Bike win in Kona

Triathlon Forum
1

I apologize if this came up already in one of the other threads. I looked but couldn’t find anything specific. What are everyone’s thoughts of Normann winning off the bike? Do you think this will make a lot of people re-think their training to include more bike than before? Will this change the wayIM races are raced as well? I would think in the future, if someone takes off to the front, that the rest of the pack may not be willing to just let him go assuming they can run him down.

Personally, I think Normann looked awesome in all three areas. I thought he was the most balanced athlete out there and didn’t “just win it on the bike”. He won it being the best all around athlete IMO.

Thoughts?
M~

2

the best rounded athlete is the one that crossed the line first.
and that’s what he did :slight_smile:

3

haha…good point. I suppose looking at it as simply as that was beyond me on thie Monday morning. :wink:

But do you think people will be knocking themselves out now trying to get that much better on the bike?

4

I don’t have nearly the technical background to make any kind of judgment about the ride, but Stadler’s girlfriend mentioned that he slept the whole night before the race (went to bed at 8 or 9pm). I don’t know whether the same was true for the other pros (I can barely sleep an entire night before a dinky local race), but since all of these guys are incredible athletes, being fully rested might have added that little bit to the great bike to make all the difference.

5

I think Kona is a totally different race because of the fact of so many studs showing up with thier A game. Look at the top 10. You rarely hear these names throughout the year. I think the top tier guys need to watch and play of the others. They cannot afford to race at thier own pace. If the group stayed within 10-15min of Norman…who knows? Otherwise, I loved what he did and he deserved the win. Just my humble opinion.

6

the best rounded athlete is the one that crossed the line first.
and that’s what he did :slight_smile:
Absolutely! But dont you think in future races that the contenders will try to stay closer to those who break away on the bike?

7

About time those pack riders go rocked. All of the “runners” were sitting in eyeing each other saving their legs. Wham, they got smackered by a German contingent. Only Reid showed the strength to run the “bikers” down. The rest of them go smashed and limped home or DNF’ed.

8

“All of the “runners” were sitting in eyeing each other saving their legs.”

All the runners except the guy who won the race. Or do you consider someone who runs a sub-3 marathon in Kona a ‘non-runner’.

The best triathlete won the race. He swam, rode, and ran faster than anyone else on Sat. That’s what matters not where he was coming into T2.

Chris

9

I am happy that Norman won. But to say that he is a “runner” when he ran a 2:57 or so to Peter Reids 2:46 would not be appropriate. He ran fast, but he won the race on the bike. He swam fast, biked extremely fast, and then ran well enough to win. At the pro level, a 2:50 something run is not considered fast. For the AG yes, pro level, no.

10

Wow, so of the top-10 men at Kona this year, only one of them is a ‘runner’?

Reid was the only sub-2:50 time, and only 5 of the top-10 were sub-3:00.

I sure wish I could run that slow! :slight_smile:

Also, I haven’t seen the full results from IMHI, how many AG’ers went 2:50 in the marathon?

Chris

11

my friend Olaf, is a non-runner too with only a 2h56’ and 2h53’ at IMBr, IMAustria, IMC this year (same time at all 3)…
I’ll tell him next time he runs 29’20’’ for 10km on track that he is a non runner :wink:

12

Wow, I just took a look at the run splits and couldn’t figure out how the fastest run split of the day was so much faster than everyone else. Then I looked at the division, he did it sitting down. I can’t believe how those guys can power their chair thru a marathon after hand cranking the cycle. I’m impressed.