On an 8 mile run in the Forest today I got to imagining things again (is this a sure sign?), what if they had a relay Ironman, lots of cash at stake, anything goes within the limits of the standard rules (ie. no drafting, no swim fins etc.), and we could pick anybody (lets use last seasons’ fitness levels).
“My” team: Swim; Grant Hackett, time: 44:00, Bike; Lance, time 4:10, Run; Paul Tergat, time 2:07
Throw in 2 minutes total for Transitions and you’ve got…bingo! 7:03
The interesting thing is that Faris would only be 20 minutes back after the swim and bike 49/4:25 vs. 44/4:10. (I think Lance would be quite a bit quicker than that) but it does show how close Ironman athletes are to world class times in the first two disciplines. Fatigue and body type seem to limit the run performance. Faris would lose more than twice the time to Tergat in the run alone. 2:54/2:07
Tergat’s 2:14:45 @ Athens might be a better indication of his performance on a hot IM course.
I thought Lance had some lower back problems. Do we know that he can go 4 hours in an aero position? That issue aside, I’d guess that he would have a somewhat bigger gap over the best cycling leg in an IM than you’re forecasting.
Swim: Thomas Lurz (FINA 2005 Open Water 5K World Champion) – 0:39:00 (that is his relative time for 3.8K based off his 5K time, so assume he might even go faster, although there would need to be a good draft pack at the front).
Bike: Jan Ullrich – 4:00 (I think Jan would do better in the heat than Lance, as we saw in 2003, and I also think his slower cadence might be an advantage over the longer duration race. I’d get him on one on the non-UCI legal Walsers, since he is comfy on that geometry).
Run: Stephano Baldini (Marathon WC and Athens Gold) – 2:09:00 (Baldini can run in the heat, no question, and is a proven big-race guy).
I’d be putting Kevin Dawson (3:22:45) or Michael Hutchinson (3:23:33) for 100miles in for the bike. Dawson has gone under 3:30 several times and yes, these are out and back, 100mile solo TT times.
