Who’s winning the “psych” war heading into Kona?
A look at some of the pre-race training and preparations the pro men are doing leading into the Ironman World Championship in Kona
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Strava
Those of us who have been in the sport for a long time remember the days when the sport’s best pros would disappear for six to eight weeks leading up to the Ironman World Championship in Kona. Hawaii. Dave Scott would famously disappear for a bit, then arrive in Kona looking incredibly fit and ready to add yet another title to his resume. Scott Molina famously told reporters after he won in Kona in 1988 that he “didn’t want to tell you what I did to prepare because I want you to think of me as a sane human being.” Rumour had it that intense, long rides in extreme heat were the norm for his prep that year.
Back in those days, even those of us involved in the sport didn’t know that Molina’s wife, Erin Baker, and Paula Newby-Fraser, fierce Kona rivals, would sometimes train together up in Boulder.
The days of secretive training heading into the world championship appear to be long gone, though. In this new world where social media has become a major source of information (and for some pros, income), it’s easy for fans to keep track of what many pros are doing as they gear up for the Ironman World Championship. To the point where you have to wonder if one aspect of all this is to psych out the competition.
Gustav and Kristian’s big day in 2022
Two years ago the “psych” show was definitely going on in the men’s race as many people on the Big Island were talking about the huge workout that eventual champion Gustav Iden and third-place finisher Kristian Blummenfelt did just six days before the race.
“Last Sunday [a week before the race] I had my final big session in the super shoes,” Iden told his shoe sponsor On in an interview posted after the race. “That was 40 km at race pace and obviously, you’re tired afterwards. But I think the Clouds saved my feet because I was ready to push quite hard again already on Wednesday. And now today [in the race] I was feeling good from the start.”
The Norwegian Kona did the 40 km effort alongside countryman Blummenfelt, then the reigning Olympic gold medalist and winner of the Ironman World Championship St. George in May.
“Yesterday [Sunday] we ran 40km at race pace,” Blummenfelt told 220 Triathlon. “He was quite strong and with 5 mins to go we said: ‘Should we sprint now?’ and he was like: ‘No, let’s wait until next weekend.’”
2024 Psych list
With a few weeks to go before this year’s men’s Ironman World Championship in Kona there’s been lots of documented workouts and training to keep track of. Here’s some of what we’ve noticed:
The Kristian and Gustav show
A look at Blummenfelt‘s and Iden’s Strava accounts will make you feel like even the hardest training day you’ve done in your life is just a trifle compared to what the Norwegians are doing in Arizona over the last few weeks. On October 6th an 86.83 km ride with 950 m of climbing (Blummenfelt’s average was 36.5 km/h) was followed by a 25 km effort that included 1 km intervals on the track. Blummenfelt’s 23rd km was a 3:05, while the 24th km took him just 3:03. The average pace for the entire workout was 3:45/ km, which included an 11 minute w’down kilometre effort!
While Iden’s times weren’t quite as quick, he’s showing that he’s bouncing back from his injury – he had a bunch of km efforts in the 3:30 range during his “shortened” version of the workout – 20:31 km at an average of 4:15/ km.
Lest you are worried that Iden might not be a podium factor in Kona, take heart with his Oct. 9 run with Blummenfelt in which he averaged 3:59 km for the 22.62 km of running that included a bunch of 3:20 km efforts. Not to be outdone, Blummenfelt added 3 km to the tun, averaged 3:51, and once again dropped the pace down to 3:04 for one km, but also had a 3:11, a 3:09 and a 3:07 along the way.
“Fastest bike on the planet”
Reigning Ironman world champ Sam Laidlow sent out a different message to the competition a couple of days ago, posting a video on some aero testing he did at a velodrome in Spain. The video blurs out the new handlebars and suit he’ll be wearing in Kona, but Laidlow makes it clear that the day of testing was a huge success and he’ll be faster than ever along the Queen K in a few weeks.
Remember that Laidlow is already the bike course record holder on the Big Island, thanks to his 4:04:36 split in 2022 that helped him to the runner-up finish between the two Norwegians.
The gear that helped Sam Laidlow set a new bike course record in Kona
Will the video get the competition to try and up their game and possibly make some last minute changes to their rides inKona?
Kona Vlogs
Canadian Lionel Sanders (and his videographer Talbot Cox) have what is likely the sport’s most successful YouTube channel, with 184,000 subscribers. The pair are on a roll with the popular Kona Vlog series, which has been documenting Sanders’ training as he prepares for another run at the Kona title. The sixth in the series just got posted, featuring a 5 km open water swim, but yesterday’s post, (embedded below) offered up a reminder to the competition that Sanders, when he’s on, can be a formidable athlete. A “planned 3.5-hour ride turned into a 5-hour brick session to test his nutrition …” – how’s that for a sign to the rest of his competition that his training is going well?
Ditlev’s Boulder prep
Denmark’s Magnus Ditlev has been quietly getting the message out that his training is going well through the occasional post on Instagram. He’s just finishing up a five-week altitude camp, and has been steadily ramping up the Ironman-distance efforts at 2,700 m of altitude.
View this post on Instagram
Lange’s happy place
Patrick Lange has enjoyed more than a few impressive Kona performances, typically after a training camp in The Woodlands (home of Ironman Texas). He’s back in his happy spot, posting some impressive bike and run sessions of his own. His Instagram feed also includes lots of photos from training camps, including one in Mallorca a few weeks ago.
On Tuesday he nailed a 134-km bike ride, averaging just under 36 km/ hour and nailing a bunch of segment PBs along the way.
For the most part, though, you won’t glean much from Lange’s posts – just enough to know that he’s fit, but not enough to know how fit. That’s probably exactly the way he wants it – as long as everyone’s afraid he’s going to run a sub-2:30 marathon on the Big Island, they’ll push that much harder on the bike.
No one cares … Indoor heat sessions and more
Another Kona contender, Rudy Von Berg, let us know about one of his Kona build sessions – an indoor heat session in his garage.
View this post on Instagram
A month ago Von Berg posted a video during a long climb. “No one cares just show up and show up fit and fast and then maybe some will care.”
At the end of the day, the American is right. There’s no awards for the person who trained the hardest, or posted the best video about their training leading up to the big day.
It is fun to watch it all develop, though.