Ironman Florida 2008

That was the subject of A. Mathew Luebbers master's thesis, published one year ago. Male, English-speaking non-elite, ironman-distance triathletes were surveyed using an on-line questionnaire for descriptive characteristics, race history, and training history. Useable results were then sorted into high, mid, or low success groups by their race time or their race place by age-group (n=39, age 35.0±5.9 y).

Successful athletes with lower finish times had significantly:

• Lower body weights and lower BMI values at all heights
• Higher swim distance in training
• Higher bike distance in training
• Higher run distance in training
• More experience (i.e., more previous non-Ironman distance race finishes)

So there's no magic key revealed by this study - lose weight and train hard with high volumes in all three sports is the key to success! If it points out any one discipline to focus on, total bike training mileage had the strongest (negative) correlation with race finish time. Ride long!