Spouses need to be careful watching online . . . I had a race with an up hill in the rain T1 exit that I took VERY carefully and the 1st timing mat (very early) showed me at 12 mph . . . my wife turned off the computer since I bonked so early. When she checked back I was 1st off the bike and she wondered what the heck happened!!
yeah, my wife said she was trying to scream at me through the computer and the internet to get me to pace properly and fuel since only she knew I was in the very pointy end of a KQ slot…which I clearly had not clue about and I screwed up my own execution on the “ITT aspect of the rolling start”. Honestly it was the race that I let get away out of my own stupidity as it was physically in my realm of capability as demonstrated earlier in the year. But even with a mass start, I would not have known who was even in my age group and where they were other than the few I passed or got passed by.
Anyway, to summarize for Fleck’s friend…seed in the swim where you will swim…bike-run pace for an ITT and never let the throttle off on the run to the end. There are always many people outside your age group to keep you motivated. Fleck knows, he would be trying to to beat Lisa Bentley, clearly outside his division !!!
Sorry man, its not a stupid question at all. For someone (his friend) who has only done mass starts (how races should be run) I think its a pretty valid question, especially given the goals he may have. Your ‘go as hard you can’ or ‘it doesn’t make any difference’ inference is a bit simplistic.
Thank you Kiwi for seeing the bigger picture here.
Indeed, the go as hard-as-you-can, is obvious if it’s some form of non-mass start either TT, rolling etc . . my personal feeling is that it takes something away from it all. There is a different dynamic and frisson at play, when you are truly racing shoulder to shoulder, and/or can see the competition on the course. With apologies for sounding elitist, but It’s hard for those, who have never been at the pointy end of a race, to understand this.
I know why IRONMAN went to this, and overall, I trust that it’s the best thing for them to do - but for some, it does take away from the experience I mentioned above.