I am going to be doing my first half IM this summer and I am in a bit of a bind. My goal as of right now is somewhere under 4:25, maybe faster depending mainly on my swimming. As of right now I could probably swim about a 30:00 1.2 mi swim. My goal is to be around 28:00-28:30.
Now if I can hit in the mid to low 4:20s I’ll be around top ten, fairly competitive with the rest of the elite wave. However my swim time will leave me somewhere around 20th to 25th place, left behind most likely by the elite wave.
So do I go elite wave, try to keep up and risk going out too hard in my first HIM? Do I start in the 20-24 age group, where I most likely not have someone to swim with, and spend a lot of time passing in the bike and run?
Thanks
Neil
2 side questions
What road flat is recommended, I am a fairly light striker at 125-130 pounds with an efficient stride. Would the Nike Vapor be too risky?
Anyone have any experience with the Pigman Half Ironman? Anything I should know, hilly or flat? Disc type course or leave it at home?
I’d say if the thought of entering the elite wave has even entered your head, much less if you’re aiming for under 4:30 you should absolutely enter the elite wave. Since we’ve never met, knowing only this about you, I’d consider you a schmuck if you did otherwise.
I don’t think a 30 minute swim would put you behind the rest of the wave. There will be people with swims slower than 30min.
I did Pigman last year (yes, disc if you have it, I think one could ride in the big ring the whole course) and don’t remember more than about 15 people in the elite wave. Of course some folks decided to drop back to their agegroups. Schmucks. Sandbagging schmucks.
If you have never done a half, then your projected time could easily be off by 15 minutes, either faster or slower.
I would say go AG, passing people is not such a bad thing. If you go elite and don’t do as well as you want, getting passed by a lot of people would add insult to injury. In my book, unless you are expecting to podium you should stay in your AG.
Thanks for the replies, I am especially glad to hear the course is so flat. I actually decided to go Elite Wave after looking at last years results and that a few of those slow swims must have come from the elite wave. I understand that my overall time could be quite a bit slower, but if I do go down it’ll be in the run and really that is my best area. So if I do hit the wall, I won’t be getting passed, I’ll just be right on next to them. I figure either way it’ll be a learning experience.
Seems weird that you are asking these questions having never done a half…
you must have lots of Oly experience to set that time goal…but then again to be asking a forum (where your responders will likely be >1/2 hour slower, if that) what shoes to wear makes it sound like you don’t know much about your own racing (which if you did have enough race experience to set a 4:23 goal would think would be backed up by tons of training that would give you plenty of knowledge about what shoes you would wear)…
Don’t know about the Pigman course, but a 4:24 would have put you in the top 20 at Eagleman, one of the fastest 1/2’s IM’s with one of the deepest fields, in the thick of a very competitive and very experienced group (Natascha Badman and Luke Bell won…while really, really good guys were in the top 50).
What gives? How can you have a goal to be in that very elite group and appear to have a completely different experience/self knowledge level than that group? Are you new and just adding up your training times, then adding a buffer to get 4:20?
I do have experience in tris and dus. The people I was very competitive with early in this season were all 4:20 mid HIM triathletes last year. Not to say everything will transfer but I know my body well and have been getting great training in.
Maybe you aren’t familiar with the Vapors but it is a fairly light and racing minded shoe(around 5.5 oz, very very little cushoning). My other option is the Adidas Boston(11oz lots of cushoning) which is a performance trainer or something in between. I have worn the Vapors for races up to 10k on the roads, but I am just curious if I might experience problems with a shoe that doesn’t offer much for cushoning. And have worn the Bostons for a half marathon.
Well good luck, that should be a very interesting event. No disrespect intended, I just thought it was a weird question. My $.02 would be to go for the vapors if you don’t have problems that light, since I assume that this would be an “A” race for you and you’d go for broke, otherwise something not so light, but sub 10 oz…
if your not the fastest swimmer but a strong cyclist then either way your going to be time trialing at least 60km of the 90km all alone so the group you start with is kind of irelevant. One question is how deep does the prize money pay? are you a chance at ending up in it? if so race elite, i nearly cost myself a bit of prize money last race, i entered age group as it was a mass start so i didnt think it mattered to much as there were no waves but i was in third place overal on the run(race only paid 3 deep) till the 18km mark where i got passed by Justin Granger(husband of Belinda Granger and a PB of 8:28 set in Roth recently) so i nearly cost myself some money there.
As far as racing shoes go i raced in brooks T3’s which are a pretty light flat and i’m 160pounds. You can actually get away with something slightly lighter than you would use in a half marathon as you are not running quite as fast so there isnt as much pounding.
My goal as of right now is somewhere under 4:25, maybe faster depending mainly on my swimming.
I think your race performance will depend on how much (or how little) you slow down in the 2nd half of the run.
The people I was very competitive with early in this season were all 4:20 mid HIM triathletes last year.
In what distance races were you competitive with them? Going fast for 4.5 hours in a half-IM is a very different animal than going fast for 2 hours in an Oly distance race.
Respect the half-IM distance. Good luck. Keep us posted.
My suggestion is to go in the elite wave. If you have a fair degree of confidence that you will be in the top 10 - 15 overall and a podium place in your AG, then that is the wave for you. I have always found that it is important to race against the people that are at your level and higher. Why? Simple. Brings out a better performance! The few times I raced in AG waves, I found that I often had no clue as to how I was doing, relatively speaking, to the people that I was actually racing with- the people that I wanted to race with. Sure I was passing lots of people and it felt good to be doing that, but in the overall scheme of things it was meaningless.
You sound like you will be one of the slower swimmers. That’s fine, I was like that in my days. If you are up for this - try this. It goes against the “rules” of pace managment, but it WORKS: Swim harder than you normally would for the first 400m or so, then when you you start to fade a bit jump immediately on the feet of someone who passes you. Draft like crazy for the rest of the swim. I did this many times and managed to swim way faster than I normally would have had I been on my own, getting out of the water with people who would dust me big time in real swim workouts. You will know it’s a good draft, if when you try and pull out and pass the person you are drafting, you can’t pass them, but you can comfortably stay right on their feet.
OK enough with the REAL racing secerts for the day!
I recommend elite wave. I am also a come-from-behind triathlete. An elite wave start will let you see all of the “rabbits” for you to chase down. With an AG start, most of the athletes you’ll be passing will be from earlier waves and that won’t provide the same psychological boost.
and not just for you but for anyone else even considering it, you are a sad-ass sandbagger if you have the ability to race with the best and choose not to, because (in a whiny voice) “what if they beat me?” well that’s racing, sack up and get better!
off my soap box, do great and have fun being one of the best, I wish I could do that!!