Well of course there are doubts, but you all need to factor in that he would not have to run as many miles as a pure runner, in fact, probably not a whole lot more than he does now. Maybe an extra 20%, and he would also be able to dial down the speed a bit too. His engine as you put it would be fine from all his other activities.

no way. how many miles a week does he run now? 60? he's not running a 2:12 marathon off of 75 miles a week. moreover, his toe running would be horrible for marathon training and i don't see how he could not get hurt bumping up the miles. name one elite marathoner who runs like that (and who isn't constantly hurt).

has he ever run a race longer than a 10K? i think he could run a fast HM off of his current miles but the difference between a full marathon and HM is massive. the graveyard of fast 5K/10K men and women who were unable to master the marathon is long and distinguished. i'm not saying that he couldn't run a fast marathon but, given his form and injury history, i think would be very unlikely.

About the rio test event, I was born in Rio and lived there until 2000, when I left for college. My family is still there and I go back often to visit.

I honestly don't know how they are going to do an elite triathlon race there. A few years ago some manholes were exploding in Rio, injuring passerbys, and still nobody understands why. The streets are a mess - too many cars, buses, people, potholes, etc. I doubt there will be any resurfacing for the test event. Also, if the athletes want to come earlier to acclimatize, I don't know where they can train cycling and running. Maybe running they can do early morning at the beach, before it gets crowded, but cycling in the city is dangerous - you could get run over or stolen. Some decades ago many top brazilian triathletes were coming from Rio - Fernanda Keller, Armando Barcellos, and others. Now they come from south or countryside of Sao Paulo - places with better conditions to train. I fear we will make fool of ourselves. But failure is not an option in olympics, so I guess things will just come together at some point.

Yes and no.

His running technique is a recipe for calf/achillies injuries, landing on his toe, and having little to no heal contact. I am suprised that hasn't been addressed by his coaches (that or he simply can't/won't run with a more mid-foot technique)

In regards to the training load, I am not sure training for a marathon would be considerably more taxing than a 10k. He would likely have to run a few more miles, but I would say he'd be on the upper end of the run mileage spectrum for ITU athletes now as is, 100-130k run weeks (GB athletes are known for decent run volume). He wouldn't need to do nearly as much speed work which I think could actually reduce his chances of injury.

I would just love to see him put in a long solid block of uninterrupted training and racing so we can see what he is really capable of.

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http://twitter.com/willrc91 --- instragram.com/willrc91

You interchange mileage and KM but I'm assuming you're talking KM with those figures, which I wouldn't say are the 'upper end of the run mileage spectrum for ITU athletes', I'd say they're fairly representative of someone who has been on the circuit a few years and thus has the training history to handle that volume. In terms of 'upper end' (which is obviously dependant upon training phase at the time for the athlete in question), if we're talking focussed run, both the boys and girls would be aiming to run there +

The Brownlees have previously stated they run twice a day other than Sunday which is single long run. I think out of a 35 hr training week they attributed 12 hours running which would be I imagine 80 - 100 miles a week.

The injuries are due to the top end speed work I think. There must be some resilience in AB running mechanics as he has spent a fair amount of his time running up and down fells, which if you have done that you will know is a recipe for injury.

 
I would agree with those figures more so.

Wife was running 140-160km weeks quite regularly toward end of ITU career, dependant upon phase. 160-180 peak volume weeks.

I remember her running double run day 40km's two weeks out from ITU Worlds & podiuming. Its all about how its put together.

Zimzala, no, they do about 8 hours a week (including two intense track sessions). The interesting thing is the amount of cycling they do - 17 to 20 hours.

right, which means that they are averaging ~60 miles a week, which isn't even remotely enough for a non-marathoner to run a 2:12 marathon (i'm sure someone like geb in his prime could run a 2:12 off so few miles). as i stated above, AB would have to jack his miles up a ton (in the 100 miles a week area) if he wanted to make a serious run at 2:12 and i have a very hard time believing that his body could handle that many miles of toe running. i don't care how much less speed work he is doing, that is way too many foot strikes with such improper form to think he wouldn't get hurt.

You are far from reality... They spend no more than 8 hours of running per week.
The secret of the Brownlee is in the massive bike volume on hilly roads.

http://www.trimes.org/...e-brownlee-brothers/

I am trying to sign up for a one event pass, and it keeps telling me that there are errors.

What gives? Anyone have this happen?

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Chris Harris

that guy from jordan has some scary bad biking skills. i'm surprised he's allowed to start because it's dangerous having him out there on the bike.

Does anyone know which brand/model of bike shoes that it looks like a lot of the field is wearing right now? They're fluorescent yellow and both the Brownlee brothers wear them. Looks like a lot of the other guys in that lead bike pack are wearing them as well.

That was the best I've seen Alistair Brownlee look on the run since San Diego 2013. He was jogging the last 750 meters as well.

Birtwhistle was an impressive 11th which bodes well for the Australians. A pity Jonathan B had a puncture in transition, it spoiled the dynamics of the race, but AB kept the front pack ahead of the Mola group which was quite an achievement...

Yup, looked outstanding all-around. 14:32 run split and as you said, really took his approaching and on the blue carpet.


Murray was 14:12, Mola at 14:22. Some damn fast running in this field.

mavic

Gwen in the front bike group. Might as well call the rest of the race off.

I try to watch the men's races live every single time they race, but for the women, I'm not even really interested in watching anymore, not even the replay while I'm riding on the trainer. The men are just that much more exciting in my opinion.

Don't get me wrong, what Gwen is doing is nothing short of stellar. She's just dominating on the run. I just don't think it's relatively exciting at all to see Gwen swim, relax on the bike, then take off on the run.

i think you need to watch some more women's races because what you are describing is pre 2015. gwen now swimming FOP, then drilling the bike with a lot of pulls and then picking up where she left off last year on the run. she's looking more and more like the brownlees except that there isn't a female version of gomez, mola, luis or a similar sibling to push her. the only thing that is going to possibly stop her is spirig drilling the bike or a healthy non stanford.

How much power are the ladies holding during the bike? I remember someone posted something during an ITU race for the guys, but what about the ladies? What's Gwen's FTP?

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@floathammerholdon | @partners_in_tri

Gwen sprinting off the front of the group. Just toying with them.

sorry if this was mentioned earlier, but how many hrs do they swim and how many km a week?

7718, they do five sessions a week (Monday to Friday) totaling about 8 hours. averaging about 20K (or so they say)

He lost his seat when he jumped on his bike...

I think the ITU rankings is meaningless when the most important determinant of position is the number of races you have done. Since ITU increased the number of races this has become more of an issue. As far as I understand it ranking is really important to determine position on the start line. It almost appears that ITU are trying to award athletes for competing in more races by giving them a race advantage, or even penalise the best athletes for not doing all the races.

Having a golden number 1 on your arm and being presented with a trophy after every race because you have done more races is a bit odd.

Why not average points per race done. Therefore the athletes at the top of the rankings would be the better athletes?