What are average triathlon times?
First, the training advice... When you swim, work on being able to swim 1 mile... Total Immersion by Terry Laughlin Swimming is about EFFICIENCY and BOUYANCY. When you bike, work on being able to bike 25 miles... POSE Technique for Triathletes Cyciling is about EFFICIENCY and TIMING When you run, make your LSD (long slow distance) at least 6 miles... CHI Running by Danny Dreyer. Running is about proper FORM, EFFICIENCY and CADENCE. ALL Of these things require baseline endurance training...Oxygen is your friend as is an easy pace... start out slow and easy until you can cover all of the above distances (not in the same day) comfortably with little or no risk to injury...then start working on speed. Don't worry so much about time...worry about finishing with a smile. But competetive times are : Swim 400M < 8 Minutes Transition 1 < 2 minutes Bike 10 mi avg. speed 20 mph or 30 minutes Transition 2 < 2 minutes Run < 25 minutes But the courses can vary. Check out the race results from last year of the Tri you're planning to do. That should be a good indication of what you need to do.
Anyone know a good time for an Olympic distance triathlon?
The winners typically do it in 1:46 or so depending on terrain. Results for virtually every race over the last 10 years or so are posted on-line. I'm surprised that you haven't learned about search engines. Google "triathlon results" and you'll get more than enough data to figure out a target.
What are the most important things about preparing for triathlon (Olympic distance) for a complete beginner?
Where to begin…okay just kidding. However, there are many things that are important, but let’s try to keep it straightforward. I am going to assume you already know or are doing the basics (e.g. train consistently, etc.).Any distance of Triathlon is an endurance activity. For most people, an Olympic Distance Triathlon will take upwards of 3 hours. Plan accordingly, make sure you understand the aid station spacing, do the bulk of your hydrating on the bike.The core adaptation for Triathlon is being able to run after completing the bike leg. Every beginner (I was a beginner at one point) struggles with that. You have to incorporate that transition into your training. That doesn’t mean you have to always do full blown brick workouts every weekend (e.g. 2 hour ride followed by a 1 hour run). It will be helpful to incorporate even as little as 10 or 15 minute runs after a mid-week bike ride. For example, if you go for a mid-week 1:30 bike ride, go for a quick 15 minute run immediately afterward.Unless you are able to swim regularly (like once a week) in open water, try this drill in the pool. First, do a few lengths at your pace and count your strokes, that way you know how many strokes it takes to go 1 length of the pool. Then, swim a length of the pool with your eyes closed (count your strokes so you don’t bang into the wall). The goal is to assess your ability and deficiencies with swimming in a straight line. You will be bumping into lane lines. Obviously, only do this if you have the lane to yourself. When swimming in a pool, that black line gives a visual cue so our body subconsciously adjusts based on that. Without it (and you won’t have it in open water) you won’t have any feedback that lets you know you are swimming straight.Practice your transitions. At the very least, practice the transition a few times to get comfortable with the order of how you will do it.
Triathlon - How can I increase my average speed over the 40km?
Assuming that you have a good basic fitness, because you presumably finished the triathlon, to increase your speed on the bike over short distances, like 40km. Try splitting your training ride into small sections of say 4 or 5k, after a warm up of maybe 8 to 10k, further if you need, ride alternate 4 or 5k sections at race speed with a steady, but not too easy, speed in between each hard section. On one day near the beginning of each week, not too close to next weekend if you are racing, have a medium pace warm-up ride, and follow it with a series of short sprints, say around 2 minutes each at maximum effort with a recovery of about 2 minutes between each sprint, do these until you cannot manage max effort each time, then have an EASY warm down ride of maybe 8 or 10k If you've been honest you won't feel like going any further, next day have a moderate paced, fairly flat ride. Other than specific speed work, do you have a cycling club that hold time-trials near you? if you do, go and ride them, you cannot train for racing without racing :o) ! Your race speed will increase ! Edit: If you are only doing this for triathlon, avoid using big gears, they will probably stuff up your running section, concentrate on turning a lower gear faster, you use a lot less energy and should maintain speed more efficiently.
What's the difference between an Ironman Triathlon and a regular triathlon?
