Thursday, July 23, 2009

Lance is a triathlete?

Anyone hear that Lance Armstrong is going to be a Triathlete? He has just joined Team Radio Shack, and will be competing as a triathlete, runner and cyclist.
http://sports.espn.go.com/oly/tdf2009/news/story?id=4349772
http://www.teamradioshack.com/

I wonder if this will result in an uptick in the popularity of triathlons, and make it harder to get in, much like the current situation with Ultras?

And how will the Kazakhs take it? Hopefully they will not take drastic measures, like boycotting Borat. Oh wait, they already did that.

If this is old news, sorry. It was news to me...

16 comments:

///MM said...

I'm a little surprised that triathlete was thrown in there. I remember after he ran NYC, he was asked if he'd ever "do the Ironman" and his answer was something like "never."

Dr. K said...

Actually, Lance was a Triathlete long before he was a pro cyclist/multi-time tour champ/Olsen twin dating/ one nutted/cancer survivor. He was still fast way back then, and also kinda a cocky sonofabitch. The more things change the more they stay the same.

RM said...

Yeah Dr. K beat me to the punch but that was how Lance got started. His first race ever was a 10k, then he got into triathlons. He smoked people on the bike even at an early age and got picked up by some teams.

Then a lot of people forget he was a World Champion of the road race at 21 years old back in 1993.

I actually expected Lance to do an Ironman before he did a marathon, like former French favorite Laurent Jalabert so it won't surprise me when he does one.

My predictions:

An hour in the water

4:15 on the bike WITHOUT A PROBLEM

3:15 run

8:30, top 20 at Hawaii. Because he'll only do Hawaii, no way he does any other, and they won't make him qualify.

Although I'd like to see him do Roth Challenge which has a super fast bike course. He could probably ride 4 hours there.

RM said...

Oh and triathlons won't be affected at all. They're already impossible to get into and you have to sign up a year in advance for most, often times having to be ON site at an Ironman just to sign up for the next year. That won't change.

The only thing Alyssa and I are wondering is if he'll come do the new half iron-distance next October in Columbia because it's touted as a LiveStrong event.

///MM said...

Yeah- I knew he got his start in triathlon, as did said reporter prompting the question, I was just repeating his response.
With an 'easy' 4:15 on the bike he'd be WAY ahead of everyone else and could probably go even faster than 3:15 on the run. Dude negative split Boston cause he runs faster up hill and the back half of Kona is loaded with them.
Sick.

Steve said...

Ah, I guess logistics keep them small: Trying to find your bike amongst 10,000 would be problematic. People would be bragging that their T1 was only 20 minutes! (I assume I'm using the lingo correctly)

I heard getting the permits is difficult, and site location is an issue also. You can plop down a 5K anywhere. But a Triathlon needs a body of water nearby...

I guess the difficulty of signing up, the amount of training required to just complete the race, and the cost of the race and equipment, all act to keep a lot of people away.

Travis said...

triathlons are gay, for the gay and by the gay.

alyssa said...

Travis's mom is gay.

RM said...

Travis doesn't have a mom. He's got two dads.

I will issue a challenge to Travis:

Travis does Eagleman next year and I do JFK 50. I think that's about fair.

Jake Marren said...

Remember boys and girls. Being gay is OK!!!

Hugs not drugs :-)

Collin said...

Travis thinks everything is gay.

Ryan, how about I double up that challenge. I do an ironman and you do a 100. I think that's about fair. :)

Back on topic, I too am curious to see how Lance will do. What's the typical slow down time for marathon between just outright running one and doing one in an ironman? Lance did a 2:46 as I recall, but with his freakishly high VO2, I'm sure he could get that sucker a lot faster if he spent more time training to run. I'm sure he's going to be going for yellow at TDF next year with Team Radioshack, though, so I don't know how he'll be able to withstand training for top performances in both that, running, and swimming.

Collin said...

PS, Ryan, if you take me up on that, you can do ANY 100 you want. I won't even specify.

RM said...

Collin, I will accept that challenge - but I think it'll have to wait til 2011 at least due to my torn ACL/MCL and the vast rehab that I have ahead of me. I don't think I'm going to be able to race those distances next year. But I will take you up my friend.

As far as what kind of decrease would you see from open marathon to Ironman marathon - it definitely varies by person. The fastest dudes are able to run between 2:37 and 2:45 off the bike. In theory, they would probably run under 2:30 open, but some of these dudes are so dialed in that they run better (more efficiently) off the bike.

It all depends on how strong you are in the water and on the bike, and how little energy you expend during those previous 5 hours. I think Lance could ride a road bike and be sitting up and ride faster than most of the pros, and then get off the bike and run maybe 15-20 minutes slower for the run.

The only reason I think it'd be tough for him to go under 3 would be because I know how hard it is for the pros, and they train specifically for that event. Lance, a great athlete, does not. But he'd get there pretty quick.

Collin said...

Sounds good, my only stipulation in this deal is that I get to do an ironman distance race, not an official ironman because I don't want to spend like 8 billion dollars on this. haha...

///MM said...

The rule of thumb is you run 1.2x your open time. But that's for gen. pop., not elites.

Oh- and from my singular Ironman branded race experience, I think it's worth the extra $ for how well the event is organized. Even with the annoying p2p setup of RI it was one of the smoothest, easiest races to participate in that I've run.

RM said...

My suggestion for a non-WTC (so non-branded) iron distance race:

1. Beach2Battleship, NC. SetUp Events puts this on in November down in North Carolina. Awesome race. Probably better run that most Ironman events, also sells out just as fast I think. Maybe a few days it stays open.

2. Great Floridian. Before WTC came in and was gay and said only our events can be called Ironmans, this was the preeminent race in the country. Everyone loves it.

3. Quelle Challenge Roth. It's in Germany, so it's expensive, but it's the fastest iron distance race in the world. Winner this year was 7:55 and it was a relative no-name. I'll do this one at some point, it was one of the first I ever heard about.

4. There is a new IM race I think in Utah, maybe you could just do that one.