2017 TOPS FOR SWIM, BIKE, RUN, TRANSITION
“LANGE CONTINUES TO CALMLY EXECUTE A TOPS GAME PLAN ON HIS TERMS.”
Let’s look at Patrick Lange, 2017’s winner. Ten per cent of his race time was spent in the water, like many pros. Then, notably, he spent almost 56 per cent of his racing time on the bike. What does that mean? His TOPS on the bike was not to be the fastest rider of the day. He stuck to a strategy that would not be influenced by other competitors near him. He knew he’d catch them on the run.
In contrast look at TOPS for Lionel Sanders, the second place finisher, particularly, his bike TOPS. This guy raced up Palani Drive in overdrive and rode the course like a rocket, finishing with a 4:14 bike split. Unfortunately, that represented only 52.5 per cent of his racing time. Unfortunately, because that meant he was worn down enough to spend 35 per cent of his racing time on the marathon.
Sanders’s bike split TOPS was 3.3 per cent less than Lange’s. Sanders got on the run course about 10 minutes faster than Lange. But, his race was practically lost from the start. Lange continues to calmly execute a TOPS game plan on his terms. Lange ran his marathon 12 minutes faster than Sanders, who lost by two minutes and 27 seconds.
In retrospect, looking at the data, Lange executed what we’re beginning to consider an
excellent TOPS triathlon.