How fast do you think a Michael Phelps could swim @ Kona?

As far as his swim time, i don’t think it would be that crazy. He would have to win to help with marketing/image/fans. He would show his doninance in the water, but I think he would be smart enough to not go all out, and pace for the bike/run.

Sadly, he would get chased down on the bike, and fall back further in the run. But for year one, the race organizers and sponsors would get their headlines, and all would be happy. $$$

Don’t forget how he raced against that shark on the TV special. Don’t count him out at anything in the water (unless he is up against Shaq)!

I think he would do great in the water, and come out well ahead, but i also think he would not put down his max effort in the watter as presumably he would not want to embarass himself in the rest of the tri. Thus, i think he would pace the swim, even if he dominated it.

Agreed, one big thing being missed here is, Phelps is without a doubt a one of the greatest swimmers, but he is not a DISTANCE swimmer, they are different cats, he still would he crush 99% of triathletes, but great distance swimmers would beat him handily in a full 2.4 mile swim, and as stated swimming in open water takes some adjustments to stroke speed and sighting skills. Just like the worlds fastest half miler would have a difficult time keeping up with the best 1/2 marathon or marathoners. Yes his stroke would be crazy efficient, yes he would be fast, but he is not a distance swimmer, nor trained for open water. Connor Yaeger and a lot others are faster than Phelps at the 1500 and beyond. Katie Ledecky is a phenom and at the top from the 200 to 1500, but no man has come close to that. Just my 2 cents

You can’t really say that because Phelps never swam distance free at his peak.

Anyone who was a gold medalist at the 200 free AND the 400IM would be pretty formidable over 1500m

400IM ~ 4 min
4000 Individual Pursuit ~ 4+ min

If Bradley Wiggins can win Olympic gold in the pursuit and win the TdF don’t we all think that Phelps’ energy system scales from 400IM to 3800m…AND Phelps is an IM swimmer (including fly), which means he will be awesome in the surf in Kona…forget about walls, the guy will just do a modified 1 arm fly in the surf and toast everyone all time including Hacket-Thorpe etc.

There’s surf in Kona?

There’s surf in Kona? //

Actually when we had the race in February the first 2 years, there was some surf. One of the reasons they moved it to October. If you go to Waimea bay in the summer it is a lake, but looks out on big winter swells!! The Kona break actually breaks more often than Waimea, I remember one practice day when it was about 6ft and all the lemmings out practicing got washed into the restaurant rocks, it was a bloodbath. Hard enough for a seasoned surfer to navigate that jagged lava on the shoreline, a panicked triathlete has no chance.

And when you look out and think where the hell does a wave break in that calm bay, it is right outside the course just outside the pier. A very nice peak pops up there when it gets bigger, and rolls all they way into the Kona Inn. We all took our boards over there those first couple years, tons of great breaks all up and down the alli drive coastline in the winter…

I know. I was teasing. The conditions that Kona are raced under are usually fairly easy for an open water swim.

And if the race was still in Waikiki you could probably have a quarter of the athletes not be able to finish the swim.

Always good to hear from you.

Tim

You can’t really say that because Phelps never swam distance free at his peak.

Anyone who was a gold medalist at the 200 free AND the 400IM would be pretty formidable over 1500m

Not to mention… he may race shorter distances, but I’m fairly certain he had plenty of longer, 3-5km swims in training under his belt. The dude glides through the water with hardly any effort… I bet he could swim 2.4miles fairly easily. At a hard effort… I think he can manage. ; )

You can’t really say that because Phelps never swam distance free at his peak.
Anyone who was a gold medalist at the 200 free AND the 400IM would be pretty formidable over 1500m

Not to mention… he may race shorter distances, but I’m fairly certain he had plenty of longer, 3-5km swims in training under his belt. The dude glides through the water with hardly any effort… I bet he could swim 2.4miles fairly easily. At a hard effort… I think he can manage. ; )

Back around 2005, MP went 46:34 for 5000 yd in practice, or 39:21 for 4225 yd in the SCY pool, and this was just one random day in practice. :slight_smile:

This

400m IM to 3.8km roughly translates to a miler running the 15k. I’m sure the Ingebrigtsens, for example, could run a very fast 15k just off 1500m training. With some specific training they could go even faster.

I’m not saying Phelps would be the fastest ironman swimmer. But he would be in another galaxy compared to the normal pro Tri times.

Btw. the original question was how fast someone like Michael Phelps could go at Kona. There was no claim that he would be the fastest.

