Just wondering about this as I have 2 friends doing IMLP today - one is in her 40s, no kids, and her husband makes very good money so she dosen’t have to work. She spends a lot of time training, has a personal trainer, and cycling and swimming coaches. She wants to qualify for Kona and it looks like she is doing very well.
My other friend is in her 30s, has 2 kids and a full-time job so she fits in training as best as she can. She’s a couple of hours behind my other friend but her goal is just to finish.
So for AGers, how much is placing in an IM a function of having more time and resources to train? Could most triathletes have a shot at qualifying if they had unlimited time, resources, access to coaches, etc.?
No. Provided unlimited resources, not anyone would qualify. Running and swimming is cheap. If you are on this forum, a mid range bike is fine. It is mental resources and genetics that you need.
I’d be willing to bet that the first woman gets an overuse injury or gets sick because her hack coaches are in over their heads, and the second fails to qualify because of any number of reasons primarilly because mentally she can’t justify the balancing her selfish personal indulgence in a fruitless quest at the sacrifice of raising her children as most resonsible parents do.
also remember that a kona slot often lands very deep, depending on who is racing, who wants a slot, who can’t take the slot, etc. so there is that working in favor of the persistant racer.
with DESIRE and DISCIPLINE in addition to time and other resources then I would say that 5 years of careful and persistent and injury-free training and living could get the vast majority of AGers to Kona. But with DESIRE and DISCIPLINE a great number of AGers can and will get to Kona within 5 years even with limited time and resources (including me and Konaby2008)
I think those considerations would reasonably expand the band of people who could qualify but not exponentially. To some extent it would depend on your individual circumstances. Consider a male in the 30 - 34 AG. Two years ago he could run 10:20 ish and qualify. At IMCDA I believe the first 12 guys in 30 - 34 went sub-10. To go sub 10 (more like 9:45 to qualify) you need to more than a great training regiment. If you are a 40 - 44 year old female, I think your circumstance would be all together different.
Just 'dem pesky facts. I should amend my answer to say that if someone manages to stay healthy well into their senility they would more likely than not qualify for Kona because they’ll be the only ones trying. How is that for some positivity?
Anyone with the time, desire, work ethic and focus can go to Kona.
So true, so true. A quick check of expedia indicates you can travel roundtrip from San Francisco for a mere $700ish depending on how flexible you can be with your flights.
But I forget how many people actually believe Gordo is just a regular guy and genetics have nothing to do with his success…
gordo has lots of talent, but i can tell you that what you take away from living and training with the fellow is all about sustained and relentless desire & focus & commitment. He once told me that for the 6 or so month build leading up to one of his breakthrough IMs he left the house 3 times for reasons not related to the goal of being as fast as he could be in Penticton. I had no trouble believing him. How many of us can say that about our commitment to excel? But in any event he is an IM elite; a different animal from the would-be Kona qualifier.
So lets talk about the natural talent - desire matrix. What we want to know is, assuming supreme desire remains constant (a big if) over a span of years (5, 10, 15…) what level of natural talent is required to get a kona slot?
Certainly highly talented men & women can and do go to Kona, maybe sometimes even with little or no desire (although you ain’t gonna win if you don’t want it bad). How about moderately talented men & women? I would say that most if not all moderately talented people who are sufficiently young* can get to Kona with enough time and desire. For a man I am talking about 5-10 years to get kona worthy splits in the range of 55-1:05/5:30-6/3:30-345.
Yes that does leave the “completely fucked in the gene pool” pool but I tend to think this is a relatively small category that certainly does not include any IM finisher, and is always accompanied by an acute lack of desire to excel (exhibit A - 90% of diners at your local Mickey D.)
this is an important caveat. i do believe you can leave it too late to be able to realize your full athletic potential. But don’t tell Sister Buder that.
Just wondering about this as I have 2 friends doing IMLP today - one is in her 40s, no kids, and her husband makes very good money so she dosen’t have to work. She spends a lot of time training, has a personal trainer, and cycling and swimming coaches. She wants to qualify for Kona and it looks like she is doing very well.
