100 lessons? It's very simple really. You just have to get fast. Fast enough to be in that upper 1% of your age group typically.

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TrainingBible Coaching
http://www.trainingbible.com

How about 100 lessons to getting fast enough to be in that 1% category? :)

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SmartBikeTrainers.com || YouTube || My Twitter

I have been close (missed KQ by 7 sec) and I feel the most important thing is simply being consistent with training. There really is no off season, just a time to have a focus on a certain aspect of tri - maybe improve a weakness or have several months of a run or bike focus.

I'd wager that those who KQ on a regular basis are training at least 10-12 hrs/week in the winter and average 15+ during most of the season. This over many years will get you there. There aren't any magical things about it, just consistency.

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Blog: http://262toboylstonstreet.blogspot.com/
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Coaching: https://bybtricoaching.com/ - accepting athletes for 2023

Good genetics
Train consistently

Or do 12 IM events and go legacy 😀

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Boots
Fleet Feet Rochester, NY
Fleet Feet Buffalo, NY
YellowJacket Racing, Rochester, NY

"Pick better parents."

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Zen and the Art of Triathlon. Strava Workout Log
Interviews with Chris McCormack, Helle Frederikson, Angela Naeth, and many more.
http://www.zentriathlon.com

+1 on this, consistency consistency consistency and not missing workouts

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2024: Bevoman, Galveston, Alcatraz, Marble Falls, Santa Cruz

Best way to qualify for Kona.

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2x Deca-Ironman World Cup (10 Ironmans in 10 days), 2x Quintuple Ironman World Cup (5 Ironmans in 5 days), Ultraman, Ultra Marathoner, and I once did an Ironman.

Thanks! Missing by 7 seconds has got to hurt.
I hope you continue your pursuit and qualify!
Best of luck!

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Everyday Athlete
Kirkland, WA

Nature loads the gun, Nurture pulls the trigger.

I'm a believer on this. I have no excuse from my parents (mom is ~top 10% AG at Boston). But they are just a small part of it :)

Good genetics
Train consistently

Or do 12 IM events and go legacy 😀[/quote]
Get good grades, go to a good college, get a high paying job, stay single, buy a slot......

After all - this is the one sport you can buy your way into the "championship" of long course racing.

Become an angry famous kitchen chef, or a speed skater

You don't need 100. Train as much as you have time for and as much as you can recover from. Have some structure to your training. Don't get injured. Be consistent. Nature does load the gun. I went from a 5:25 to a 4:08 pretty much just by training a lot more and improving my bike equipment and position (the last 10-15 minute savings).

An athlete I coached did the exact same thing to qualify. Trained a lot more, very consistent, avoided injury, avoided burnout and over training, and executed.

I'm not sure you need 100 ways to explain that.

But here's a couple:

1) Figure out your weakness and focus on it, never avoid it.
2) Take your strength, and make it the primary weapon in your arsenal.
3) If your short on time, then prioritize, periodize further, and focus on improving economy.
4) Pick economy over power or fitness. IF swimming better, running better or getting more aero require making less power or training less, do it.
5) Get in tune with you body. You can't train and race solely by numbers. that's a recipe for failure when the status quo changes on race day.

You want more, you'll have to pay me.


You can also read my blog. 2+ years, 100+ entries chronicling my journey training for my 1st IM and racing Kona.

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TrainingBible Coaching
http://www.trainingbible.com

A couple of other things:

- pick a course that suits your strengths. I'm super skinny any tend to have relatively better (not faster) bike splits on rolling bike courses, flat bike courses tend to work against me.
- pick a course where the weather suits you. Being super skinny and living in a hot climate, I cope much better with the heat than most athletes.
- pick an IM event where the number of slots to starters is likely to be favourable. The IM owners constantly move the slots around based on where they want to drive up numbers. I wouldn't be surprised if this has moved in the last year or two with the sale of IM to a chinese company.
- money comes into it, if you want to maximise your chances above, as well as race a few races during the year, then entering more events in more locations might increase your odds if you're close to qualifying. From Australia it is very expensive to race Kona which stops alot of people from going even if they qualify.
- luck also plays a part. When I qualified for Kona in 2003 I missed the first round of slots by 15 seconds even finishing in 9.35. There was one roll down in my group and I got a slot, did 9.53 at Kona. Plenty of guys who finsished in front of me in qualifying finished behind me at Kona - see points above. Weather, course, conditions, money and luck all come into it.

I'd wager that those who KQ on a regular basis are training at least 10-12 hrs/week in the winter and average 15+ during most of the season. This over many years will get you there. There aren't any magical things about it, just consistency.


Boom!

