I just completed my first IM and I’m finding myself thinking down the road at qualifying for Kona. I’m thinking 2-4 year range; however, I’m not sure how to get from where I’m at to what it takes to qualify and if it is realistic. Starting Point
Male - 37yrs old
3 years participating in triathlons - no sbr background
First IM - Louisville 12:10 total, 1:24 swim, 5:42 bike, 4:49 run
What should I focus on over the next couple of years? Should I switch to shorter events and work on speed? Stay with IM distance to get better at that distance? Does it matter? Is 2-4 years realistic consider my starting point?? Other tips, thoughts, considerations???
Thanks!!
Mark
I would focus on swimming faster, biking faster, and running faster… you seem about equally poor at all 3. How would anybody know how long it would take you? Maybe 2 years maybe never, who knows. I am sure matt reed could beat you at a sprint so if you are faster shorter you should be faster longer as long as you do the training for it generally speaking.
i think your biggest concern should be running (or running off the bike), followed by swimming.
your ride is certainly not going to set the world on fire, but i would say it’s pretty solid, and getting into ‘kona qualifying’ range - as long as you can close with a strong marathon.
i think, realistically, you need to aim for 10 hours for a slot. that may not get it in some races, and it may smoke other races, but it seems like that’s a fair ballpark for the under 40 club.
i will tell you that if you can get your swim under 1:10 (1:05 is even better), you will deal with a lot less traffic on the bike - especially near the start. i feel this is helpful in allowing you to set your pace, and stick to your plan. packs of riders, passing, getting passed, etc makes it hard to settle in, IMO.
but mostly, run. then, run some more. with your current swim/bike, you would need a 3 hour marathon to hit 10. that would be tough, but, as you keep training, you will shave time off the swim and bike as well, making you marathon goal more reasonable.
keep at it, have fun, and build slowly and carefully with the running. two weeks of 30 miles and healthy is better than one week of 60 miles and tendonitis.
I am certainly not a pro or a coach…so my advice will be brief. You obviously need to improve in the water. I think that will come if you join a Masters club or invest in lessons…etc.
The biggest thing you need to do is become a better runner though. And personally from experience the best way to do that is to increase your consistancy. Meaning you need to be running somewhere b/w 5-7 days a week (avg time of 50-60min). So my advice is to do a year with a heavy run focus…do lots of half marathons and marathons. BUt still continue to throw in the TRI training…then in the second year go more into TRI training but keep the focus on the run.
Are you using HR monitors? Powermeters? If not…i would strongly consider using them (they would help you in both your biking and running).
Also how many hours a week were you training for your first IM? You need to be in the 15-20hours range and again it needs to be consistant. Not just one BIG week…but several.
Important info that might be helpfull (to an extent)…
Work and family commitments? Time you realistically have to spend per week for training?
In your agegroup it will not get any easier any time soon. Depending on the course you will probably need a time in the 9:30-9:50 range. Look at the splits from the top 8 in your agegroup for an idea of what you will need to do.
funny people say you need to work on your run, but like others said more info is needed. If he biked to hard this would have effected his run, stomach issues…and so on…
Dude, people like Dev Paul have been trying for like 20 years and he only made Kona once! I think he has more talent than you. But keep trying, maybe one day
here are some tips
Train consistently, all year, no extended breaks, repeat day after day, week after week, year after year after year…
work on your weaknesses
Train harder, smarter and more often than your competitors. When you are not training your competitors are
Outside of just putting in massive volumes in all 3 sports and hiring a coach, I would look into nutrition, and if you are over 10% bodyfat lose some weight.
I don’t know what you need to do per se, since we know so little about you, but what I can tell you is that in your AG your going to need to go around 10:00 to get there. To give yourself a realistic change of achieving that you need to be able to swim around 60 minutes and you need to be able to run 3:30 off the bike. You see a fair amount of qualifiers that look +/- 60/5:30/3:30 including transitions.
Good luck. I think you know you are fighting an uphill battle. However, I like the ambition. Hire Desert Dude sooner rather than later.
My advice is to forget about Kona as an immediate goal. 2-4 years sounds about right if train consistently with pretty good volume. There are a lot of ifs in there so don’t think about Kona while the road is so long.
Why not big an Oly race time goal and try to hit that in the next year? Much more manageable goal.
OK - new advice - just train a lot and really try to enjoy the ride. If you don’t enjoy the ride, then you won’t do the training, and if you don’t do the training, you’ll never get anywhere.
Agree with most of the advice except for the lottery comment. One other item you may want to consider is train with faster people. Like someone said masters swimming will push you. Find some group rides and go hang on. You may and should get dropped at first but do not get discouraged. Keep coming back and eventually you will hang with the group. Complement the group rides with some solo rides as you can get a false sense of security that you are faster then you are when you are drafting. But the group impact to the ride will push you and teach you to go faster.
Same for running find a group doing some long week end runs and push yourself.
What additional info would help?
I’m 5’8, 165lbs - according to IM weigh in 7.2%bf
I’m enjoying the ride for sure. I realize that I’m an infant in the sport and willing to be patient and put in the time required.
For IMKY - I was consistently in the 12-13 hr training weeks. I think max was 15 hrs. I have the full support of my wife and I don’t have any kids. Job can be a factor, but generally 45-50hr weeks.
Training totals leading up to imky were 3100 miles riding, 1000 miles running, 150,000 meters swimming. I use a HR monitor, but likely not properly.
I don’t want a lottery slot. I want to find out if I have what it takes to qualify.
I’m 10 years up on you but have seen IM improvements since my first: 12:2x to 10:2x over 4 years.
For me an eveyother year IM, with between years aimed at shorter local races, speed and some single sport focus periods has brought the times down and kept me motivated.
My background is running/marathons so have seen smaller drops in times there but I still see further gains ahead on the bike and swim.
If you can get one IM discipline into “qualify” range first, then you have something to build upon.
I went from 10:44 to 9:59 at IMLP after 5 years of IM racing. I’ve learned that the most important things are consistency, recovery, and a good coach. A power meter helped significantly as well. The base developed by years of Ironman racing helped year over year. I would try and focus on doing Ironman races to get the experience and base. Do the sprints as part of fun and a workout.
I know a guy that went from 13:xx to 10:3x now after years of focus and dedication to racing Ironman and he’s minutes within getting a Kona slot. Never let anyone tell you that you can’t do it.
Give us some single-sport benchmarks:
1000yd (or meter) time trial swim time?
40K bike TT time? (or whatever distance)
10K/half marathon run? (5K in a pinch)
The other comment I would make is that if you are not willing to become a serious student of the sport and its components, you need to buy the expertise. If you do so, shop wisely!
