Kona 2103. So it's NOT about the bike ?

It is said that the race may be lost in the swim and is won on the run. What then is the role of the bike in Iron distance triathlon ?

In the 2013 Ironman Hawaii World Championship we surely glimpsed the critical importance of swimming well enough to leave T1 in the company of the fastest bikers and having the bike fitness and mental discipline to set up the run for success. The bike is the essential platform for triathlon success.  The men's winner had a goal : to be the fastest runner of the fastest bikers. It was an inspired strategy. Frederik Van Lierde combined a 51:02 swim - about 1 minute off the lead swimmer - followed by a 4th-fastest 4:25:37 bike split and concluded with a 4th-fastest 2:51:18 men's marathon to win in 8:12:29.

The day was perfect for cycling with record-low temperatures and ultra-light winds. The swim probably did not split the field due to the absence of Andy Potts and by the halfway point an unusually high number of men remained in the lead group. Out of T1 Andrew Starykowicz (holder of the Ironman bike record of  4:04 at 2012 Ironman Florida) made his intentions known. In all 26 men were within 90 seconds of each other going onto the bike.

By the turnaround at Hawi, however, the persistence of a few key players started to hint at what was to come: Starykowicz was indeed able to hold his lead for the majority of the bike, but Australia’s Luke McKenzie was zeroing in on him, as was Frederik Van Lierde, and Sebastian Kienle. Starykowicz headed into T2 a minute ahead of McKenzie, recording the leading bike split of the day in 4:21:50. Van Lierde was under 4m behind.

They say that sharp elevated spikes in your heart rate are like a book of matches - Yes, you can burn them - but eventually they fade and your book runs out. That was never more true than for Starykowicz leading at T2 but finishing in 21st overall place with a 3.25 marathon. 10m off that marathon time would have almost given him a Kona top 10. It's clear that too much effort on the bike kills the chance of overall success.

McKenzie soon overtaking Starykowicz  held onto his lead until mile 17 of the run when Van Lierde made his move and overtook the Australian to take the title. Commentators noted that Belgian Van Lierde broke through a six-year Australian winning streak as this hard-working competitor benefited from unflinching patience that eventually delivered him into the lead over an incredibly competitive field, making the victory that much sweeter.

"I tried to be smart, and it worked out" he commented . "In the first 30 or 40 km everybody is riding fast, so I knew from the other years to just take it easy and wait. Once we got through 60k I decided to go to the front a little bit more. When Sebastian (Kienle) went to the front I was the one who reacted, and I was with him up to Hawi."

Van Leirde failed to record any fastest splits of the day instead he showed a consistent effort and skill across all three disciplines. The same could be said of Luke MacKenzie - a measured bike performance that saw him run off the bike at 2.40 marathon pace. None of the specialist runners could impact on the day - perhaps too many matches burnt keeping up on a perfect bike day ? Pete Jacobs, the men's 2012 winner turned in a 4.35 bike split - 10m slower than Van Leirde in 2013 - but maybe Pete's slower bike enabled his winning 2.48 marathon ?

What then for the females ?  Marinda Carfrae, the 2010 world champion, turned in one of the best performances distance triathlon has ever witnessed. After, by her standards, a modest swim (58:50), Carfrae echoed Van Leirde by staying close to (but not with) the women's leaders on the bike (4:58:20) and came into transition in 11th place. Leaving T2 with an 8 minute deficit Carfrae set out on the run -and simply crushed the field. The whole field - men or women. She ran the first 13.1 miles in 1:25, surging past Rachel Joyce at the halfway mark on record pace. Not only did she maintain that pace, she got faster, seemingly getting stronger with every mile. Carfrae ran the 13.1-16.4 mile section in a 6:19/mile pace; 19-22.3 mile stretch was done in a 6:25-pace; the final 1.2 miles was covered in just 6:03. And all the while, her stride and form looked liked something out of a running textbook.




Carfrae's 2:50:38 marathon time broke her own women's record in Kona by 1:34, and her overall finishing time of 8:52:14 set a new world championship record, besting four-time winner Chrissie Wellington's mark by 1:48. Her run was the 3rd fastest of the day from either men or women and she actually returned a faster bike split than even Van Leirde.  In short, Carfrae turned in a day that was truly legendary, and among the best the sport has ever seen.

So did Carfrae and Van Leirde's "steady state" approach to the bike establish the platform for their respective wins ? Mark Allen, six time world Ironman champion, speaking to Bob Abbott and Paul huddle on Competitor Radio said..

