Six-percent improvements
I think most of us think a six-percent improvement is not too much to ask. After all, if you can run an eight-minute mile, you are only improving to 7:30. If you can do a 1:10, 40k TT, you are only trying to improve to about 1:06. These things all seem doable.
What happens if six percent is all you need to qualify for Kona? Is it easy? After all, if you are six percent away from qualifying you are already pretty fast. As you get faster, improvements are harder to come by. Especially a six-percent improvement. After all, the Tour de France is usually decided by less than 1 percent.
Well, our very own Mike Biarnesen finds himself in this situation. Based on Moo 2006 he was about six percent away from going to Kona. It is a hard number for me to fathom as I am not even six percent away from being in the top 50 percent. The question is at such a high level, can he do it? I think he can.
First, Mike doesn’t make excuses for his day (nor anything else). He takes it for what it is. He knows that having a perfect day at Ironman is rare, so you just have to deal with the day. He could easily point to the fact he got sea sick on the swim and it caused him to have dry heaves in the water… but he doesn’t. He could easily point to the fact the sickness caused him to have an unusually long T1, but he doesn’t. He could also point to the fact that his stomach bothered him for the rest of the day… but he doesn’t. Instead, he takes his time for what it is. He doesn’t live in the “what ifs” realm as he knows every athlete, even those ahead of him, can say the same thing.
Second, Mike is a competitior and in great shape right now and still focused on IM. I highly doubt he will have a relaxed off-season on the things that matter. Sure, he may not work out as much as he did in training for IM (he really will cut back unless he is crazy), but I am sure he is aware that keeping weight off, staying fit, ect is even more important now than it was before. I expect his off-season will be focused on IM, but also knowing he needs to balance life.
Third, he has the fever. It is rare that a person comes off of one IM thinking about another one within a week. Mike has caught the fever. He has a twinkle in his eye talking about Moo 2006 and the possibility of another IM in the future.
So, I think Mike will be focused and continue to improve. Can he improve by the six percent needed? Of course he can. I have confidence that he will as a matter of fact. Hopefully, his competition isn’t thinking the same thing.
I do know that Mike will give it his best shot in the off-season, training and his next Ironman. Hopefully next time around “the day” brings him a Kona slot.