My other friend is in her 30s, has 2 kids and a full-time job so she fits in training as best as she can. She’s a couple of hours behind my other friend but her goal is just to finish.
So for AGers, how much is placing in an IM a function of having more time and resources to train? Could most triathletes have a shot at qualifying if they had unlimited time, resources, access to coaches, etc.?
No, one also needs to be properly motivated to do the necessary hard work. Just putting in the time and buying the gadgets won’t get you there.
A real life example. I train with 2 guys, fulltime. We are all lucky enough to be able to do this for a few years.
The one guy has some natural talent and got a slot in his 2nd race. He came to triathlon after being inactive for most of the previous 10 years. He had to loose 15kgs and start very slowly. So from couch potato to Kona in less then 2 years.
The other has done 3 IM races and is nowhere near qualifying. This is after training fulltime for 3 years following a sound program and putting in between 14 and 24hrs a week. He also came from a marathon running background prior to the IM focus. This guy will not qualify no matter what he does. The exception will be if he keeps going until he is 70 and gets the slot because he is the only one in that age category.
“The other has done 3 IM races and is nowhere near qualifying. This is after training fulltime for 3 years following a sound program and putting in between 14 and 24hrs a week.”
That is a very interesting case study. Can you elaborate? e.g., how old, what races, what training regimen (coached?), what finishing times & splits, what stand alone mary PB.
Hard to believe someone would be willing to train as you say consistently for 14-24hpw for 3 years with no progress and hopeless result. Surely he must be seeing dramatic improvement, even if at present (only 3 years down the road) he remains far from kona.
He is 42. Has run just under 3hrs for a marathon and 4.30 for a tough 56km race. I would guess he could run a 3.10 stand alone now. IM Germany 2 times and Austria once. Times were about 13.30, 11.15 and 11.30.
He follows a very similar plan to my other training buddy who went 9.32 in Austria after less then 2 years in the sport. The plan they follow is along the lines that G suggests - lots of AeT with some race specific intensity and strength work.
The difference between the 2 guys is - the guy who got the Kona slot (A) has some talent, the other guy (B) is limited. B can run but is weak. Even a core and weights program is having trouble addressing this. The main difference however is mental. A applies his mind to training and thinks about how to get faster. He thinks in detail about swim technique and bike aero positioning. He then goes out and applies that to this training. B does not have a clue. Sure he trains 14 to 24 hrs a week but he does not apply his mind. With his physical makeup he has a very remote chance of getting a Kona slot. With his mind he has absolutely no chance.
It’s fun watching the adaptation these 2 have gone through since we started training together 18 months ago.
He is 42. Has run just under 3hrs for a marathon and 4.30 for a tough 56km race. I would guess he could run a 3.10 stand alone now. IM Germany 2 times and Austria once. Times were about 13.30, 11.15 and 11.30.
He follows a very similar plan to my other training buddy who went 9.32 in Austria after less then 2 years in the sport. The plan they follow is along the lines that G suggests - lots of AeT with some race specific intensity and strength work.
The difference between the 2 guys is - the guy who got the Kona slot (A) has some talent, the other guy (B) is limited. B can run but is weak. Even a core and weights program is having trouble addressing this. The main difference however is mental. A applies his mind to training and thinks about how to get faster. He thinks in detail about swim technique and bike aero positioning. He then goes out and applies that to this training. B does not have a clue. Sure he trains 14 to 24 hrs a week but he does not apply his mind. With his physical makeup he has a very remote chance of getting a Kona slot. With his mind he has absolutely no chance.
It’s fun watching the adaptation these 2 have gone through since we started training together 18 months ago.
I would bet your second guy would come up close to the first if he could focus on technique. The first guy has natural good technique. The second doesn’t. This big a difference in times cannot be entirely mental. I would hazard a guess he would be a great candidate for PC’s because of the form thing. He is willing to put in the time but doesn’t have a clue as to either good cycling or running form.
