Friday, September 22, 2006

Lance in the NYC Marathon

My father-in-law and I had a spirited debate this morning about Lance Armstrong. I read that he has, at least as of today, only run 13 miles in one shot and was doing it at about a 6 1/2 minute pace (way faster than me, btw)

I was questioning what one might expect of Mr. Armstrong over 26.2 miles, and mentioned to my father-in-law that I thought with only a couple of months left to train, he may be in for an awakening of sorts, in spite of his obvious superior physical conditioning.

My argument was that his superior training as a cyclist may not correlate into the same level of performance as a runner. My father-in-law believes it will. Mr. Armstrong himself has certainly noticed the new aches and pains associated with running that are perhaps not as easy to come by as a cyclist.

My forecast was that Lance may see some longer lap times, especially in the last 8 miles, unless he starts adding considerable miles to his training. My father-in-law says “hogwash” and that Lance will run “whatever time he has set for himself.”

Any thoughts one way or the other? Just kind of a fun thought, and I am, by no means, “dissing” Lance. He’s in far better running shape than I am, hands down.