Triathlon - Lance Armstrong confirms Ironman hopes

Well i have been waiting for this for a long time. My hopes were lifted when Lance said that Team Radio Shack will be doing triathlons. Now we get confirmation that Lance will do an Ironman.
I have no doubt he will be a contender for the championships in Kona.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zLQrO0l4gjY

I cannot wait to see how he compares to others. He will be competitive, for sure.

I cannot wait to see how he compares to others. He will be competitive, for sure.

no doubt, i have been saying this since he first retired and started running marathons. i was hoping for him to go to kona.

That will make an exciting event even more exciting to watch.

Wow I can't wait to see it, hey does anyone know if there is a pay per view coverage of Kona, I hate the way the cover the event with all that human interest crap. I just wanna see the race.

While I don't think he will contend for overall, I do think he can get top 3 in his AG. I think alot of people forget he was a triathlete and a very good one at 15. He may have been the next Dave Scott if he took that path.

He was a great triathlete when he was in high school and from reading his book about his cancer it was amazing at some of the things he did when he was young.

While I don't think he will contend for overall, I do think he can get top 3 in his AG. I think alot of people forget he was a triathlete and a very good one at 15. He may have been the next Dave Scott if he took that path.

well i kinda agree. not too sure how he will do when he puts them all together but he should kill everyone on the bike, his marathon times are enough to win, and he is a great swimmer. its just if he can put them together. everyone knows thats the toughest part.

While I don't think he will contend for overall, I do think he can get top 3 in his AG. I think alot of people forget he was a triathlete and a very good one at 15. He may have been the next Dave Scott if he took that path.
I'm assuming Lance will compete as an Elite, not as an Age Grouper.
I will be surprised if he isn't in the top 10-15 of the Elite guys, assuming he's planning to spend some time training specifically for the Ironman.

I wouldn't be too happy if I were a top amateur age grouper thinking I had a shot at winning my group, and Lance decided to show up and crush everyone. Something about pro athletes competing against amateurs doesn't seem right, though I don't really know the rules on it.

he wont compete as an age grouper. no way. he would destroy anyone in that group. without a doubt he will be with the elite, or pros.

he wont compete as an age grouper. no way. he would destroy anyone in that group. without a doubt he will be with the elite, or pros.


Not at Kona. The age groupers at Kona are not a good representative sample of age groupers as a whole. Remember that at Kona, not counting the lottery winners, all the age groupers had to qualify for Kona in the first place, usually with a sub 10 hour IM. There are some age groupers at Kona that are better than many pros.

While I think LA is going to do very well, I won't be suprised if he doesn't win, and I also won't be suprised if he gets beat by a couple of age groupers.

he will have a 30 mins lead or more afterbike spit

he will have a 30 mins lead or more afterbike spit

Is the "AFTERBIKE SPIT" a new part of the tri? Sorry, I am tired and it looks like somthing I would do. :p

Is it a distance you have to Spit after you get off the bike? Or possibly a different sport thrown in that I don't know of.

he will have a 30 mins lead or more afterbike spit

i would agree...but its split

Not at Kona. The age groupers at Kona are not a good representative sample of age groupers as a whole. Remember that at Kona, not counting the lottery winners, all the age groupers had to qualify for Kona in the first place, usually with a sub 10 hour IM. There are some age groupers at Kona that are better than many pros.

While I think LA is going to do very well, I won't be suprised if he doesn't win, and I also won't be suprised if he gets beat by a couple of age groupers.

i would still say he would beat anyone in his age group, i think that if he doesnt win, it wont be by much. of course his first one might not come together perfectly but by the time he is at Kona, he should be winning or finishing top 5 overall. thats just my opinion though.

I think he will struggle.
The heat and humidity at Kona will slaughter him on the run.
He will be unable to use his bike talent to the max as he will have to save so much in the tank for the run. Plus 180km time trials are not a major part of a pro cyclist's diet.
His best stand-alone marathon time is 'only' 2.46.
He's not getting any younger.

But obviously I wish him all the best - one of the best athletes in any discipline of all time. Plus, that group ride invitation thing he did up in Scotland recently was extremely cool!

i would still say he would beat anyone in his age group, i think that if he doesnt win, it wont be by much. of course his first one might not come together perfectly but by the time he is at Kona, he should be winning or finishing top 5 overall. thats just my opinion though.

Oh, he would beat me, but remember, all the (non-lottery) age groupers at Kona are sub 10 hour IM'ers (or thereabouts) and they aren't doing too shabby.

Sure, I think Lance is a great cyclist, and long ago, he was a very talented triathlete, but it takes some good training to bring it all back, and put it together.

I would be surprised by a top 5 at Kona, or an AG win. He is in the most competitive age groups M30-34 and M35-39and there are some fast guys in those groups.

RT @lancearmstrong (javascript:processAJAX('gadget.asp','lancearmstrong','1','8','','')): Hey LA -... get on your bikes. Time to ride. 7:30 tomorrow am. Griffith Park, LA Zoo parking lot. See you there..

Is the drugs testing less stringent in the Ironman?

he will have a 30 mins lead or more afterbike spit

Uhhhh I have serious doubts he will have anywhere near that kind of lead off the bike especially that he probably WON'T be first out of the water and 7 TDFs or not he would have to be like 3+ mph faster than his closest rival, meanwhile the top 20 last year at Kona were split by less than 1 mph. Lance is great, but that would be superhuman...

Point being if Lance is in the lead off the bike it won't be a large one.

Lance's response in the interview says it all.

I don't think he has a shot at cracking even the top 10 at IM.

Look at the ex-pro cyclists who have recently done IM...Laurent Jalabert (has won KOM and Green at TdF) and Kai Hundtermark....I don't think either of them were in the top 10 for the bike split.

On top of that, the top guys are putting in marathon splits that are as quick as LA's JUST marathon.