With all of the advancement in bike technology over the past 20 years, you'd think that some of that might show up at Kona.
Interestingly, the 1st place finisher's overall times pretty much have stayed flat since 1989 when Mark Allen did an 8:09 (current record is 8:03:56) and Paula Newby-Fraser did a 9:01 (current record 8:54:02). That was 22 years of technology in bike aerodynamics while also getting more training information from power meters etc....
The truth is that Mark Allen and Paula Newby-Fraser could have been far superior athletes to the athletes that followed them (think Babe Ruth, Gretzky, Woods, ...), but I don't know.
Anyway, curious why we're not seeing more improvement from the elites in the finishing times.
(Was there a significant change in the course that made "old times" not equivalent to "new times"?
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Funny, I thought the same thing after reading "Iron war" and then watching Kona a few weeks ago. If you have not read Iron war yet, it is highly recommended.
I don't understand your argument. In the 80's the winners bike split was right around 5:00 and this past decade it was a little under 4:30. 30 years and 10% improvement seems great to me, no?
Ya, I happened to take the 5 year increment years, but based on the total time, I'm surprised that the time from 1989 (8:09) is very much the same as it has been recently (8:04).
I should have put the 1989 time in the summary. But, the swim / bike / run splits haven't improved much from those times.
1989: Mark Allen:
Swim: 0:51:17
Bike: 4:37:52
Run: 2:40:04
Total: 8:09
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Maybe that's as fast as people can go.
Like the 2hr marathon barrier.
Or the 4min mile barrier.
Or even better, the 28 foot long jump barrier -- that's my favorite, because it was so difficult that Beamon skipped past 28
(Disclaimer: This post was not serious.)
It's a 5k. It hurt like hell...then I tried to pick it up. The end.
Maybe that's as fast as people can go. Like the 2hr marathon barrier. Or the 4min mile barrier. Or even better, the 28 foot long jump barrier -- that's my favorite, because it was so difficult that Beamon skipped SOARED past 28 (Disclaimer: This post was not serious.)
Or even better, the 28 foot long jump barrier -- that's my favorite, because it was so difficult that Beamon skipped SOARED past 28
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The pain that hurts the worse is the imagined pain. One of the most difficult arts of racing is learning to ignore the imagined pain and just live with the present pain (which is always bearable.) - Jeff
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