Doesn’t Ben Hoffman deserve his own thread after this breakthrough performance yesterday? From an interview with Mike Lovato posted on the Triathlete website this week it seems like Hoffman executed his pre-race plan to near perfection. He says in that interview that he wanted to avoid getting caught up in the hype of racing the other athletes and instead just focus on racing to his best abilities.
I think he has always been underrated. He’s won IM st George in 2012, IM Wisconsin, Lake Placid, Coeur d’Alene, … All tough races. Great to see him on the podium yesterday. can he win? If you can get 2nd you can win.
Anyone know if he uses traditional nutrition during the race? Gels etc? He has stated he is Paleo but I wasn’t sure if that’s outside of training and racing.
He’s not paleo. He’s just fairly paleo in his day to day routine. So less processed stuff, less bread, ect. Normal nutrition in the race. He’s a Cliff athlete afterall and is only sponsored by people/products he believes in.
It was definitely an impressive performance and just goes to show how unpredictable Kona can be each year. It’s hard for us fans to keep up with whose on form, injured, etc. look at Luke Mckenzie this year. Missed the first pack swim and was never a factor vs. last year out front dictating the pace for a large portion last year.
Hoffman did everything right. Made the first pack on the swim. Hung with the main pack on the bike (more or less) and ran steady, taking advantage of others mistakes and struggles. Great job all around.
I’m not sure what he uses, but I seem to remember at a pre-race course preview for IM Boulder that he followed the traditional 1 gram of carbohydrate for every kg of body weight per hour rule. I think he said that this equated to about 280 calories per hour on the bike for him. Really cool to see him run such a solid race.
Front pack swim, front pack ride (other than Kinle and Twelsiek) and looks like the 6th fastest marathon - damn good consistency. Reminds me a lot of FVL’s race last year.
I was most impressed by his ability to run that fast and away from many of the guys he came off the bike with. I was expecting Frodeno to run him down, but I think the big German burned a match or two in the first half of his run.
We were with Ben when he won his first IM at IMCDA - super nice guy and great parents (my age!) too. Then in Kona 2011 we lose our then 8 year old son at the expo…we find him just hanging with Ben, who he remembered from CDA several years earlier:
Hoffman has really developed in to an all around triathlete in the last couple of years. He used to be dependent on a solid bike to get things done, but has been steadily improving his swim and run. He is finally at the point where he can swim in the front pack and not be toast. At IM CdA he uncorked a 2:43 marathon after crashing pretty hard on the bike with an age grouper. It went a bit unnoticed though as he finished 3rd after losing 15 minutes or so on the bike.
His run at the IM distance is still improving, but seems likely that he could run faster if he bikes slower. That isn’t always a wining strategy though. Kona was a hard swim and bike for the men with only Jan and Potts dipping under 2:50 on the run in the top ten. He also seems to be one of those athletes that performs better at the Ironman distance than 70.3. He doesn’t have enough top end to consistently win at that distance.
Can he win Kona? I think so. So many things have to be perfect for that though. Cam Brown was in the top 3 4-times. Faris was 3rd twice and might not have won in 2005 if Norman hadn’t flatted and thrown his bike in to the lava field. Being “on” that one day a year and “lucky” are all part of the game.
Good to see this thread back on the front page. I generally defend the ST forum in my conversations with other triathletes, but the fact that there has been so little positive conversation about Ben’s performance on Saturday on this forum compared to the negativity about other athletes who didn’t race as well has definitely left a sour taste in my mouth. I feel bad even mentioning this on this thread about “The Hoff.”
I look forward to reading ST’s interview with Hoffman about his Kona performance. From looking at his website it looks like he’s doing XTerra Worlds on the 26th.
From https://twitter.com/bhoffmanracing
Front pack swim, front pack ride (other than Kinle and Twelsiek) and looks like the 6th fastest marathon - damn good consistency. **Reminds me a lot of FVL’s race last year. **
I was most impressed by his ability to run that fast and away from many of the guys he came off the bike with. I was expecting Frodeno to run him down, but I think the big German burned a match or two in the first half of his run.
Agreed, Seems like he is this years version of McKenzie.
He has always performed well at the IM distance and on some very difficult courses he has won (StG, IMWI, etc), he is consistently at the top of the result sheet in almost every race he does. I have always kept an eye on him but I must have missed his CDA performance this year and his 2:43 run, so when I saw him come off 5th on the bike I wasn’t sure if he had the quickness the others had.
Good to see this thread back on the front page. I generally defend the ST forum in my conversations with other triathletes, but the fact that there has been so little positive conversation about Ben’s performance on Saturday on this forum compared to the negativity about other athletes who didn’t race as well has definitely left a sour taste in my mouth. I feel bad even mentioning this on this thread about “The Hoff.”
Any sports forum on the internet has a massive amount of negativity from fans. Almost everyone is an armchair quarterback of some sort and even when a team wins a game, certain fans find plenty to whine about. It’s just human nature. Read the comments of any college football team’s facebook posts for further validity of my statements. Don’t even get me started on the MMA forums.
**Doesn’t Ben Hoffman deserve his own thread after this breakthrough performance yesterday? **
Mark,
Indeed it does.
Other than Rinny’s otherworldly performance, Ben Hoffman’s performance was Race-Of-The-Day stuff.
Can he take the “next step up”, as he referred to in the video? Obviously time will tell. However, a conversation had with Craig Alexander at the Awards Dinner is telling. Craig hinted that we may be into an era of variability and uncertainty with regards to who wins/places in Kona. There are a number of factors that are contributing to this.
Not taking anything away from Hoffman, on the day he nailed it and earned the position and honors - but it was also a day of carnage from the rest of the men’s field. Hoffman benefited from that. The top-10 to 15 men are all very evenly matched. It comes down to all the planets lining up on race day for you, to have that amazing day.
Look at Luke McKenzie - the big story of last year, this year, a so-so performance. How will he go next year?
I think Craig is 100% correct … with the depth of athlete (and differrent skill sets) the race will become more situational based on conditions and even something like swim dynamics. The swim on Saturday put some guys on their heels, some guys eliminated themselves from the win ( or top 5-10) and even eliminated some guys from even having an impact. (McKenzie, Cunnama, Butterfield just for starters all were in the front pack last year and a non factor this year) Anyone who says that swim doesn’t have an impact is mistaken. Potts even said he had the worst swim he’s ever had there. Don’t look or this to change unless there is no Potts, Frodeno, Albert etc.
This year the tactics + swim + headwind + the tailwind the pro men had on the Queen K return (the women & AG’ers didn’t have as much of that ) quite likely will be different next year and we may see some of the same players but als some different guys come forward
It’s what makes that race such a crap shoot now … I like it!
