A gentle "puhlease" to Wilbon

On PTI, Mike Wilbon, talking about Lance Armstrong's 2:59andchange finish in the NYC Marathon, said he could "become a world-class marathoner" or something to that effect. Not even "could have become" as in the past tense.

I love Mike, but Mike, if you ever visit here, no way, nowhere, no how. No chance. None.

The difference between 2:59 and 2:09 (the winning time Sunday) is galaxy wide.

If you want to make the argument that if he had gone into running from the start of his athletic career he might have been world class at it, OK -- he obviously has the cardiovascular gifts and determination, so it's possible.

But if you truly believe he could still achieve that in this lifetime, uh, no.

 

I wouldn't put it past him to be top 10 or 15 in a few years with more training. I remember watching the Tour in 1989 or 1990 and seeing how some guy named Lance Armstrong finished in 125th place or whatever. I use to think "who's this shnook Armstrong?" Well, we know what happened. It seems like he needs a new challenge in life. Cutting 50 minutes off his time isn't such a far-flung idea. If his legs stay healthy, I say he makes a major move toward the front of finishers within 5 years.

 

Does the NYC marathon dope-test?

 

Armstrong, I thought, did the marathon in pursuit of his ultimate goal, the triathlon. A 3 hour marathoner can kick ass on the world class scale in that event.

 

think he could keep up in the bike part?

 

Since Lance has admitted that he hardly trained for the marathon -- he said his longest run was 16 miles and he usually just ran for 45 minutes a day -- I think he could easily knock 20-25 minutes off his time.

My best time ever was 3:11 and I'm not half the athlete he is.

Running 2:30 won't make Lance among the top racers in the world, but it would put him in the top 1 percent of marathoners.

 

If that's his ultimate goal, it would be a return to his roots since he was a ranked triathloner as a teenager.

 

Since Mizzou hasn't checked in yet .... He's also had the access to wildly effective performance-enhancing drugs, so you're right, anything is possible.

Fuck. Lance. Armstrong.

 

I was far more impressed by Diddy's effort in the NYC marathon a few years ago. His 4:14 time was exceptional for a total non-athlete with short training. If Armstrong trained like he was supposed to he probably would've finished 15-20 minutes sooner.

 

I'd like to see him break three hours after riding for 100 miles.

 

There is a huge traiing commitment to running a 2:30 marathon. Aside from needing much more mileage, speed work is a necessity. Though i know little about Armstrong's traiing method, reports were that he had shin pain even before the race. It may be dificult for him to increase his runnning mileage without the risk of injury breakdown. That said, his aerobic capacity along with the lack of running mjles in his past may give him the opportunity to run faster.

As for historical perspective on his sub 3 hour marathon, not so long ago that time didn't qualify you for Boston. 2:50 was the standard without age group gradations.