How fast could Lance Armstrong run a mile?

are you people serious?

the guy broke 18 minutes on a 3 mile trail run as part of a duathlon a few years ago....

you don't think an athlete of his caliber could break 5 minutes? are you out of your minds? it wouldn't take much "training" for him to do it either.

sometimes it amazes me how little the "runners" on this board actually know. Do any of you know anything about lance before posting or are these just wide guesses? Like the previous poster said, lance ran just over 18mins in a 3mile trail run, you dont think this would equate to under 5minutes fora one of mile? How about his physiological make up, cardiac hypertophy, his vo2 max? sure you can say because he is a good cyclist he will be a good runner but you can clearly state that as a guy who is on the bike 6 or 7 hours a day he will be "relatively fit". How many posters come on here and say- if im injured and cycle will i maintain fitness?? and how many of you respond yes and give some whacky ratio of hours on the back in relation to hours running? so why cant a cyclist run a quick mile?

What I find most amusing is that people do find it unfathomable that a person can run sub5 in the mile with little or no actual running training. It can be done. Sub5 is not hard to achieve for individuals with modest talent. People have different levels of ability/talent.

What I find most disturbing are the people on this board that have to hang on so badly to their delusions of grandeur. They are the ones that feel that sub5 is too hard to achieve and it took them 40mpw to achieve a sub5 at the age of 18. Or perhaps they are older and because of their age they forgot the reliance a youth has, therefore they believe that because they had/have a hard time running sub5 it can not be achieved by a 14 year old, let alone a 6 time Tour de France Champion. These types of individuals believe that if they increase their mileage to 100mpw perhaps they can hit the “B” standard for U.S. Nationals in some distance event. It’s time to wake up.

I conclude with this. If someone believes that Lance Armstrong can not break 5 in the mile that person is crazy. Lance is a premier cyclist. He trains year round to ride over 100miles a day at speeds averaging faster than 20mph. If that does not correlate to his ability to run sub5 in the mile then the person who believes it can not be accomplished does not understand the work and science behind cycling. Just because a person had a hard time breaking 5 doesn’t mean Lance would.

I started doing a bit of training at the start of 2000 as an 18 yr old, got my 3k time down to 8.33 after a few weeks, then ran a 9.11 for steeple. I then lost interest and was preoccupied with uni (in AUS)and lived a not so healthy lifestyle up until the start of this year.. I am now going to try to put a few years hard work in and hope it's not too late. I want to break 8.45 for steeple in our outdoor season that starts in dec and goes til march..

Interesting abstract found in the "Journal of Applied Physioplogy" on Lance Armstrong.

fly you lie aquinas doesnt even have a track

rebbe wrote:

fly you lie aquinas doesnt even have a track

I swear you trolls get dumber by the second. As to your assertion about some institution having a track, I could care less. The relays were the Thomas Acquinas Relays and they were hosted at U of R Stadium. This was in the very early '90's.

Good luck with your aspirations of cracking the "MYSTICAL FIVE MINUTE MILE BARRIER!" And don't bother lying to me and telling me you've broken five minutes, because I know you haven't. It's difficult and requires lots of training. Hell even Lance Armstrong DAYDREAMS about it.

nbjdk;l.nbd wrote:

I started doing a bit of training at the start of 2000 as an 18 yr old, got my 3k time down to 8.33 after a few weeks, then ran a 9.11 for steeple. I then lost interest and was preoccupied with uni (in AUS)and lived a not so healthy lifestyle up until the start of this year.. I am now going to try to put a few years hard work in and hope it's not too late. I want to break 8.45 for steeple in our outdoor season that starts in dec and goes til march..

...I care.

The only reason I questioned Lance's ability to run sub-5 is because he was quoted as saying that was an aspiration of his. But the more I thought about it the more I realized that it was ridiculous to believe that he couldn't.

It is true that many have broken 5 with very little preparation even at young ages. I myself am one of those folks who broke 5:00 after just a handful of 10-15 mile weeks by myself with no coach, team, or prior experience with XC or any middle distance races. So I'm sure that more talented runners could break 5:00 with no training.

Although I think he could break 5:00 I still don't view it like the rest of you do, nor do I think he'd break it by a big margin with ease.

Lance Armstrong is a biker. Bikers are athletes but they're not runners. You guys assume because he's the BEST biker then he'd translate it to running as good as anyone. So does that mean Bob Kennedy would automatically be a stellar biker? He's got the cardio, leg strength, etc. But there are probably quite a few guys even on this message board that could go bike better than him on their first try.

18's for 5k isn't too bad. But I think back to when I was running 18's for a 5k (in October of freshman year of hs) and I was not breaking 5:00 for the mile. In fact, I didn't break it until mid April the following spring and by the end of track season I was running low 4:50's finally. AND I was a relatively fast kid too. Think about those guys who were good xc runners but couldn't break 2:10 ever in the 800. Every team has one or two. Lance could be one of those guys.

18's 5k does not equal 5:00 mile. Especially for a guy who's strengths would help longer distances anyways.

Honestly people, get a grip. Lance was a pro triathlete by the time he was 15 years old.....and it wasn't just his run that was getting him those results. He was regularly hanging with the likes of Mark Allen and Scott Tinley...If you think he couldn't run a fast mile you're out of your minds.

I stated earlier that I was very active as a kid. Grew up in a family of four boys and we were very physical and competitive. We constantly played tackle football, halfcourt bball, swam, rode bikes, hiked, lifted weights, ran from cops and so on. As far as actually going out for a run - well up to that point I never went on runs. I was a jumper and distance running is inherently wrong for explosiveness. One of my older bro's was a distance guy that broke 5 pretty much regularly and also the reason they wanted me to try the 4xmile. We were on the relay together and of course I felt I had something to prove. When I finished, my teammates gave me puzzled expressions as if to say how the hell did you do that?! I didn't feel as though it was something extraordinary, but it felt good nonetheless. Some people find this hard to accept (mostly people struggling to go under 5 minutes) but that's just the way it was.

I was using my own personal perspective to support my view of Armstrong and breaking 5. If kids like me can do it without explicitly training for it, he would be able to as well. But his physical conditioning and his ability to crack 5 is almost beside the point. When you're a man that dominates the TDF after conquering cancer... well a sub 5 mile just has no significance. Without actually hearing and seeing him make the comments, I can only take his sub 5 mile goal as complete sarcasm.

I don't really give a shit you unoriginal dumbass. This was covered in detail last summer.

it's hard to run fast with this major boner for my rock star girlfriend

Again, an 18 minute 5k doesn't equal a 5:00 mile. Therefore, an 18 minute 3 mile doesn't come close.

bump bump n grinnnnnnnnnnnnnnd.