General Discussion Triathlon Talk » Help with expected HIM finish time Rss Feed  
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2013-06-09 8:44 PM

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Subject: Help with expected HIM finish time
I did an Olympic this weekend in 2:45. My swim was 34 minutes, bike was 1:16 (20.0 mph), run was 49 minutes, and transitions were 6 minutes. It is roughly the same course as the ironman muncie and same elavation in that area. My goal is under 6 hours. Is that doable based off of these numbers? Thanks for any input.


2013-06-09 9:06 PM
in reply to: jpzaleski

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Subject: RE: Help with expected HIM finish time
It's hard to say without knowing how much endurance you have and how you handle the potential heat (since HIMs will finish closer to noon where Oly's can still be completed before mid morning. Some people (especially the pros) don't slow down that much in terms of average speed/pace even when the distance doubles. For example they can do 4 hour HIMs and 8:20 IMs.

Most mortals slow down considerably from the Oly to HIM distance. Even if you were to sustain your Oly paces for a HIM, you're looking at 5.5 hours. I'd say that 6 hours is a stretch for your HIM unless you have extremely favorable weather conditions AND you have extremely good endurance.

In any case, you'll likely find that you'll race your best HIM by ignoring paces and goal times but rather simply managing your effort throughout the entire race. I know I've learned the hard way.

2013-06-09 9:13 PM
in reply to: jpzaleski

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Subject: RE: Help with expected HIM finish time
I'm training for the same race. If you raced Muncie this last weekend, I was there as well. I can tell you this, the bike on the 70.3 will be much flatter from what I understand. Most of it is on highway 35, so the rollers on the backside of the bike route will not be there for the Ironman. I've ridden the bike route twice, and it does seem pretty fast like mos said. I average about 20.5 on it, and I'm usually around 19.5 on the normal route in Muncie. I'm shooting for under 7 hours, I'm not a real strong runner and average at best in the water. Good luck, hopefully I'll see you out there!
2013-06-09 9:47 PM
in reply to: str8himalaya

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Subject: RE: Help with expected HIM finish time
I was thinking my swim would be around 40-42 minutes, bike around 3 hours (18.7 pace), and run around 2 hours (9:00/mile) and transitions. I did an HM this spring at 1:44:00. I agree it will be tough, but I need to have a goal to shoot for and this seemed reasonable. My long rides (60 miles) are at a 19.x pace without the run to worry about.
2013-06-10 2:22 AM
in reply to: jpzaleski

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Subject: RE: Help with expected HIM finish time
I think you could do it in under 6 hours. I've only done one oly but my time was around 2:35. I did my first HIM this year and my time was 5:40. I've heard it's a good idea to add 10% to your HIM run times compared to your training run times. That was definitely the case for me. I started to fall apart at mile 8 on the run. If your estimated time splits are what you train at I think sub 6 is definitely doable.
2013-06-10 5:39 AM
in reply to: jpzaleski

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Subject: RE: Help with expected HIM finish time
my olympic time is very similar to yours and my half time is just under 6 hours. I think it is doable for you to get under 6 as long as you have the half IM endurance. (FWIW, for my olympic, my swim was much faster, but both my bike and run were slower, which translates better for you going from olympic to half IM since the swim isn't that much longer, but the bike and run are roughly twice as long).

good luck and I hope the weather co-operates. Last year the weather at muncie was and they had to make it a modified olympic


2013-06-10 7:43 AM
in reply to: jpzaleski

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Subject: RE: Help with expected HIM finish time
As others have said, it will depend on weather conditions and how much you slow down at the longer distance, but it might be possible. My best Oly is around/just under 2:40 (actually 2:43, but the bike course was more than 2 km over distance) and I did a 5:53 HIM, including about five minutes of stops for bike issues and a bike course that was, again, 3 km over, last summer. You're a slightly stronger biker; I'm a somewhat stronger swimmer and runner. As I recall, my swim was pretty much the same pace as the Oly, and the bike was about 2 mph slower than my Oly pace. The run was 1:43 vs. 45 or 46 for the Oly, In HIM, the bike is a bigger % of total time, so that will affect things. Six minutes is a long time for Oly transitions, though. Not that I'm a pro at them, but that might be a way to pick up some free time in your HIM. There's no reason they should take much longer than an Oly unless, like me, you exit the swim half frozen!
2013-06-10 8:29 AM
in reply to: jpzaleski

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Subject: RE: Help with expected HIM finish time
You should have a pretty clear idea of what your performance will be within about 10 minutes either way, simply from your training. I would say you *should* have at least a couple of long rides at race pace followed by a run of reasonable distance that should give you a good indication of what you will do on race day.
I'm personally in the last few weeks of training for my first HIM, but I'm messing around with nutrition strategy and minor gear choices at this point, not wondering how I'll do in broad strokes. The only real variables in my time expectations are based on conditions and how much gas I have left in the tank for the last two miles of the run - the rest of the race is a series of paces, power output, and fall back plans, overall time is pretty irrelevant while I'm out there. I have to execute it, but I know where I'm at so I know I can do it.
2013-06-10 11:09 AM
in reply to: jpzaleski

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Subject: RE: Help with expected HIM finish time
Originally posted by jpzaleski

I was thinking my swim would be around 40-42 minutes, bike around 3 hours (18.7 pace), and run around 2 hours (9:00/mile) and transitions. I did an HM this spring at 1:44:00. I agree it will be tough, but I need to have a goal to shoot for and this seemed reasonable. My long rides (60 miles) are at a 19.x pace without the run to worry about.


If you swim the exact same pace as your Oly, you'll be over 43 minutes.

I'm not trying to pick on you, but it seems to me that your basing your goal times on nice round numbers (40, 3:00, 2:00) rather than what you're doing in training as another poster mentioned above. I ran 1:53 for my first HIM and ran a HM later that year in 1:41 so a 2 hour run goal for you is not that much of a stretch...but I think my bike fitness was a big reason why I was able to run well. I rode over 5000 miles in the 12 months leading up to the HIM.

I know everyone wants to have time goals going into an important race. It's human nature. But unless your time goals are based directly on race specific training sessions and you have the experience to translate the results of that training...it really won't matter. You're far likely to do more damage to your overall race by chasing random splits and overall times for longer course racing than simply pacing yourself throughout.

I wish you the best of luck though. I also had a general goal of cracking 6 hours when doing my first HIM and did 5:32. My Oly time was 2:23 though.
2013-06-10 1:33 PM
in reply to: tri808


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Subject: RE: Help with expected HIM finish time
Well I just did my first HIM last week at Raleigh so I have some experience. I have done one oly 3:00:xx two years ago and another tri with 1000m swim but oly distance bike and run in 2:32:xx last fall. I also recently ran a hm in just under 1:44 at the beginning of may on a similarly hilly course. Like you I was figuring about 40 minute swim, 3 hour bike and 2 hour run for sub 6:00.

Well I did the swim in 39:12 which was good for me but I've worked hard on the swimming since november. The bike was 2:57 and I was happy with that. But the heat took way more out of me than I expected and I cramped up at the very start of the run. Slogged out to a 2:46 run and 6:28 overall time. Not anywhere near what I expected, I thought after running under 1:44 just a month earlier that even if I were slow that 2:15 would be well within reach.

I'm not saying you can't do it. In fact if you are prepared well for the heat and hit your nutrition right and can avoid cramps then I believe it's entirely possible. However as I found out it is so easy to over do it or to miss one part of your plan and you lose so much time on the run. So it can go either way really just be aware of that and you won't be too disappointed if your race doesn't go exactly to plan. Just remember it's your first one so just getting across the line is a PR.

Good Luck!
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