Swim, Bike, Run time differences at elite level

No, I don’t have that available for USAT events. I have it for ITU because the results are set-up in a such a way that copying into Excel is very easy then take 5 minutes of time to enter some formulas, then out comes the data! Plus, I’m up here north of the border so am not particularly interested in USAT events!

Here is my comment on your logic (I think you are looking for something that’s not there)

For non-drafting events, the assumption is the overall goal is to have the lowest total time (swim + Bike + Run). That will result in the highest possible placing.

You need to structure your training in such a way that minimizes your total time given the constraint of available time to train.

The best combination would be based on your “potential time improvement” / “time unit of training” for each discipline.

For example, a triathlete that has come from a run background (i.e. 80-100+km/week for many years) may have PB’s of 37:00 for the 1500m swim, and 33:00 for 10km run.

Using the extreme cases, and restricting to two disciplines, if he had 6 hours per week to train:

Option (A):
Swim 3 hours per week, Run 3 hours per week

  • 10 minute improvement in swim time would not be surprising
  • no improvement in running.
  • Overall drop of 10:00

Option (B):
Swim 30 minutes per week, run 5.5 hours

  • much less improvement in the water
  • still only minimal change in run performance
  • Overall minimal change

Clearly, option (A) makes the best use of the athlete’s training time with a goal of improving overall total time (and placing). Take this extreme example and apply to other case and you will see that this information can’t be gained by analyzing race results (or percentiles). It is very specific to each athlete’s background.

Dan

*This just proves that the swim needs to be longer in all triathlon distances. *
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The only deterring factor here is that almost no one I meet wants the swim to be longer. In fact, I would guess most would prefer a shorter swim without cut-off temperatures for wetsuits. This way their meager swimming will be sufficient to get them throught the “wetting down” and out on the bike course.

Chad

Those people just need to HTFU.

Those people just need to HTFU.
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Why? We all just do this for fun anyway, so if some people want the swim to be a shorter portion of triathlon then who is to say they are wrong. Ironman and Half-ironman are wildly popular right now and the swim there is the least significant of any standard tri distance.

Chad

ie…focus on your limiters
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