I’m signed up to do my first 70.3 in Oceanside in March and will be registering for the 2010 AZ IM since i’m volunteering this year for priority registration. I’ve done a bunch of sprints and a few olys a few years back and have been doing marathons for the past couple years. I’m a middle of the pack runner/ cyclist at about 3:45 marathons and about 19-20mph average on 50 mile rides at the moment and of course always working to improve. My question is what is a decent goal time I should shoot for in each? Just as breaking 4:00 is sort of a respectable benchmark for newer marathon runners, what would be an attainable decent benchmark time for a 70.3 and a 140.6?
Just go, have fun and make the cut offs. I spent too much time stressing out for my first one. I just work out on my own schedule now. I run when I want, I bike when I want and I swim when I want. It has resulted in much better times and loads more fun.
i know this sounds corny but racing the 70.3 and 140.6 distance are each their own beasts. i would honestly say that for your first half and full IM the best goal is to try and finish feeling 100% spent WITHOUT blowing up. Use whatever time you post as a benchmark for future races. I think a 4-hour marathon would translate into a 5:35ish half though. (35 minute swim, 3 hour bike, 2 hour run)
i posted some pretty terrible times for my first half and full IM, but proving to myself that i was capable of completing the distances was pretty awesome.
Looks to me like you have potential to come in around 11-11:30 in a full IM, and maybe around 5-5:15 in O’side based on your stand-alone marathon and bike pace. That, to me, is respectable.
depends 100 percent on the course. I did 4:45 i think for my first half in galveston with blowing up on the run. But the course is completely flat and i had 3 years OD training before it so getting the swim and the bike were cake, i just went out too hard on the run and was a bit undertrained. Oh well.
Take a look at your age group pick out the median time and try to shoot for over that.
I just did Oceanside this year as my first half, and I went in with some goals:
Finish the race
Finish under 6:00
Finish in 5:30
Based on my training, I feel I had the potential to reach #3, but I didn’t want to go in with expectations too high. So I decided my main goal would be to finish, then I would set an “easier” time goal, and make 5:30 my stretch goal.
Well…I made #1 at least. I was on pace to make my 5:30 goal, but a nagging achilles injury flared up on the run and I ended up walking a lot.
So, while you will be tempted to set a time goal, be sure that your main priority is finishing the race and having a good time. Anything else should come secondary (or tertiary) to that. For later races, you can then focus on beating your prior times.
thanks for the great advice guys! Yea my main priority is just to finish and have fun…but oddly enough…i always seem to have the most fun when I have a fast time! Anyone have any war stories of their first full IM? or any other 1/2 iron war stories?
i do. I did my first 70.3 with NO swim or bike training and posted a little over six hours (I was a sub 17 minute 5k runner at the time). I had no expectations and finishing was a great feeling. I used those times as bench marks for though and now I’m usually between 4:25 and 4:30 for my half-iron time.
on the flip side, i just did my first full ironman at kona a few weeks ago (picked up a spot at a half) and went in planning to bang out something between a 9:30 and 10:00. I completely melted out in the lava fields and by mile 80 of the bike felt the way I was supposed to feel at mile 25 of the run. I ended up going 11:16 and while I was out running my marathon I really had to think about WHY I was racing. I knew my shots of posting a good time were out of the question, but I stayed in out of respect for myself, a love for the sport, and to prove that I could finish 140.6 miles in one day under my own power. It was really cool to finish and like I posted above – completing the ironman distance is an amazing feeling for all first timers regardless of time. I was stoked to finish and didn’t consider the day a failure at all. I think it’s important not to let the clock dictate how you should feel about your performance until you have several long course races under your belt.
I think having goal times is good for planning your training and can be a good thing to keep you on pace on race day if you’re feeling good, but i guess my point is that having a goal time shouldn’t be the only thing you care about.
Well I have come to realize that you cannot really set a time goal. Their are many things that can happen that are out of your control and can effect the outcome of your race. You never know if you will go down on the bike, what the weather will be like, how many flats you will get…etc. I set a high goal of breaking 5 hours in my first HIM. I did not think about what could happen to not make that possible. I went into the race really confident and thought it would be really realistic to break 5 hours. Well my first HIM is possibly one of the hottest HIM/IM races to date, China 70.3 2009. So with the heat well over 100 degree’s I melted on the bike and the run. So I did not meet my time goal but came out of the race with other things that I did not think were possible. So I would not say a time goal is something to stay so focused on. I would say possibly set time goals for the swim, bike and run and then have a possiblity of what you could do off of those. But don’t be dissapointed if you fail on your total time. Either way you will benefit from the race and gain at a minimum a lot of experience and learn a lot about yourself. At Germany 70.3 this year I also went in wanting to break 5 hours. Once again something happened that was somewhat out of my control. I went down at mile 45 on the bike and got scraped up pretty bad as well as breaking my right radial. So I once again did not meet my time goal but still finished the race and learned a lot about myself that day.
