With all this Zwifting - nearly everyone will have a 4.30 bike split…
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No substitute for the roads and for experience…!
In 2013-2015 (6 Ironman races) I did 95% of my training on the turbo. I’m not saying it didn’t work, but the feel of the road, the feel of power spikes, the feel of what you can hold, the feel of how the run feels, I’m not sure zwift will ever fully recreate that. Maybe I’m too old school and a new all singing all dancing smart trainer feels more like the road…
everyone will crash at the first corner when they forget to move the handlebars.
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my fastest IM bike split was on the back of a winter season almost entirely on Zwift…
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How did you run off it? (Not asking in a bad way! It took being out on the roads with a power meter to teach me about power spikes and overbiking)
I’m having to park the ego on Zwift atm. A few of us are having a TT series, entering set races and sharing results.
I’m way further down the field than if we were TTing for real, based on past years anyway. They may be stronger and I’m certainly way off my best.
But I religiously turbo in my aero position, which costs watts, and work hard on aerodynamics on the road, neither recognised in a Zwift race.
I’ll take my weekly medicine, but hoping that if a few TTs start up later on the year things will return to their natural order!
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This.
There’s more watts in putting the road bike on the turbo and while I’d do better in races etc, the main goal is training in that time trial position like you 
Yeah I do the same. Find it really hard sometimes - yesterday for example. Planned on doing 40 minutes of sst but got really bloody hot in my utility room and found it so hard I had to drop the intensity by 10%
Just read this thread from start to finish
Great stuff
I want to be excited by a KQ; it sounds a total faff to get there and then its epicly hot and you then blow up (esp if you are a Brit and yiou have to peak twice in 3 moths)
I think a time goal (like a Sub 9 in Roth) is something that appeals more; esp given you are more in control of your time, less in what AG position you finish
Random musings here; the last 3 yrs I have just done road cycling. But current shut down is making me think about returning to IM
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Completely agree. A time goal is all about “you”. A KQ goal is all about “you” plus, unless you are Uber-Super, it’s also about other people, which you can’t control…
Time goals in IM are very weather/conditions dependent. Rock up in 35 deg heat and you’re done before the cannon
But I have executed my time goal races much better than my KQ efforts; I have absolutely no doubt that 1 or 2 of my KQ efforts would have been successful had I managed the race as well as my ‘sub 10’ target races.
that’s a very good point
But bigger question; for those that have KQ, is the big event itself worth the effort?
If you live in USA its a lot easier to get to vs us poor sods for starters…
I think if you’re planning to try and KQ, you have to almost forget about KQing in the race. If you race to try and KQ, I think it’s much more likely it’ll go wrong. If you race with your blinkers on, and race to your own ability, and forget everyone else, then you’re more likely to deliver your best race and you’re therefore more likely to deliver a KQ.
Even in the first 10 minutes of the swim, it seems like the whole world is swimming past you, and all those KQ slots are already way ahead, and so you think you have to swim faster to be in the game. That’s an illusion! The whole world isn’t swimming past you, in reality it’s probably only a small number of fast swimmers. I’ve always finished far higher in the swim than I thought, given how many people I thought were swimming past me. Let them go. Swim as gently as you can. Same on the bike. In the first 20-60 minutes, again the whole world will seem like they are flying past you and the KQ slots will be long gone unless you up it and chase them. Don’t! Keep within yourself. If you can maintain your power in the final 30 miles of the bike you’ll pass a good few. Then start the marathon nice and easy, and if you can maintain your pace in the final 10-13 miles, you’ll pick people off and it’s so motivating and you’ll give yourself a chance in the end…
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I absolutely thought it was worth the 10 years it took me to get there…!
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Fiver says that’s Iraq?
Smart trainers don’t go round corners 
That’s why all my mates descend like kittens.
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Nicked it from a random photo stock site. Could be middle east, or Arizona?
Those concrete barriers are a giveaway; they are all over the ‘trouble spots’ NATO have been in over the last 20 years. So probably not in the USA. The ‘bastion’ walls are routinely used to create checkpoints.
Anyone fancy a trip to Kazakhstan? Or it could just be a legacy event, but you might have to sail to Kona!
IRONMAN ANNOUNCES CHANGES TO 2020 IRONMAN WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP SLOT ALLOCATION
2020 IRONMAN World Championship qualification window extended to include events through Aug. 30
Additional 2020 IRONMAN World Championship slots to be allocated to Legacy Program Athletes
IRONMAN today announced adjustments to the slot allocations for the 2020 Vega IRONMAN® World Championship based on qualifying events that have been impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic. The IRONMAN World Championship qualifying window for the 2020 Vega IRONMAN World Championship has been officially extended from August 23, 2020 to August 30, 2020.
With this change, the 2020 editions of IRONMAN Canada – Penticton (August 30), IRONMAN Kazakhstan (August 23) and IRONMAN Vichy (August 23), will now offer 60 qualification slots each to the 2020 IRONMAN World Championship in addition to the qualification slots they offer for the 2021 IRONMAN World Championship.
IRONMAN races that have been postponed from an earlier date in the 2020 season and are rescheduled to take place on or before August 30, 2020 will remain in the 2020 IRONMAN World Championship qualifying season. Events that have been postponed to take place after August 30, 2020 will move to the 2021 IRONMAN World Championship qualifying season.
Additionally, the Legacy Program has been allocated additional slots for 2020, providing every eligible waitlisted Legacy athlete the ability to race in the 2020 IRONMAN World Championship.
The 2020 Vega IRONMAN World Championship is scheduled to take place in Kailua-Kona, Hawai`i on Saturday, October 10, 2020.
As further changes are made to the slot allocation of events, they will be updated on the individual IRONMAN event pages on www.ironman.com, with the most up-to-date information on overall qualification details being found at www.ironman.com/im-world-championship.
Why does Suzanne Vega sponsor Kona? I mean Tom’s Diner and Luka are great songs and deserve to be heard but I don’t really see the link up.
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