There are six official triathlon distance and different governing bodies.Ironman is a brand and owned by a private company. They have two distances:Ironman and Ironman 70.3 (so named as it is 70.3 miles) and is exactly half a full Ironmon.These distances are:Ironman: 3.8km (2.4 mile) swim, 180km (112 mile) cycle, 42.2km (26.2 mile) runIronman 70.3: 1.9km swim, 90km cycle, 21.1km runThere is also Challenge, another private company, that offers Challenge (Ironman-distance) and half-Challenge (Ironman 70.3 distance).The International Triathlon Union (ITU) has three official distances, of which the Olympics is based around the Standard distance. These are:Sprint: 750m swim, 20km cycle, 5km runStandard (Olympic-distance): 1.5km swim, 40km cycle, 10km runLong: 4km swim, 120km cycle, 30km runApart from time to complete the triathlons and the distance for each discipline, the only difference with a Triathlon and Ironman is the brand: Ironman is only run by IRONMAN and triathlons are open to any group, individual or company to open (subject to local rules and law governing sporting events).
What's it like to complete a triathlon with a road bike? Is it much more difficult than with a TT bike?
I always do triathlons with road bikes because I don't have the money to have both a road bike and a dedicated time trial bike, but I've tried racing in a TT bike before. The short answer is that it depends. If you look at many top ITU triathletes, you'll notice that many are riding road bikes in their races. On the other hand, if you look at Ironman races, you'll notice that a much larger proportion of riders are on time trial bikes. So while, there's no refuting the fact that time trial bikes are superior aerodynamically, many elite triathletes ride road bikes for races. First, road bikes provide much better handling. Because the handlebars are further apart, you have far more leverage and fine control over the steering than on a time trial bike. In fact, many larger group rides do not allow time trial bikes, because they are less safe, particularly in crowds. A road bike will generally be the right choice for hilly courses with hairpin turns. Second, most riders learn to ride on their road bikes, so they're far more accustomed to the geometry, shifting, handling, cornering, etc. of a road bike. If you are relatively new to triathlons, then you should have several triathlons under your belt before trying to race in a TT bike. I would strong recommend against ever riding a TT bike for the first time at a triathlon (i.e. renting a tri-bike on the day of the race) - that would be very dangerous to you and other racers. You may likely end up preferring time trial bikes for triathlons that do not allow drafting, and for triathlons with relatively flat, straight courses. Some triathlon experts have also argued that time trial bikes (geometrically speaking "triathlon" bikes) utilize a different group of muscles than a road bike, which saves the running muscles for later in the triathlon (since the bike leg of a triathlon almost always directly precedes the run leg).
What are some beginner times for an Ironman Triathlon?
There really aren't any beginners on an Ironman, you'll need to qualify before you go. Nothing but seasoned veterans at that level. So do you mean what would be a good time on your first Ironman? You should be a veteran triathlete, veteran endurance swimmer, cyclist, marathon runner before you tri your first IM length and have a good idea of how your body will respond to every condition of each event. Triathlons come in different flavors so to speak; Sprint, Olympic, Half Iron .... Ironman and within that there's X'tera and other triathlons with mountain bike instead of road etc. If your new to the sport look for a local "Try a Tri", then Sprints, then Oly and so on. You'll know exactly what you need to succeed much less SURVIVE an IM tri that way.
What percentage of the world's population has completed an Ironman Triathlon?
There were about 42 Ironman races branded as Ironman in 2016. There are many other Ironman distance races managed by other race organisers, the most notable being the Challenge Series (Challenge Roth has 6000 competitors). In the UK there are at least 5 non Ironman branded races I can think of in addition to Ironman UK, Wales and Weymouth. Furthermore the ITU also hold races with competitors at age Group level representing their country. My hypothesis would be that there are at least 150 Ironman distance races around the World each year.Assuming 2000 competitors on average (IronMan max is usually 2500) and some people racing more than 1 (I did three this year). I would say on average 1.5 races per person (many only ever do 1). That would give 1.5 x 2500 x 150 = 562,500 people racing each year. Let’s call it 0.5m, World population is circa 7 billion, thus 0.007% of the World’s population do an Iron distance race each year.