FWIW- Before going into China I ran a 3:25 Marathon in October. In China I went 5:16 and in Germany I went 5:31. I then ran another marathon in August and went 3:11. I also have done an 8 mile TT @ 18:28 (flat out and back). And I swim MOP/BOP (35min @china/33min @ germany) So by the numbers I should be well under 5 hours. But shit happens so just remember some things are out of your control. Giving a go at breaking 5 hours at Clearwater so we will see what happens.
Simply stated…Crashed in Germany on 16Aug, broke right radial. Out for 6 weeks of swimming/biking (only could bike on the trainer, and thats depressing) and lost a lot of motivation. Got picked up to run for the USAFEurope team had 3 weeks notice and had run 64 miles 4 weeks leading up to the race. Had no goals going into it and just wanted to run faster than last year which was 3:25(my first marry). So basically I ran that 3:11 on my base mileage from throughout the year of training. The marathon came up last minute like I said and it was a free trip back to the states for me, airfare and hotel plus 9 days out of work with pay. So I could not turn down the opportunity. So yes I ran a 3:11:54 and my qualifying time is a 3:10:59, I am 23. You can go read more about it on my blog…Still a good experience and happy with PR’ing by 13 mins.
My 0.2c, maybe not answering your question directly but referring to my experience:
Background: no endurance background whatsoever, ran a couple of olys before deciding to test myself, not so much physically as mentally.
Skills: N/A, swim like a stone, definitely weak on the bike, and couldn’t train enough running in order to preserve my knees (read: I knew I’d eventually have to walk).
Training: I did train as much as I could, considering family life and body. And in the end, I was not even close to being satisfied with the training, neither with volume nor with efficiency.
So, for my 1st IM, I set 2 goals:
Be there at the start (ie not injured by training)
Pass the finish line
Results:
I was on the starting line.
I did cross the finish line (14h).
I enjoyed every single minute of it, with a big smile on my face (even though I went through very dark periods of thinking during the race…).
I signed up immediately for the next one.
I know myself a little bit better, both mentally and physically.
I’ve since gained some knowledge about how to plan my training and be better.
My point:
Aim at being on the starting line and cross the finish line. Don’t rush, your finishing time will be a bonus, and you’ll have a perfect time to beat on the next race!
Don’t listen to other people for setting your goals. Decent will be what you decide. What do you want your times to be? Make those your goals and then go for them. It can be done.
i agree with those folks who advise you ro set your own goals. Do dome training and longer stuff ad se what you think ou can do. My first half was done in my scond season of racing. I set a goal of 6 hours and just made it. While that seems slow now, at the time it was a pretty good accomplishment for me.
I’d do the same. The more you train and race, the faster you’ll get. But for your first, set a reasonable goal. Go out and do it. And don’t listen to the ST blokes who tell you to 4:25 or 5 is a 1st timer’s goal pace. 4:25 gets you to Clearwater. Just race your own race and have fun.
Why do you care what other people will think of your time? There are some people who will be impressed with a sub 14 hour IM and some that won’t be impressed by a sub 10 hour IM. Just do it for yourself to have fun.
I was in a pretty similar situation earlier this year, (3:29 PR marathon at the time), and did my first half in 5hrs 32 minutes. It was a pretty bold move doing a half IM on my part since I had zero swimming and biking experience until 4 months before the race. If I could do it again, I would have tried to pace myself better and just enjoy the day. Doing my second half on Sunday and first full next year and plan on doing just that, enjoying the day. In the short time I’ve been in the sport, I’ve already realized those distances take a lot of time and patience before you can become competitive. Don’t worry about your times just yet. Train hard and make race day your reward.
I’d say I was a similar ability level to you for my first HIM. I set a goal of 5:30 (30 swim, 3 hr bike, 2 hr run). Swim, no problem, Bike (2:47) felt a little spent, Run (2:21) Ended up having to walk a few miles. With transitions 5:42. Likely went out too hard on the bike for my ability at the time. But with no experience at that distance (and definitely under-trained) I had no idea. That time put me pretty much right at the midway point of the 1,500 finishers. Not stellar, but for first attempt I think it’s respectable.
As for an ironman, I’ve never done one but as a rough goal would be thrilled to finish under 13 hours.