We are basically having same conclusion I just don’t think it’s from him “faking†it. I think it’s truly he’s off form atm, but it also doesn’t really matter. The only form he must show is itu form if he wants Tokyo. And I think that ship is sailing off so now he starts really wrapping his brain around IM/70.3 full time.
Hell 2019 Kona doesn’t even matter cus there will one the very next year, so there really is no urgency to quick fix or go “win or bust†mode; unless he’s truly just done with triathlon. So I think it’s just a matter of him transitioning himself and truly closing one chapter for the next IM chapter. Unless of course he just doesn’t want to. But he seems the type that will atleast give it a 3-5 year go at it to truly see what he can accomplish. He isn’t and Simon Whitfield or GJ who truly wanted no part of LC racing. I think he’s competitive enough and triathlon historian type that he’s eventually wanting to put it all in for best chance at every distance.
Look at what an on-form AB did to Kienle and Sanders at St. George a few years ago on the bike… outsplit them both. Fast forward to today… Brownlee gets smoked on a hilly bike in the pissing rain by 15minutes.Â
He must have gotten rusty at drafting off the camera motos. He had this perfected at St George.
I am with Monty on his mediocre debut. His bike was weak and he was racing against the JV squad.
His run was not that impressive - the degree to which he split positive tells you all you need to know. And again, he was racing against the JV squad. The lack of swim is much ado about nothing in Kona. Arguably trying to go Rambo on the swim hurts not helps him.
Look at what an on-form AB did to Kienle and Sanders at St. George a few years ago on the bike… outsplit them both. Fast forward to today… Brownlee gets smoked on a hilly bike in the pissing rain by 15minutes.
He must have gotten rusty at drafting off the camera motos. He had this perfected at St George.
I am with Monty on his mediocre debut. His bike was weak and he was racing against the JV squad.
His run was not that impressive - the degree to which he split positive tells you all you need to know. And again, he was racing against the JV squad. The lack of swim is much ado about nothing in Kona. Arguably trying to go Rambo on the swim hurts not helps him.
The numbers don’t tell the whole story. It was more Norseman than Kona. Linsey Corbin quit at T2 and had this to say “Gutted to have had my 3rd ever DNF today @IRONMAN_Ireland - I put my best effort forward to stay warm & the Irish weather took me down. So much respect to everyone out there battling in the nastiest conditions I’ve ever seen.”
The lack of swim is much ado about nothing in Kona. Arguably trying to go Rambo on the swim hurts not helps him.
When does he go Rambo on the swims? He’s one of the fastest swimmers in just about any race he enters. There’s no “rambo” style needed for him. He’s going to be at the front of the swim or at worse with the main group that is the front of the race.
I really doubt Tokyo is still a target, especially with Kona now a reality. If he goes all in for Kona, then the path to Tokyo seems too distracting. He also is likely far less motivated to race in Tokyo considering he has won 2 golds already.
Jack
His limiter appears to be focus, direction and perhaps motivation. Hopefully this narrows it a bit.
I think people underestimate how hard it would be to move from essentially unlimited (where you have won everything) federation support and direction to basically a free agent where you control everything yourself.
I think he will do well in Kona this year, I think he can win it when his brother comes over to LD and they start thinking about a killer squad and a great supporting team/cast of characters.
I really doubt Tokyo is still a target, especially with Kona now a reality. If he goes all in for Kona, then the path to Tokyo seems too distracting. He also is likely far less motivated to race in Tokyo considering he has won 2 golds already.
Jack
His limiter appears to be focus, direction and perhaps motivation. Hopefully this narrows it a bit.
I think people underestimate how hard it would be to move from essentially unlimited (where you have won everything) federation support and direction to basically a free agent where you control everything yourself.
I think he will do well in Kona this year, I think he can win it when his brother comes over to LD and they start thinking about a killer squad and a great supporting team/cast of characters.
Maurice
Worked great for lange.
Agreed, also Frodeno.
There is a great interview with Dan Lorang (frodeno’s coach) about them discussing post London to Long Distance, neither had raced or coached IM yet but Lonrang’s primary advise was to get a good squad/team/training friends together for the long haul.
Some guys can go from endless pool to zwift to treadmill and stay indoors for 7 hours a day but I’m not sure how fun or productive that is generally.
