If you want to break the world record for the fastest marathon while dribbling a soccer ball, then it is helpful to have played soccer at some point in your life. But what if you just want to run? Does soccer help or hurt you and in what ways?
Galen Rupp, winner of last year’s Chicago Marathon, began high school as a soccer player, not a runner. He was a gifted player, but fortunately, others, including his current coach Alberto Salazar, noticed his running potential soon after!
Let’s look at some of the pros and cons of how soccer can impact a runner.
To give a quick background, soccer was my first love. I played the sport competitively from the youngest age. I was blessed to play 4 years at NCAA Division 1 Bradley University.
PRO – INTERVAL TRAINING
It’s no secret that soccer and distance running have a lot of similarities. Both sports require participants to perform at a high level for a long duration. One big difference with soccer is that it’s a lot of short bursts of speed. It could be 2 seconds or 45 seconds followed by a 1-2 minute jog, maybe a walk, and then repeat. It’s a 90-minute fartlek run or interval training
It’s no coincidence then that my best workouts from this past year were track-like speed workouts. 800’s, fartleks, mile repeats. It seemed like I could just keep going, one interval after another.
PRO – HIGHLY AEROBIC
It is consistently estimated that players at higher levels run an estimated 6-7 miles during a typical match. Even though some of that is spent sprinting, the sport is still highly aerobic in nature, especially for those playing the majority of the game.
I was never one of the fastest players at the Division 1 level, but my strength was that I never stopped moving. I could frequently get open to receive a pass or defend another player closely wherever he went. No doubt, this helped my aerobic capacity when I transitioned to running.
All players were required each season to pass a fitness test before being allowed to play in games. It varied sometimes, but the most common one went something like this.
- 2 miles under 12:00
- rest 6 minutes
- 1 mile under 6:00
- rest 6 minutes
- 1 mile under 6:00
Looking back at it, I’m not sure how much it mirrors the demands of a soccer match, but it did require a certain level of fitness obviously to pass it. I always passed this test easily, but it still took me a while to adapt to the demands of a game. The best training for this consisted of playing in game-like scenarios and scrimmages.
PRO – STRENGTH
We did a lot of weight lifting during college, especially during the offseason periods. Not all soccer programs are like this, I understand, but it helped me significantly. It is without a doubt helpful in soccer to fend off opposing players, strike a ball, and jump higher.
These same muscles help build a durable running body that will be injury free. Since concentrating on running, I’ve tried to maintain a well rounded strength training routing, which has helped me to avoid any muscle-related injuries or imbalances.
Furthermore, the lateral movements of soccer are something not seen in running. These movements help also to develop the secondary and stabilizing muscles that are used in running, like the hips and core.
CON – ASYMMETRY
Following my recent stress fracture, I went to a physical therapist to have my gait analyzed. I have a noticeable “whip” in my right leg as it comes forward while I run. Even if I consciously think about it and make it as straight as possible in my head, it’s still there! The PT said this is common in “asymmetric” sports like soccer where a dominant foot is used much more than the other. He said it’s likely that one of my hips is not as mobile as the other as a result.
He likened it to baseball players, particular pitchers, who are always turning their bodies to throw with one hand but never the other. The same thing happened to me to some extent – even though I was fairly competent with both feet!
CON – FOOT STRIKE
I noticed this one as I began to train for the world record attempt. When you dribble, you are forced to extend your foot further outward to kick the ball. Your foot naturally lands in front of your center of mass, which is a no-no for runners!
Thankfully, I learned early in my running career to shorten my stride and this has not impacted me as much. This is also the same reason I didn’t practice every day with the ball when I was training for the world record attempt. It resulted in too much bad form and it drove me crazy.
THE VERDICT
All in all, I believe my soccer career helped me more than it hurt. 99% of success in running is about accumulating miles which is what soccer did more than anything. Sure, it hurt my form and other minor things, but those are so minor and can be remedied (to some extent!). You cannot replace miles that you never got to run.
I owe a lot to my soccer career including many life lessons, everlasting memories, and great friendships. Now I can say I owe a good amount of my running success to it as well!
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