Lance swim 49 for 2.4 miles..

That's extremely impressive!

But, he still needs to tie in the other two disciplines in succession and be clean in Tx (x = 1 and 2), too.

Obviously no idea what his effort level was, but I'd say (talking totally out of my azz) 49 standalone is a 52-53 IM swim?   Still fast. 

I followed this thread on ST with great interest. 

Wetsuit-assisted, but sounds like a legit, timed-race result. 

If he can throw down a 50-55min IM swim, he's going to be a serious threat to most of the pros in IM, immediately. I had expected his swim to be a big weak spot, but it's looking like a minimal weakness that can be easily accomodated by his bike speed.

All he has to do now is to get some serious run training in (he's only trained casually even while running a 2:40 marathon) and he's going to be a force. I doubt he'll be top-10 Kona, or even top-20, but he'll be mixing up with some strong pros and a legitimate contender for a non-Kona win for sure if he keeps it up.

Exciting stuff.

Thats pretty impressive, I wonder how his whole race will tie together though. Of course he wont pace that during the race, but its still interesting.

So on an unrelated question, can anyone tell me when Lance is racing his IM? Is he just jumping straight in to Kona?  This year?

He is now, I believe training with Alberto Salazar.

I think you'd have to ask LA himself if you want to know his plans.  Otherwise it's all speculation.

Apparently he would still have to qualify, but as far as racing as a pro goes, from what I've heard all he needs to do is maintain his cycling pro liscence and he'll be qualified to race as a pro in triathlon. 

saw the st thread...good stuff lol

i think he can be in the competetive group and come out with the rest of them.  lets see how his run is...

He is an amazing athlete, and this just goes to show prove to people that he DOES know how to swim.  He started endurance sports in swimming, I don't know how people don't get that....

I'm not a die-hard LA fan, but he has done amazing things in endurance sports, and if he puts his mind to it, he can do great things.  The only thing that the pros will have on him come race day is ironman/Kona experience, and that can not be faked.  Rest assured that he knows that and will train extra hard to give himself as much of a leg up as he can in the fitness dep't. 

Don't count him out LA haters, he has a very good chance of doing VERY well.  IMO the only wildcard left is his lack of experience at Iron-distance (not in triathlon, but IRON-distance tri).

How much faster than top pros do you think LA is when it comes to the bike? It seems like he would have an advantage but I don't think it would be as much as you all make it out to be.

Im a huge LA fan and excited to see him in triathlon!

his girlfriend?

According to some, only as good as some of the top Kona athletes.