I really doubt Tokyo is still a target, especially with Kona now a reality. If he goes all in for Kona, then the path to Tokyo seems too distracting. He also is likely far less motivated to race in Tokyo considering he has won 2 golds already.
Jack
His limiter appears to be focus, direction and perhaps motivation. Hopefully this narrows it a bit.
I think people underestimate how hard it would be to move from essentially unlimited (where you have won everything) federation support and direction to basically a free agent where you control everything yourself.
I think he will do well in Kona this year, I think he can win it when his brother comes over to LD and they start thinking about a killer squad and a great supporting team/cast of characters.
Maurice
I had three thoughts while watching Cork this morning.
Alister won and he didn’t look good on that runAlister needs to race LESS because he races so hard and gets injured so much. Going long is probably the answer to that. He will be a successI was also thinking about his squad. There is another guy that I think could do really well going long. Richard Varga. He would be way ahead coming out of the water. His limiter has always been his bike ability…which I think would be neutralized in Ironman. He is actually a good distance runner. I believe he qualified for the Slovakian national cross country team within the last year. I really think Varga would do well going long. Ohh, and he trained with the Brownlee’s before.
I couldn’t see Varga doing well in IM, probably break all the swimming records but he’d be caught prety soon on the bike by your Frodo’s/Brownlees and doesn’t have the bike to stay with them.
Look at what an on-form AB did to Kienle and Sanders at St. George a few years ago on the bike… outsplit them both. Fast forward to today… Brownlee gets smoked on a hilly bike in the pissing rain by 15minutes.
He must have gotten rusty at drafting off the camera motos. He had this perfected at St George.
I am with Monty on his mediocre debut. His bike was weak and he was racing against the JV squad.
His run was not that impressive - the degree to which he split positive tells you all you need to know. And again, he was racing against the JV squad. The lack of swim is much ado about nothing in Kona. Arguably trying to go Rambo on the swim hurts not helps him.
The numbers don’t tell the whole story. It was more Norseman than Kona. Linsey Corbin quit at T2 and had this to say “Gutted to have had my 3rd ever DNF today @IRONMAN_Ireland - I put my best effort forward to stay warm & the Irish weather took me down. So much respect to everyone out there battling in the nastiest conditions I’ve ever seen.”
The performance of a third tier female pro would not be my benchmark here. At best he beat a bunch of guys that are not even capable of qualifying for Kona.
Hey mike and the couple others that keep harping on how tough the course was, I know, I saw the finish times too. My only point was in comparison to his competition, who raced at the same exact time. If you have an argument as to why he sucked in that regard, I’ll join in. Tough day, got it.
Why would he need to run faster then he did if he was in first??? //
Why would he let some 2nd tier pro beat him by 17 minutes and have to run so hard to get the win?? Dude is supposed to be one of the best bikers in the sport, and has shown that at 70.3 rides, many times…
Is it sacrilege to talk even a tiny bit of smack about Ali, a guy who I admire greatly by the way. I actually consider him one of my favorite pros out there in this crop, across all distances…
Monty it was actually 12 mins due to the staggered start. You’ll see this reflected in the final results.
That being said it doesn’t bode well. I’m surprised as he can bike with the big boys over 70.3 and did a 25 mile TT at 400w last year.
One of 2 things are apparent:
He isn’t suited/adapted to the longer stuff.
He isn’t particularly fit (by his standards of course).
I think it may be a bit of both. As much as he protested his fitness, he didn’t look remotely fit in Leeds. The two previous races he looked decent but nowhere near where he was in say 2016.
Also there has been a lack of focus which I don’t think has helped. He has to make a decision on going long and make it now. He’s still gonna get pumped in Kona this year but could be in a position to win it in 2020. But that process has to start now.
I watched a bit of the live stream and the sheer thought of doing the forefoot tippy-toe thing for 42k made me want to scream in agony.
Good on him for finishing the race and punching the Kona ticket, he looked nowhere his potential with proper preparation to me, but what do I know compared to a 2x Olympic champ.
Alister needs to race LESS because he races so hard and gets injured so much. Going long is probably the answer to that. He will be a success
Here’s the thing though… At the World Championships (both 70.3 & Kona) the winner these days needs an absolute ripper of a run. One only needs to look at Lange’s last two Kona performances and Jan’s 2018 70.3 WC run which was one of the strongest runs in the history of long distance tri. Both of those guys have struggled through injury during most of 2018.
