These days, if you’re a male between the ages of 35 and 50, you’ve got to go sub – 10:30 (and probably sub- 10:15 to be on the safe side) if you want to qualify.
This means …. Around an hour for the swim (you can swim comfortably at 1:35 per 100 pace), six hours for the bike (18.7 mph), and a 3:15 marathon (7’26” per mile). In practice, Ironman transitions tend to be longer and you’ll probably need the odd comfort break, so your bike split will probably need to be nearer 5:45 which means you’ll need to average 19.5 mph. Unless you can currently comfortably finish an Olympic distance event in less than 2:26, you’re unlikely to make the Hawaii qualifying standard next year!
However, if you can finish an Olympic distance event in 2:30 at the moment, there’s every chance that you can qualify for Hawaii in 2011.
Why do I say that?
With a decent training program, there's every chance that you can knock off 5-10 minutes from your Olympic distance time in 2009 and another 5 minutes in 2010 when you could also step up to the half- ironman distance. If you can go sub 5:00 for a half-ironman by the end of the 2010 season, there's no reason you shouldn't be able to get a Kona slot in 2011.
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