"It's a closed energy equation so if you're turning Ironman into a bike race you're going to pay a certain price on the run. The challenge then, or the key, is to race it to the point where you still have enough matches left in the box so that you can have the run you need to pull out the victory…"

Kona 2013 makes plain if you are to win "its all about bike....

optimization 

....within the context of the race". 

You can't be left so far behind that the specialist cyclists, with no hope of winning the race, have a time cushion you simply can't overhaul. So while you do need to be an excellent cyclist you must always remember it's not a cycle race. Train hard, have a clear plan, don't get carried away. Cycle steady - keep back those "matches" you need for the run. You might have to cycle harder than you planned to be "in the mix" for the run and that might lower your possible run time - but it still could be enough to send you victorious.

Needing more ?  checkout this analysis of Van Leirde's & Carfrae's 2013 Kona winning bikes from Aerogeeks.Com

Analyzing the bikes under the men’s and women’s champions you see similarities in design but very different execution between the two. Carfrae and Van Leirde both rode UCI illegal frames to victory helping to keep frame manufacturers building frames specifically for triathlon. Both frames had hydration mounted via a rear saddle mount, a BTA setup and a tube mounted bottle (both were using standard bottles on a down\seat tube mount). Van Leirde used deep wheels both front and back while Carfrae appears to have gone with a staggered set. Due to their sponsorship agreements, Carfrae stuck with a mechanical SRAM Red setup while Van Lierde went electronic with Di2.
Regardless of component choices though, both frames propelled their riders to victory. More importantly, people are already saying that the super aero FELT  IA frame may have been one of the major factors in helping Carfrae stay close to the front group in the ride so she could catch them in the run.

Frederik Van Lierde’s Cervelo P5

Frame: Cervelo P5 

Wheels: Mavic CXR 80 Tubulars 

Components: Shimano Dura-Ace Di2 9070 

Chain Rings: Osymetric

BTA: XLAB Gorilla Cage

Rear Hydration: XLAB Delta 200

Saddle: Prologo Nago EVO Tri 40 

Power Meter: SRM 

Mirinda Carfrae’s Felt IA

Frame: Felt IA

Wheels: Zipp 404/808 

Components: SRAM Red 

BTA: Profile Design Aero HC

Rear Hydration: Zip tied cage 

Saddle: Adamo Attack

Power Meter: Quarq

2013's Kona Bike Count ....

As nearly 2,000 of the world’s top Ironman athletes checked their bikes dozens of tri-industry players tallied bikes and components for the annual litmus test of buying trends. After over five hours of counting, Cervelo once again dominated the count, but others are closing the gap.

Bikes

Cervelo – 488

Trek – 220

Specialized – 209

Felt – 115

Scott – 91

Quintana Roo – 80

Cannondale – 79

Argon 18 – 72

BMC – 68

Giant – 66

Kuota – 53

Interesting 2013 Kona Facts courtesy of Competitor.Com ...

