What is your fastest 1/2 IM time and what is your fastest IM time (include your splits)? What races did you achieve these PRs, what was your age, and how long had you been in the sport? What was the length of your training program for each and what kind of mileage were you putting in?
too many questions.
you’re making my hair hurt.
Tinley once said that 2xhalf Ironman + 1 hour to get your full. Personally as many of my training buddies and I have contempleted this question, we find it is more like 2xHalf Ironman + 1.5 hours. I think at the pro level, you can add 60 min For most of us, it is typically >90 min assuming that the courses for the half and full are similar. Personally, on a quick course I’m beteen 4:25 and 4:40. My fastest Ironman times are in the 10:25 to 10:45 range so the double plus 90 min pretty well holds for me.
4:35 ('02)/9:48 ('99)
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You are a stud. I guess I am just lame at Ironman (2003, 4:26 half, 12:30 blowup in Ironman) :-). Did you slow down between 99 and 02 (ie, I’d expect your half to be sub 4:20) or were the courses very differnt in difficulty 
Go Long dude, you have definitely got sub 10 in you.
4:20 fast course / 9:19 med fast course. / 9:45 hot but fast Kona.
Actually, I’ve become chronically injured since '99. The courses were quite similar, the half was Eagleman, and the Full was Florida. My fastest IM since '02, was Florida in '02, in 10:21. I should have been much faster at Eagleman in '99, but I really hadn’t trained properly. Would like to go back and give it another try.
Diamond Adam, I’ve done ~ 20 half Ironmans in the 4:22 (PB) to 4:40 range and ten Ironmans in the 10:25 to 10:59 range. The 12:30 was a big “outlier”. In a sense I have given up on trying to go fast at Ironman. I seem to go better at the shorter stuff and over 14 years I’ve tried every training approch in the book (mega hours, moderate hours and low hours with high intensity). Actually, my best ironmans were when I just did them off sub 14 hours per week short course racing :-).
I may break down and race Ironman again after I turn 40 next October…of course, that means that I have to qualify for Ironman Florida or wait till 2006.
That’s probably true for AGers, but there are many pros who go around 4:00 hours for a HIM, but are also in the 8:15-8:45 full IM range.
Freestyle, I specifically stated that the x2+60 min is more along the likes of pros. We are talking about age groupers. You are likely correct that many pros go x2+30min, but that is why they are pros.
Good point everyone is different and I think you can get a lot of enjoyment from a half by being able to actually “race”. Not too many people can actually say that they race an Ironman.
30 half and full races combined - that is an impressive achievement (hows the knees? …the knees ok?)
I am tired just thinking about it.
Blackwater Eagleman - 4:17
Ironman Florida - 9:47
or
Ralph’s - 4:34
Ironman New Zealand - 10:15
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That’s exactly what I’ve been thinking about for a while. IM just doesn’t appeal to me right now because you don’t really ‘race’. It’s more like ‘if-you-are-good-then-steady-pace-all-day’.
I think HIM is closer to Olympic distance pace-wise than it is to a full IM. Not a lot of people can bike at over 40 kph in a full IM or run at 3:25/k pace…
Olympic distance is still the best though… only about two more years until I do my first (I hope)!
Since so many were so kind to post on my sub 11 thread - I’ll give some info. Only did one 1/2 and one IM. Half at Ralphs was 5:15 (33.5/2:48/1:47 + T time) CDA 11:42 (1:13/5:38/4:42 + T time). I make a good case for waiting longer to get into IMs. Longest race prior was Xterra at Tahoe. Running endurance was a huge limiter and I developed an injury on the IM run. I basically trainined to finish the run (25-35 miles per week). All that said I was close to the 2x+60 min rough guideline.
In 2003 I did a HIM and an IM that were both very flat. The problem is that the swim was cancelled (Half IM Utah) in the first race, but FWIW…
the HIM was in 3:46 with 2:19 bike and 1:27 run + T times. This was done in May 03.
IMFL in November 2003 of 9:20:xx with about 60:xx swim, 5:02 bike (did get a flat) and 3:10 marathon.
If the swim had been done I might have gone 4:20. so I came in at 2x + 40 minutes.
I probably averaged an extra three to five hours/week leading into IMFL. I would say I averaged 22-25 hours leading into Utah (biggest abour 30), and I averaged 25-27 (biggest about 33) leading into Florida.
Diamond Adam. Those totals are spead over 20 years of racing (I started when I was 19). The knees are fine from triathlon.
My right knee is a bit messed up right now from an injury in an XC ski race. I was going down a super steep downhill at over 60 kph, chasing my XC ski idol Pierre Harvey this past winter. Pierre is the only Canadian to ever win a world cup, was 7th at the Calgary Olympics, 100K TT member at the in 1984 Olympic games for cycling, 1:50 Olympic tri triathlete in the 80’s…all round total stud still hauling ass at close to 50 years old. Anyway, I was closing on Pierre who was just “touring” and caught an edge in a snowmobile rut and went flying into the ditch and banged up my right knee. I was able to race tris this season with it, but it was not 100%. I am hoping that it will be ready for XC ski race season this winter as well as a whack of half Ironman races next year.
So yes, my knee hurts, but not due to tris.
Dev
My impetus for asking this question is that I’m planning on doing my first IM (CDA) in June and I think this will be my only opportunity to make a push for a Kona slot for several years (my wife wants kids). I’m 36 and I’ve only been in the sport for 2 years so i don’t have a huge foundation from which I’m launching this effort. I’ve done 2 Half IMs (both Big Kahuna in Santa Cruz) and my PR is 4:34. I do think I can go faster in 1/2 IM since all of last year i was nursing a repaired ACL and meniscus (Oct. 03 surgery) and was never right with my run training. I think with the proper training program, nutrition, etc. I’ll be on the fence in regards to qualifying unless I have a melt down (certainly possible since it’s my first full). I think it’s going to take a 10:20 at CDA so I will need to fall in the 2x+10-15minutes.
Ah ha that guy Pierre sounds like a total legend. I love hearing about those guys that keep have been awesome athletes and never stop.
He would be a rare breed that has done both the winter and summer olympics. Funnily enough in my home town in NZ there reside Chris Nicholson the only NZ male to do it. 100k TT cycling in Barcelona and 94 short track speed skating in Lillehammer. He went on to do the Taupo Ironman in 2000 and was just outside the top 10 in the NZ road race champs just recently.
Also originally from my home town Greg Fraine - Olympic 100 k TT in Seoul 88. 2003 Taupo Ironman 8:57,** in windy conditions at 41 years of age working full time!
I think it’s interesting that your best IM’s came when you were doing shorter/faster stuff. I realize the longer/slower stuff may have helped your shorter/faster training to “take”. Or, maybe not…who knows for 100% certain? This fall was my only IM, and I stuck to the longer/slower training all summer, but, at much lower number of hours per week than the “real” Iron Athletes recommend. I had a good result, but, I really didn’t like the training. I’m going back to the shorter/faster stuff, and, if I do another IM next fall, I think I’ll do at least as well using this training regimen. At least I’ll enjoy the training more! Hope your knee comes around 100% real soon…
If you are only 2 years in the sport then you can probably still make a lot of improvement over the prior year working off of this year’s base. My buddy did a self coached 10:01 at CDA this year and it was his first (incredibly gifted athlete). Unfortunately he missed Kona by 2 min. Think his 1/2 time from 2003 was right around yours (at Vineman) so 2x+50 - (not sure where you got 2x+15 - that would put you at 9:30).