Everyone wants the secret formula, the silver bullet work-outs that, the golden training program and protocol that will guarantee a great performance. The reality is, there is none of that. This is about moderate to hard long work, over long periods of time. Look at chunks-of-time in 6 month to one year intervals.

Coaches that know what they are talking about will tell you that it takes 3 - 5 years of training just to get to the starting point of where you REALLY need to start to train for a great Ironman performance. Many will laugh this off as ridiculous, or site some freakish outlier, they know about, who waltzed right through to Kona in a couple of years. Note the words freakish, and outlier!

Some have mentioned genetics, and yes it does help:

- OK to good endurance sports genes
- Great body durability
- mental tenacity to keep going . . . always keep going!

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Steve Fleck @stevefleck | Blog

I'm testing this theory in 2016.


This is my 4th year and I've gotten lucky at work...meaning that I can pretty much train as much as I want to train so I've ramped up the training to 20-25 hours for the big weeks and around 15-18 for the small blocks. I'm extremely dedicated and serious about putting in the work.

I've been racing seriously for about 3 years and this year I started podiuming/winning some of the local events here in Georgia. That was a common theme from people here who said if you want to get to Kona. That and a ton of hours working out.

So, we'll see if this happens and see if I qualify for Kona. I'm signed up for IM Maryland and I'm going to put all of the great advice from this board to get to the island. Now what's going to suck is if I make it and can't train as much as I have this year....hahaha

I'm not so sure about the genetics part. I was a fat and slow kid and still have problems dropping all of the weight. But I am consistent and I love to workout and race like fat kids love cake.

I'm not going to laugh it off, but I would like to see the evidence these coaches are using to make that judgement. Based on the ST thread about the road to qualifying, most seemed to qualify in 1-3 serious attempts. The guys working through 5+ years of steady improvement and then qualifying were more the outliers.

I'm not going to laugh it off, but I would like to see the evidence these coaches are using to make that judgement. Based on the ST thread about the road to qualifying, most seemed to qualify in 1-3 serious attempts. The guys working through 5+ years of steady improvement and then qualifying were more the outliers.


Depends on the back-ground, and other factors.

The 3 - 5 years is more for the off-the-couch person who while they may have some latent ability and talent, lack, a really deep base of aerobic fitness. And when all is said and done, consistently doing really well, at races such as Ironman, is abut who has the deepest well of aerobic fitness!

There is a tendency on here to go, "Well I know a guy who did it in two years". And then if you look into it a bit more, turns out the "guy" was a former NCAA varsity level rower!! And so on.

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Steve Fleck @stevefleck | Blog

Thanks! I will definitely read your blog!

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Everyday Athlete
Kirkland, WA

1-3 serious attempts at 3-5 years of training don't have to be inconsistent. I think the common profile of a KQ is 3-5 years of consistent training and 1-3 serious attempts at KQing.

True on consistency.

Can't say I agree with the hours you posted for winter vs summer training. My TP data shows 5-6 hrs/week total each winter (often less as in 4'ish hrs), all three sports combined. Maybe a few 13-15 hr weeks at the biggest build up prior to an Ironman (Kona or otherwise).

However..this may be true for others, just not me. Or others may overstate what they really train like.

I agree with the above. I raced short course my first year, a half IM the 2nd year, then I went for an IM and missed by not much. It took me a few attempts and I qualified for Kona on my fourth IM race. Since then I haven't missed, and realized the smarter move was to qualify at Eagleman so I would be fresher at Kona. I do train 15-20 hours a week most of the year. I train light in the winter every year. I probably have better genetics and always been athletic. You could say it is a lot of hard work but I really enjoy the training. I've never been coached, I don't own a power meter or a trainer, I do most of my training on feel and I try to train with friends as much as possible. I'm 49 years old.
One bit of advice, you have to the confidence or desperation to really go for it during the race. This means racing, not following a plan and taking some risks with pacing to bring it up the next level. What did it for me was a drafting penalty at my 4th Ironman. I got caught up in pack, in a headwind and tried to stay legal but they called me for drafting. I was pissed and thought I didn't have a chance at qualifying since I usually missed by a few minutes and now I was 4 in the hole. Then I thought, what do I got to loose, and I raced in zone 4 to the Penalty Tent figuring I'd have 4 minutes to recover. I later started cramping on the run and realized if I stopped to stretched I wasn't going to KQ but I needed to change something, so I ran faster and the cramp went away. Obviously none of this was part of my race plan and it could have gone the other way. This race gave me the confidence to go out of the zone and to go for. Desperate times call for desperate measures.

PS I held off on this reply because I didn't want to jinx myself at IMLP and thanks for giving me the perfect post to brag about getting into Kona for the 6th time.

eBay

Biff - congrats! what is your athletic background?