Swim shortened due to weather. Shortened distance to be confirmed tomorrow

so can he get his tattoo or does he need to wait to do and win his 1'st IM in Kona?

I wish this Scott setup was available to the masses....

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Eric Reid AeroFit | Instagram Portfolio
Aerodynamic Retul Bike Fitting

“You are experiencing the criminal coverup of a foreign backed fascist hostile takeover of a mafia shakedown of an authoritarian religious slow motion coup. Persuade people to vote for Democracy.”

Of all the reasons for cancelling swims, this one bothers me the most, how cold the outside air is. This is what transitions are for, getting dried off, and putting on whatever layers and clothing you will need for the rest of the day. Of course for Ali it won't matter, he is just as good at all 3 sports, but his competition may benefit from losing meters in the swim...

Thanks for the heads up, what time in CA is it live on FB??

What score for the position Eric? Looks pretty bloody good to my amateur eye.

 

So you're saying sub 8!

I agree.


.

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Once, I was fast. But I got over it.

I want Ali to smash it, but i worry a bit. it feels like he hadn't actually committed to any one distance this year, and if he jumps into an IM half-cocked and does poorly, it may turn him off.

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https://lshtm.academia.edu/MikeCallaghan

http://howtobeswiss.blogspot.ch/

Hey Monty, I am here and doing the race tomorrow - it's actually the swells they are worried about in the ocean swim. The temp has been pretty consistent overall so it's not out of the ordinary. I hope it is only mildly shortened, but who knows.

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Strava

The water temp is only 1.5 Celsius degrees above some minimum temp threshold IM has (I think it is 12 degrees). As always, it’s about the weakest swimmer that would be out there for 2 hours 20 minutes.

With the hair trigger swim cancellations, they need to make it optional. Want to podium or KQ? You do the swim. Don’t care about that and want to be safe? Bike and run.

Weather you are a hardcore IM racer, or just someone that wants to do it as a bucket list item, cutting these races ruins the meaning of the whole thing.

it's a great position, just not achievable on a normal Scott Plasma

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Eric Reid AeroFit | Instagram Portfolio
Aerodynamic Retul Bike Fitting

“You are experiencing the criminal coverup of a foreign backed fascist hostile takeover of a mafia shakedown of an authoritarian religious slow motion coup. Persuade people to vote for Democracy.”

I have a Scott Plasma and love it Eric.
What has been done here? Extensions mounted under the base bar?
I find the extensions/spacer set up a bit of a PITA at times.

Do you give the medal to someone who does what is not a triathlon though? I don't see many people choosing to skip the swim in such a scenario to be honest.

swim cancelled and new arrangements pending, according to Twitter.
this is likely not the debut ali wanted - nor his fans. . .

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____________________________________
https://lshtm.academia.edu/MikeCallaghan

http://howtobeswiss.blogspot.ch/

Any updates on the start order?

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David
* Ironman for Life! (Blog) * IM Everyday Hero Video * Daggett Shuler Law *
Disclaimer: I have personal and professional relationships with many athletes, vendors, and organizations in the triathlon world.

you can never count on the weather!

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80/20 Endurance Ambassador

race is streaming now - seems they went for a TT start on the bike, with pro men first.

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____________________________________
https://lshtm.academia.edu/MikeCallaghan

http://howtobeswiss.blogspot.ch/

what a shit show to watch, i know they dont control the weather, but to pick this over eu champs....

yeah, it's not much to watch: crap weather, thin pro field, and a TT start that makes it hard to figure out the leaders. . .

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____________________________________
https://lshtm.academia.edu/MikeCallaghan

http://howtobeswiss.blogspot.ch/

Agree it’s rubbish.

Mind you good for Ali. No other pro will have a clue what his form is really like.

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he's currently 7 minutes adrift on the bike, but i'm not sure what to make of that. . .

the few clips they've shown, he's been out of areo a fair deal. wonder if he'll drop out?

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____________________________________
https://lshtm.academia.edu/MikeCallaghan

http://howtobeswiss.blogspot.ch/

Does the 7 min account for his later start or can you cut off e.g. 5 min bc he started 11?

No, he's 8 mins back at the split points.

As above, he doesn't look comfortable generally. Saying that, this bike course has a section of 21% hill! Many AGers are running/walking up it!


Be interesting to see what AB does on the run.


(Is it Rachel Joyce doing the co-commentary?)

some of the pros were walking up that hill too!

sounds like the splits were quite slow...

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____________________________________
https://lshtm.academia.edu/MikeCallaghan

http://howtobeswiss.blogspot.ch/

I’d be walking up that hill for sure.

He’s flying, but a 2:35 marathon seems unsustainable. (I think my math is close)

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Dan Mayberry
Amateur a lot of things, professional a few things.

Sunday morning 8:15am and 5.5k people are logged in and watching the live free event on the fb feed.

I'd be curious the economic cost that was the live streaming whole package that went with FB streaming.