• In 2012, 109 athletes finished in under 9:30. In 2013, it was 251.
• Milos Kostic won his 7th consecutive Ironman World Championship title in the men’s 70-74 category. The Canadian went 12:03:38, continuing his unbeaten streak on the island.
• Canada’s Beverly Watson won the women’s 60-64 division thanks to an 11:50:41.
• Great Britain’s Catherine Faux had a blazing 9:15:16 in the women’s 25-29 age group, which made her the fastest age group women of the day.
• Master chef Gordon Ramsay exchanged his fiery kitchen for the lava fields in his quest to become an Ironman. In his first attempt at the distance, Ramsay put together a 1:21:20 swim split, pedaled to a 6:35:54 bike and paced out the marathon in 5:48:31 for a 14:04:48 clocking.
• Mexico’s Luis Alvarez successfully completed his 100th Ironman race in 15:54. Alvarez completed his milestone race just a few minutes after Ironman’s first champion completed the race 35 years after he became the world’s first Ironman athlete.
• 78-year-old Harriet Anderson finished more than 3 minutes to spare.
• The men’s course record is 8:03:56, held by Craig Alexander.Alexander was the oldest winner in the race’s history when he set the record two years ago at the age of 38.
• Wetsuits are illegal in the swim, giving stronger swimmers an advantage over slower ones.
• The historical high air temperature in Kona on Oct. 12, the date of the 2013 race, is 92 degrees.
• The average high temp in Kona on race day is just 84 degrees.
• Black asphalt and lava rock absorb heat from the sun and radiate it back upward, effectively elevating temperature well beyond the measured air temperature. Triathlete staff recorded a temperature of 109 degrees at the blacktop on a day in July 2010 with a reported high in the mid-80s.
• It took Chris McCormack six tries to finally win his first Ironman world title in 2007, 10 years after he won the ITU world championship.
• The Ironman bike split record is held by American Andrew Starykowicz, who will be making his Kona debut this year. He rode 4:04 at Ironman Florida in 2012. That’s 27.5 mph.
• Inside Triathlon conducted a test to measure the aerodynamic benefit gained by a person riding the legal distance behind another athlete, which is 10 meters for the professionals. This test found that an athlete traveling at the average speed held by the top men can save 12 watts while staying within the rules.
• Brett Sutton is considered by many to be the most successful triathlon coach of all time, having guided athletes including Chrissie Wellington, Siri Lindley, Nicola Spirig and others to world titles or Olympic gold medals. His athletes racing Ironman Hawaii in 2013 are Jodie Swallow, Caroline Steffen, Mary Beth Ellis, David Dellow and James Cunnama.
• Deydration and electrolyte depletion are not associated with muscle cramping, according to many studies on distance runners and a 2005 study conducted on Ironman triathletes.
• Eight-time Ironman world champ Paula Newby-Fraser was leading the race in 1995 until she collapsed on Hualalai Road, just 500 meters from the finish.
• Iron War, the 1989 battle between Mark Allen and Dave Scott that has become the most celebrated head-to-head race in Ironman history, was settled when Allen dropped Scott on a small rise at mile 23.5 after the pair raced side by side for 138 miles. That small rise is now known as Mark and Dave Hill.
• ABC’s “Wild World of Sports” captured Julie Moss’ 1982 collapse just meters from the finish. That spot is behind the current finish line because the event used to finish on the Kona Pier, where transition is currently located. Footage of her struggling to finish helped propel the growth of the sport.
• Since Normann Stadler did it in 2006, no male has won the race after coming off the bike with a lead over the rest of the field.
• Average finish time in the last four years, according to Runtri.com: 11:32 (2012), 11:25 (2011), 11:14 (2010), 11:37 (2009)
• The average age of the registered male athletes is 42, and the average for females is 40.
• Training Peaks reports that Faris Al-Sultan’s 2012 peak 30-minute power output of 308 watts is enough to power a flat-screen TV.
• Riding with a power meter allows athletes to accurately gauge their caloric expenditure on the bike. Training Peaks software calculates that most of the top men consume 4,500–5,000 calories on the bike alone and the women typical use about 3,000–3,500.
• 2012 Kona champion Pete Jacobs’ power data shows he rarely went “into the red” during the bike. His power file on Triainingpeaks.com shows several spikes above his threshold power (what he could hold for one hour), but they are for such short duration (15 to 30 seconds) that they don’t count as “matches,” a term that power analysts use to describe hard, sustained efforts that will tire a rider over time. Sustaining a fairly consistent effort level on the bike helped him run his way to the title.
• Participants typically lose 3-5% of their body weight during Ironman Hawaii.
• American Andy Potts has been first out of the water every year since he first came to Kona in 2008, and usually by a sizeable margin. He is yet to survive at the front of the bike pack all the way back to transition, losing between 8 and 12 minutes to the main contenders in each of those five races. 2012 was his best ride to date—he gave up eight minutes to eventual champ Pete Jacobs.
• When the sun sets, athletes still on the course are given glow sticks to stay visible in the darkness.
• In case of a mechanical problem, both the male and female pros will have one neutral support car driving closely behind the race to provide assistance. Aid from the support car typically doesn’t come immediately, however, so punctures or breakdowns still result in lost time.
• Age-groupers are on their own for mechanicals. Not only does the race not provide official support, but receiving support of any kind results in disqualification.
• Considering the quality of the field, finishing rates are quite high despite the tough conditions in Hawaii. Last year there were 1,883 finishers, and a 4.9 percent DNF rate.
• The five most common med tent visits in Kona: dehydration/exhaustion, GI issues, cramping, blisters, minor injuries (road rash, contusions, ankle sprains, etc.).
• Athletes can make it to Ironman Hawaii in four different ways. Qualifying at Ironman or select Ironman 70.3 races is how most people punch their ticket. Other routes include the Ironman Lottery and Legacy programs, winning one of the eBay auctions for the (very expensive) charity-donation slots or being invited by Ironman for promotional reasons such as celebrities and Kona Inspired athletes.