That’s a very good run time. Loads of people can swim 61 or bike 5:18, but how many can back it up with a 3:26 marathon? Not many.
Flail, over-bike, run/walk is how most middle-aged blokes seem to do it. Certainly the continentals. How many times have you done a Euro race to have a steady stream of MAMILs grinding past you at 70rpm after a mediocre swim, only to see them on the run again.
It’s funny - I consider myself a sub 10hr IM guy but realised in the 5 events I have done I have been around 10.05-10.30 on 3 occasions and only sub 10 twice
Once was Roth in 9.20 and once was Copenhagen for 9.40
I did Vichy two years ago and blew up in the heat; swim was non wetsuit and I did 80 mins and then a 4.45 bike (how about that for MAMIL)
Roth was same bike but a 62 min swim and short transitions
Reality is the delta between a good and a bad swim will be 5-15 mins for most people. A bad run can be much more than that
It really is about the run
Ha yes. There’s 2h01m between my best & worst IM run 
and my disaster run took longer than the bike! Can anyone beat those stats?
Wowsers. That’s impressive !
The fact remains; a poor run stems from the bike.
It really is all about the bike.
My mate did the last Forestman end May, in 14:53. 7hrs 16mins was the run, not quite 50% of his entire race but close… He was duking it out for the lead late in the bike and first 10 miles of the run. And then…BOOM!!!
Not quite as bad, but that was my first experience of long course racing too. I did the Forestman in 2011 with a mate, so rather than pacing it, I was racing him. Admittedly I was not as bike fit then as I am now and did around 6 hours on the bike and was absolutely bolloxed when I got into T2. There was then that horrible feeling of walking out of T2 knowing that I was barely going to be able to muster a run and it was a pretty long 5 and a half hour walk. It was a very sobering experience and pretty much the reason why it took me 6 years to try long course racing again and also why I now tend to err on the side of caution on the bike.
To be fair it was 35c on the ridge that day and wasn’t it only Fuzzy Dunlop who ran a sub 4? Hard, long day out.
True, but awful pacing made things a lot worse. I still remember getting my final lap band but I think it was still 11 miles to the finish. It’s the only time I’ve had a cry in a race.
I hopped the run in six hours!!! WTF did he do???
I went to casualty the day after with temporary paralysis 
tennis elbow of the hip. Two weeks of super strong drugs, no work and TdF 
But what a fucking place to have a cry 
After those races, we still went on holiday down there.
I’d have never known just how bloody nice it is down there without that race.
Yes I remember that sign by the turnaround 4, 10,16 or something like that. I said to the guy I’m on my way home, 2hrs later I think it was I got there!l 
My 5:31 marathon had very little to do with bike pacing. 40 in the shade does not make for a good run, when the run course has very little of it 
Over 1000 people DNFd that day.
When I was lying down in some shade I found by some steps, I was considering my options; I had to drive home the next day from Frankfurt to Bristol, but I’d also paid a crap-load of money to get there, and invested a lot of time. I wanted to avoid the medical tent too. I’m pretty sure at one point as I slipped in & out of consciousness I was locked in a bamboo cage, being tortured by the Vietcong; that and the helicopter sounds.
You often don’t find out much about yourself when everything goes to plan.
The 7 hr 16 minute run included a couple of 45 minute miles where he said he ‘had a little sleep’. Given he ran the first 10 quickly, I’m guessing it was around 5hrs 45mins for last 16 miles.
What year was that? I had 2 strong pals who DNF’ed the same year - I imagine that was the one?
2 years ago I did Vichy and it was super hot - no wetsuit swim and on the drive back on the autoroute their were signs to keep hydrated in your car. LOL
Anyway I lacked salt and cramped so badly on the run that at 30km my legs seized and I was on the ground- and people were shuffling over me…it was comical
2015
So fecker just reminded me of Challenge Almere…
…can drive there, it has entries, is under £500 all in and I’m free that weekend.
Be interested to see what you say about it if you do go. It’s hosting the ITU Long Course next year, and I might throw in an entry for that (despite officially not having a full distance race in the time window to apply with - you can submit middle distance times too).
definitely gunning for sub 10 at copenhagen this year with the last two years 10:06 and 10:06!! but two very different races.
if i can repeat last years swim, bike, ( new bike and setup) and repeat 2017’s run then i’m hoping for
56 swim
4:59 bike
3:40 run
T1/T2, less fannying around
anyone else in copenhagen?
For me it was 1:10 swim, 4:55 bike, 3:13 run for a 9:24 total at Roth.
It was my first sub 10 after 4 attempts and it came about due to a revamp in training that was all about lots of running off the bike.
My weekly regime was -
Mon - Swim
Tues - Bike/Run
Wed - Swim
Thurs - Bike/run
Fri - Swim
Sat - Long Bike/ Short Run (up to 1hr)
Sun - Long Run, (up to 24m)
No rest days 'cos my legs got a rest on swim days.
It’s all about the bike and run, the swim has the least gains.