16 off not a single step of running. Keep in mind top cyclists train about double the hours compared to pro runners. Their aerobic engine is simply massive.

hasben, the Musculoskeletal stress from running a 16 minute 5k is far different then shuffling a 19 minute 5k. Cyclists without any run training have never developed any of the neuromuscular skills required to run fast. Sure their aerobic engines are huge, but without any running they simply would not be able to pull their carcasses along at that kind of speed without resorting to grossly inefficient running form.

a cyclist with absolutely no recent running in his legs would find it difficult to run a decent 5K. Over developed quads and tight hamstrings would cause problems running at any kind of a decent pace - which a 5K is. Ironically, they might find a longer distance relatively easier. but give them a small amount of running training and they would obviously have the heart/lungs/cardio etc. to run OK.

Isn't there a story of some country trying to train some decent (not world class but very good) Kenyan runners as X Country skiers? Even when they became sort of OK at the actual skiing their results were pretty awful despite having the physiology that should have meant they were more than god at their new sport?

19:52 is my warmup jog pace, though?But glad you 'floated' up those massive hills on the turkey trot 5k

oh please wrote:

Sample Size = 1 but...

I was a hack club cyclist before running. Maybe averaged 150 mpw for the year. When I decided to try running (in an attempt to try a duathlon), I ran 19:52 with less than 10 runs under my belt. I was 200 pounds too. Hills that you see on a typical road running course are an utter joke for a cyclist who rides a lot. The quads and calves are so much stronger than a runner has that you just float up those "nubbins" of hills.

The impact is what'll do them in though. I got ITBS twice in a year, as well as suffering from extremely sore shins for a long time. Even now I haven't run a whole lot faster than that, and I think it's because my cycling days are now 5 years gone and all that strength and aerobic work is gone.

TdF racers going @ LT for 6 hours day after day after day plus climbing and sprinting??? With no running ever, perhaps they wouldn't break 18 but most would have no problem shuffling to a 15.xx if they've ever done running sports before. The grand tour guys, hands down, have the biggest engines in all of sports.

gym class heroes baby wrote:

faster than you think wrote:

You are all underestimating. Maybe it is because you hate to think of someone without training going out and crushing your PR.

My friend coaches DII basketball and had the whole team run a 5K. Most of the kids were in the 18s and a few where in the 16-17 range. Everyone other than their chubby center was under 20 minutes.

None of those kids will ever be pro. If you don't think pro endurance athletes can't do better, you are sadly mistaken.

Yes, but you need to run that 5km on the track. It isn't 5 laps of the basketball court as you and your friend seems to think.

1/10

^^This. At the D1 university where I did grad school I saw the basketball team run the big 10K in town (the Great Race in Pittsburgh). They jumped into the race at the halfway point, and it was hilarious watching them. They looked great on the court but they were the most awkward runners you ever saw. Mid-pack runners were streaming past them.

Why would I run when I can just ride my bike?

A current TDF cyclist, say in June or July or August of every year, would run maybe 20 steps before breaking a bone. Just watch the Tour de France some year, these guys fall off their bikes and just about every one breaks a collarbone. Intense cycling weakens bones, and running is bad for cycling form.

The only exception to this is Lance A. during the Tour when he cut through a field to avoid a high speed downhill crash, dismounted, and jumped over a ditch. He did a rookie cyclocross remount, but ran significantly fewer than 20 steps. No broken bone, but bro was juiced.

https://youtu.be/Gr89ku-K2WU?t=21

Well this is bs! So he did 1.15 and walked the last 2 miles (which would take at least 30 mins) so he was on 45 mins at 11.1 miles (4.03 min per mile pace) until he started walking, ha!

Yeah, I do wrote:

A current TDF cyclist, say in June or July or August of every year, would run maybe 20 steps before breaking a bone. Just watch the Tour de France some year, these guys fall off their bikes and just about every one breaks a collarbone. Intense cycling weakens bones, and running is bad for cycling form.

The only exception to this is Lance A. during the Tour when he cut through a field to avoid a high speed downhill crash, dismounted, and jumped over a ditch. He did a rookie cyclocross remount, but ran significantly fewer than 20 steps. No broken bone, but bro was juiced.

You are a Moran. Cyclists tend to break their collarbones in crashes because they are going at 50 km/h and land on their sides with the should being the widest point of your body, not because they have weak bones. To simulate this as a runner, you could try sprinting as fast as you can into a brick wall and just maybe you will be generate half the force a cyclist experiences.

Google "cyclists and bone health," moran.