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Brooks Doughtie, M.S.
Exercise Physiology
-USAT Level II

It's 10.30 on a sunday night here. I'm tuned in and the race is pretty shit. The coverage wasn't great for a while then improved, but the actual race is shit. But I am tuned in.

EDIT - Looks like a pretty challenging course though

Not if you changed your position and brought that towel of yours /pink

Why can’t it be achieved normally? Under mount the extensions, and add an angled wedge for the pads on top of the base bar.

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Alex Arman

Strava

Pretty sure the undermount is a custom made one off...

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Eric Reid AeroFit | Instagram Portfolio
Aerodynamic Retul Bike Fitting

“You are experiencing the criminal coverup of a foreign backed fascist hostile takeover of a mafia shakedown of an authoritarian religious slow motion coup. Persuade people to vote for Democracy.”

Other than a cancelled swim, the race conditions could not suit Brownlee better. He can still win this one, but doesn’t look dominant win or not. Based on him battling with Bryan McCrystal for the win, does anyone seem him as a legitimate Kona contender against the likes of Lange and Frodeno?

Nope. But i think that's kind of what he wanted? I'm a betting man and i wouldn't put money on him.

AB just needs direction and I'm sure events/results like this will help shape his future (as would his Leeds results which showcased where he sorta stands on a world class itu field). Once he gets some full on specificity training going toward *whichever* direction he goes, he'll have a good true chance at it.

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Brooks Doughtie, M.S.
Exercise Physiology
-USAT Level II

AB is clearly expecting the weather to pick up: sunglasses easily to hand.

Apparently AB now unofficially in the lead. 'Virtual leader' by 30 or so seconds. 35ish km

It's his first IM - he said in the interviews he has done no specific prep. As it is, with a very hard bike, terrible weather he's looking at a 2:4x marathon.

I had him down as a sure fire blow up on the bike, and a slow run / walk - like many.

I think his performance has been really good - he's paced it well, steady bike and run.

Of course, he'll be beaten down by the armchair hero types on here, but he always will be.

imho it bodes well for Kona. He'll swim at the front, bike at the front and seems to be able to run the distance.

I'm impressed how controlled his run is.

Perhaps, but here’s what can be done with stock hardware:

https://www.slowtwitch.com/...t_Plasma_5_4482.html

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Alex Arman

Strava

Out of interest I just looked up the Race Results for McCrystal - he generally does tough slow races. I found Arizona 2015, he biked 4:15, so no slouch assuming he's improved since then.

He generally swims 57, runs 3:10

If there had been a swim today, AB would have been 11min or so ahead after the swim, they would have been close off the bike, and AB would now be 20min in the lead. I'm not sure it's the "battle" it looks!

Still, it's interesting how many 'unknown' athletes are pretty quick, at least in one of the three sports.

Question. So nobody, including Brownlee, will get a KQ from this race?

If yes, what other IM would Brownlee do to KQ, in your opinion or is Kona out for him this year?

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Indoor Triathlete - I thought I was right, until I realized I was wrong.

..
KQ slots will be handed out as normal..It might not be an Ironman but it is still a race and that counts as far as Ironman is concerned.

touché

i've been thinking about this, and i'm not sure what he'll take from the race. it's a weird result - he got the win, but didn't swim, had a bizarre TT start, outrageous weather, and a first-year event with nobody to compare times with. so it's hard to say what the key 'lessons' are to draw from it, since the whole day feels like such an outlier.

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____________________________________
https://lshtm.academia.edu/MikeCallaghan

http://howtobeswiss.blogspot.ch/

I take nothing from the race honestly. I dont give a shit what his times were or he got "out biked" etc. I say that because to me AB isn't in a place to take any real value from the result other than a check box moment. And it was also a shit ass day out there with a TT start so this whole "bike splits" is completely meaningless then imo.

1st IM, 1st IM win- Done

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Brooks Doughtie, M.S.
Exercise Physiology
-USAT Level II

In the simplest sense this is a financial transaction, whereby 200-400 people have the “dream” of going to Kona and IM has agreed to allocate 40 spots plus pros to those who show up that day.

The cancelled swim is a decision on the ground, but the spots and the opportunity to challenge for them don’t get taken away or reallocated.

Maurice

fwiw, McCrystal is a monster on the bike. Family man with a regular job, UCI continental team last year. National 100 mi record holder. Came as high as 4th in national RR against several pros. And he weighs 91 kg. In a straight up long and flattish TT I'd bet on him over Brownlee or Sanders.

Don't forget as well McCrytsal would have been well over 10mins behind AB if there had been a swim. And from what I've seen with a lot of guys that can bike, but not great swimmers, their bike suffers. McCrystal would have got on that bike breathing out of his ass after the swim, AB not so much,

Where there was a beach to exit the swim it was gone. The sea was up to the sea wall. I know the air/water rule but there were more factors

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Official Polar Ambassador
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Where there was a beach to exit the swim it was gone. The sea was up to the sea wall.//

I've had that kind of swim before, they use rope ladders, or dock ones to get out. Pretty easy as most people are one at a time by then..