Sadly, the overuse run injuries are still prevalent at the pointy end of the pro field in long course.
Just wanted to say thanks for the shout-out. I’m bummed you consider me a third-tier pro. I had my 4th top - 10 appearance at Kona last year, won IRONMAN WISCONSIN (in record setting time), and have been the top American at both World Championships as well as have 7 other Ironman titles to my name.
I can’t speak highly enough of how brutal the conditions were today. On top of that, this was an extremely challenging course: both the terrain & road surfaces. It was pure survival mode for anyone out there that raced. This is an incredible event & I feel for the race organization as it was horrible luck with the weather today.
Congrats to everyone that finished or even took part in a portion of the race.
I’ve done over 100 triathlons and this was only my third ever DNF - and I didn’t have much choice in the matter, my body just said NO.
Congrats to Alistair (and Emma) on the wins today - it was no joke out there.
I’m just glad he raced Cork and took the Kona slot, so none of these other guys could steal one. It was a no name field of 2nd tier pros. Conditions were tough but it was a level playing field. As well, one could argue the conditions were favorable to him, since he’s used to cold, crappy weather. I wonder how well he would have done in a hot weather IM against a stacked field? I guess we’ll find out at Kona. He got the win, but there wasn’t anything particularly impressive about it for an athlete of his caliber.
Look at what an on-form AB did to Kienle and Sanders at St. George a few years ago on the bike… outsplit them both. Fast forward to today… Brownlee gets smoked on a hilly bike in the pissing rain by 15minutes.Â
He must have gotten rusty at drafting off the camera motos. He had this perfected at St George.
I am with Monty on his mediocre debut. His bike was weak and he was racing against the JV squad.
His run was not that impressive - the degree to which he split positive tells you all you need to know. And again, he was racing against the JV squad. The lack of swim is much ado about nothing in Kona. Arguably trying to go Rambo on the swim hurts not helps him.
I know you must be trolling a bit. I as you are questioning a guys performance that WON the race and has the last TWO Olympic gold medals. Not to mention was just testing the day for the first time vs a few of athletes that have all done it before.
The guy With a great bike time is.
A GREAT BIKER!
BIG so did well with the temps compared to the small athletes.
A GREAT BIKER!
Didn’t;t have to get tired swimming poorly so he could use his best strength when fresh.
HE IS A GREAT BIKER.
he made up 12 minutes over 180 km on a bike and lose 5 min + in the first 10 km of the run so maybe he overdid the bike too.
HE IS A VERY GOOD BIKER.
he was on home soil and this was his Olympic performance opportunity.
HE IS A GOOD BIKER!!!
Ali doesn’t yet consume enough on the bike. he keeps under fuelling and need to learn quick the bike is the buffet. That is hard for guys to get the hang of when they go longer distance they think they can just get by on Olympic distance fueling.
ALSO I don’t think Ali is so great in cold weather he just says they to stay mentally on ( 70.3 worlds 2018). He has better wins in hot hot weather. he just Tend to fall over with a Olympic medal around his neck so he looks like HEAT is the struggle, but its the pace.
If anyone runs a 30 min 10 km in 35 degree weather they will be overheating. but in kona he can just run a 36 min per 10 km pace and hence not overheat.
Still nothing in Ironman is guaranteed. This year kona will be different for guys like Lange and Ali. Wurf and Keinle are both improving their runs. So they need a swim lead and a bike performance as a 8-10 minute lead to wurf or sebi may be too much.
You are definitely a top tier pro Linsey!! Pay no attention to that guy, no name on his profile, and believes hes an expert on triathlons because he finished an Ironman once. Solid effort.
DUDE is an idiot. he was no idea about pro racing, the conditions today, the course, or much of anything for that matter.
The computer forum gives everyone a voice. But you have to not hear “THE LOUD” but wrong and ill-informed voice.
Anyone watching could see this was a shit show day both on the bike and the run. To finish upright would have been the many goal for anyone. Add having to pace for a race and ride and run on the edge of the comfort zone for 7 plus hours. most wouldn’t go out in full fresh gear for 1 hour of training in that today.