Is it just me. The times from IMH on Saturday were unbelieveable. This to me is the untold story of this race. Was there anyone who did finish who did not set a PB/PR. Everey time barrier that I look at and I have to rub my eyes to see if it’s right. Check out the overall times/results at: http://www.sportstats.ca/res2005/kona2005.htm
50 men under 9:00 - that’s got to be a record
368 under 10:00 hours!
915 under 11:00 hours
1300 under 12:00 hours
and so on.
I know that I have been quick to commont here about how things are actually getting slower and slower at many IM races and I still believe that’s true, but at IMH this year, race times seemed to take a quantum leap forward. I attriubute this to a few things:
The weather was ideal. No wind and if you can handle the heat not a bad day to run as well. Conditions like this at IMH come along once every 10 years. I seem to recall that the last time it was like this was 93 or 96
The quality of qualfying athletes is getting higher. This must be that case as the WTC keeps spreading IM races around the world but the numbers of spaces at IMH remains roughly the same. So it IS getting harder and harder to get in.
Many more people are starting to get it - what this race is all about. With apologies to the Slowtwitch crowd, It’s NOT about hammering the bike. It’s about pacing yourself on the bike to be able to run strongly and to the best of your abilities.
“”“”““Many more people are starting to get it - what this race is all about. With apologies to the Slowtwitch crowd, It’s NOT about hammering the bike. It’s about pacing yourself on the bike to be able to run strongly and to the best of your abilities.””“”“”“”
**3. Many more people are starting to get it - what this race is all about. With apologies to the Slowtwitch crowd, It’s NOT about hammering the bike. It’s about pacing yourself on the bike to be able to run strongly and to the best of your abilities. **
You’ve stolen my mantra for November 5—my day is being built around getting to the marathon fresh enough to run a decent time, as opposed to focusing on an overall goal or even intermediate time splits. Pace out the effort so that the marathon can be a run as opposed to a run/shuffle/cramp/walk/shuffle/sprint the last 50 meters.
One of the things that struck me about the race was that a friend of mine was within 6 min of his qualifying time at Ironman Florida. He went 9:29 in PCB and 9:35 in Kona and that includes a 4 min slower non-wetsuit swim. I know that it is difficult to compare race courses but Hawaii is a much more difficult course and the fact that the Hawaii time was that close to his Florida shows how ideal the conditions were.
Last year I was 10:12 for 149th overall. This year that would have put me around 483rd. The Hawaii course is a very fast course if there aren’t any winds and you can handle hot weather. The pavement for the bike ride is pristine so you can really go (I would rather ride a rolling course like Kona with awesome pavement than a very flat one like IMFL with some patchy sections since the variety will help your body come run time). I also think that having so many other fast people around will definitely force you to bring out your best if you’re ready. Also, without the winds you can easily ride 30-35 minutes faster at the same effort which will leave you with way more in the tank for a fast run both nutrition-wise and energy-wise. I really wish that I had been there in the same shape that I was in last year!
My sister and several of her friends all had IM PRs, Hawaii PRs, Bike PRs, Run PRs…you name it - incredible. She claimed that anyone finsishing over 15 hrs in these ideal conditions would have missed either the bike or 17 hr cutoff in recent years.
I take the fast age group times as anecdotal evidence of heavy doping by the pros in the mid 90’s. Ideal conditions, 15 age group records broken, lots of pros at the top of their games and still no one comes within 10minutes of the pro record. I think its a good thing, possible evidence that the doping controls are actually working.
Fleck, actually on point 3, it is pacing the bike AND first 13 miles of the run. Witness the Natasha Badman close on Michelle Jones. You gotta get to mile 13 so that you can RUN the second half, not shuffle.
We all know that the overall quality of the field has been improving. You know that just by how hard it is to qualify. They just needed a good wind year to finally pop fast times across the board.
Fleck… am I the only one who didn’t do an IM PR at IMH ?..crap…
The conditions were very good on the ride, but I was getting hammered by the heat coming back from Hawi since there was a cross tailwind. I know that sounds like whining at a blessing, but I had not acclimitised to the heat well or something.
Yes, Kona would be a fast course on a windless cool day. Huge amounts of drafting on the bike back where I was.
The heat in Kona is something else. I thought I was OK in the heat until I got to IMH. I remember sitting in the change tent after the bike and putting my shoes on when I was there in 1993. The sweat was just pouring out of my body at that point like rain!! It was an extraordinary experience. I was trying to figure out how I was going to run 26 miles in conditions like that. And like this year, '93 was a gift year!
I take the fast age group times as anecdotal evidence of heavy doping by the pros in the mid 90’s. Ideal conditions, 15 age group records broken, lots of pros at the top of their games and still no one comes within 10minutes of the pro record. I think its a good thing, possible evidence that the doping controls are actually working.
Look at the age group records…most of them are now from 2005, if that’s any indication on the conditions of both the weather and the competitors.
Amazing day, no matter how you look at it…which can pretty much be said about most any Ironman. There’s always stories that make you go “wow”…in both a good and bad way.
How come people never mention when you have a fast bike course, you are spending less time on the bike which leads to faster run times?
I’m wondering why the run times weren’t faster this year. For most of the pros the ride was almost 30 minuets faster than last year at probably the same effort, which minutes 30 minutes less of pushing on the bike and less tired legs. How come the run times weren’t faster?
My buddy Barry Dmitruk passed on his Kona Slot at LP. Every year he goes to Kona, it is hurricane force wind. He was sitting at home hitting reload on Ironmanlive and almost crying that the wind was so calm. He’s never had a good wind day in Kona.
Barry qualfied for Kona 2006 like you at Wisconsin, so you can be guaranteed that next year the winds are going to be 30 mph with 50 mph crosswind gusts, with the wind direction changing just as the bulk of the racers reach Hawi.
