Mastering the Kona Run
What’s the winning run strategy at the Ironman World Championship
Bike for show, run for dough. The run along the Queen K at the Ironman World Championship serves as a stark reminder of how true that saying is. Thorsten Radde and Daniel Plews delve into the stats behind a winning run on the Big Island.
“BIKE FOR SHOW, RUN FOR DOUGH” has been one of the mantras of Ironman racing, especially in Kona. There have been very few occasions when a superb performance on the bike has secured a Kona title; almost all races have been decided by the athlete with the best marathon. But what is the best approach for pacing the run? Go out quick and give yourself a lead going into the second half? Or start a bit easier, saving your legs for the final 10 km? A look at intermediate run splits from some of the leading athletes at Kona in 2018 and 2019 provide some common themes and the implications of the data for future races.
In order to discuss different pacing strategies, we use pacing charts to show how athletes raced the Kona marathon. These show the pace of an athlete for eight segments of the marathon (3 L miles each, except for a shorter closing section). These paces have been calculated from the official timing mats in Kona. As the number and position of these mats changes from year to year, sometimes a bit of tweaking is needed to make the data comparable between different years.
The second twist is the “0 to 10 mile pace” that we use as a basis for comparing the different segments. The first 10 miles give a good indication of the “best case scenario:” Almost everyone starts out a bit quick on relatively fresh legs. That section, though, also includes not just the section on Ali’i Drive along the ocean (rolling, but relatively flat, with lots of spectators and a slightly cooling breeze), but also the big uphill on Palani Road (at about mile 7.2 of the current run course) and a few more rollers on the hot Queen K Highway. Overall, the first 10 miles are a good indication of the tough conditions on the Kona run course.