Back around 2005, MP went 46:34 for 5000 yd in practice, or 39:21 for 4225 yd in the SCY pool, and this was just one random day in practice. :slight_smile:
Just some random day… that’s amazing.

I think he’d be crazy fast… could he hold :55/100yds for 2.4miles? I’m not a swim expert but I view MP as one of those “once in a lifetime” kind of athletes. He had the mental side of it, physical gifts, etc. to be the absolute best at what he did.

It may be quite far out of his specialty but Phelps is the greatest all around swimmer to ever live, and the greatest Olympian of all time. He’d be out before he even got wet…

Back around 2005, MP went 46:34 for 5000 yd in practice, or 39:21 for 4225 yd in the SCY pool, and this was just one random day in practice. :slight_smile:
Just some random day… that’s amazing.

I think he’d be crazy fast… could he hold :55/100yds for 2.4miles? I’m not a swim expert but I view MP as one of those “once in a lifetime” kind of athletes. He had the mental side of it, physical gifts, etc. to be the absolute best at what he did.

46:34/50 ==> 55.9/100 yd and 5000 yd/1760 yd/mi = 2.84 miles, so he held 55.9 for 2.84 mi in the 25 yd pool. I’d guess that if tapered he could easily hold 55.0 for 5000 yd in the pool. In OW, he’d be about 3 sec/100 yd slower as he’d lose 0.75 sec per turn, so about 58 sec/100 yd; 2.4 mi1760 yd/mi = 4225 yd or 42.25 100s. 58 sec/100 yd42.25 100s = 2451 sec/60 sec/min = 40:51 for 2.4 mi in flat, calm OW.

This

400m IM to 3.8km roughly translates to a miler running the 15k. I’m sure the Ingebrigtsens, for example, could run a very fast 15k just off 1500m training. With some specific training they could go even faster.

I’m not saying Phelps would be the fastest ironman swimmer. But he would be in another galaxy compared to the normal pro Tri times.

Btw. the original question was how fast someone like Michael Phelps could go at Kona. There was no claim that he would be the fastest.

It’s not exactly the same even though duration is similar.

Running is weight bearing and swimming is non weight bearing. So there is less of a weight bearing penalty moving from 400IM to 1500m in the swim (advantage Phelps) vs a heavier miler (there have been some sub 4 miles who are no waif thin, who would not scale so well to 15km).

** will also definitively state the phelps, or hacket, or larson, or vendt can’t finish an ironman… sport specificity buys you alot, but freak of nature endurance in 3 diciplines is not one of those things.**

That’s just crazy talk. You honestly don’t believe that those guys can’t finish an Ironman??

agree, of course they could, their capacity for endurance sports is great. I mean, guys semi out of shape finish it
Beeing fast probably not but probably like a good amatuer

Also, you have to take into account that swimmers train to race a lot more events than a runner. Phelps swam 8 events (prelims, semis and finals for a lot of them) in Beijing and had to train to recover from all of them. That takes a lot of training in the pool to do. Certainly far beyond what it would take to race in one event.

Tim

Hay mark I bet you r a massive try hard never won a thing who talks to his mates about who would win Super man or batman you try hard.americans suck in surf
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Get a life nerds David Hasselhoff is best of all time and Americans can’t swim in ocean .so suck on that it’s embarrassing
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Yanks should stay out of the ocean

You dragged up a nearly 13 year old thread just to brag about yourself? How embarrassing for you.

http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-4CNVYFbRSRw/T7P5M8gH25I/AAAAAAAABNA/zNmXXM3DUJY/s1600/cheryl-cole.gif
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I don’t have to wait look at scoreboard

To be fair, he posted twice, so an average of 6.5 years.#true and he is the goat so maybe gets some respect
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You can’t really say that because Phelps never swam distance free at his peak.

Anyone who was a gold medalist at the 200 free AND the 400IM would be pretty formidable over 1500m

Not to mention… he may race shorter distances, but I’m fairly certain he had plenty of longer, 3-5km swims in training under his belt. The dude glides through the water with hardly any effort… I bet he could swim 2.4miles fairly easily. At a hard effort… I think he can manage. ; )

I just think about how much he probably swam during the trials and Beijing. Prelims, semis, finals plus warm up and cool down, twice daily for a week.

Anyway, he looks like a triathlete now…very skinny! If he can run, it would be interesting to see what his engine could do, but the swim is way too short to be a size able advantage.