How fast could Dathan Ritzenhein finish an ironman off no training?

I bet if drops some water bottles from his fuel belt he could speed up a bit.

Kinda like a hot air balloon dropping sand bags.

Which raises an interesting question. Why not add ballooning to the tri? Think of all the wonderful gear and nice, pretty colors! ;)

I think he could do it for sure. Maybe not 10 hours, but close.

does he even know how to swim? If not, kinda makes the "no training" part a no starter.

Go to the IM site and watch some video - the guys winning these things look more like Ritz than they do Arnold. Do yourself a favor and lose 10 pounds of that muscle you like to think you need so badly.

Aside from showing him the wonders of EPO, one positive out of Lance's cancer nightmare was that it leaned him out and made him a better cyclist.

I bet Dathan could bike close to 20 miles an hour for 112. I biked 100 at 18 miles an hour and I only bike when I'm in my time off from running (three weeks out of the year). He is an aerobic machine and I have to believe anyone with his athletic talent and mileage base could at the very least keep up with the mid packers on the bike.

The main problem is the swim, I think he can finish the swim, but it would not be very quick of course. I've seen people swim around 28-30 minutes off minimal to no training for 2.5 miles in the pool. I bet he could do just well enough to keep him in the race for the marathon where I think he could run 7 minute pace in his sleep.

So let's see:

30 minute swim = 30 minutes

2 minute transition time = 32 minutes

18.6 mph bike(6 hours, which isn't that fast)= 7hrs 2mins

2 minute transition time= 7hrs 4mins

2:55 marathon(in case he has trouble going 6:40s)= 9hrs 59mins

Dathan is the same size as a lot of iron man competitors. Just because you over weight, out of shape guys compete in your local triathlon during a mid-life crisis doesn't mean that you have the ideal body type.

Also, get off your high horse, an Olympic distanced triathlon isn't even that hard. A friend of mine jumped into a triathlon on a whim a 2 weeks before the event. He found out I was doing it and decided he needed to do something crazy. He ran cross country in high school for one year with a max mileage total of 35 per week. I know because I was on his team. Before his triathlon, he had 10 weeks of 35 miles a week from high school (10 years ago) and a weight lifting program at the local gym that contained a 3 session per week cycle alternating between abs, back/chest, and arms. My point is, he did basically nothing aerobically and completed the entire triathlon (behind me of course :) ).

I had another friend who won a triathlon even though it took him 10 minutes to change from his biking snaps to his running shoes. Now he gets free entry into that race for life. Triathlons are fun, but certainly nothing more impressive than finishing your local turkey trot.

With that said, you people don't think Dathan can even FINISH an iron man? That's crazy. I bet he would beat the majority of you guys in an Olympic distance triathlon as well.

....I've seen fat, 45 year old women finish a triathlon.

Michael Phelps can't swim 2.4 miles in 30 minutes. You are in idiot.

1 hour 151 minutes.

Yes, he would beat the majority of triathletes in a triathlon. However, Simon Whitfield would win many road races if he entered them. With NO training, Dathan would swim 28 minutes, bike 1:08-1:10 for a 40k, and run 32 off the bike. With 2minutes of transitions, this would put him at 2:10-2, a respectable time, but a time that the top age group females can easily best.

I double on that, i swim hard every day and i think you just hit my offense button with 2.4 miles in 30 minutes. I know luc van lierde, he was an almost olympic quality swimmer before he turned to triathlon in the IM though but he is one of the best swimmers in the Ironman or at least was with times of 44' on 3800 meters before riding and running. He still swam 20 000 - 25 000 meters a week even after his professional swimming carreer just to get there.

Ritz wouldn't fare to well in OD with his cycling and running and he would still need to learn to swim.

With just 8 weeks of training buster did a 1 hour 52 OD triathlon and he had a triathlon background so some of his muscle fibers in his arms where still there. Second he knew how to swim. Third he swam 5000 meters 5 days a week every morning with a lot of cycling and some running i guess. Fourth he has a better build for triathlon at 72 kg and 6'2". Though build doesn't always say a lot. I would give short alan webb a win against buster in the triathlon if both trained for 2 months from now on.

Also don't expect running moves over to competition cycling. My cycling base is great as a runner. At lower speeds like 18 mph my heart rate would be low for me at 125 bpm. But when i go to 24 mph i break down. I would need a serious cycling base to ride most of the triathlon race over 24 mph. Same goes for most pro's.

I know a really good runner that converted to triathlons after long nothing and he shined there. National level good with a 3'48" 1500 at the age of 17 of low training but then quit and did nothing for 10 years. now he is ruling the medium distance circuit pumping out half ironman's at 3 h 55 to 4 h 05 with just 12 hours of training a week. Some modest swims (his worst) just 2 - 3 bike rides and 4 runs every week. He tears down local pro's that get sleep eat train the whole day and don't do anything else. if his swimming would improve 8 minutes from 30' to 22' he would beat all triathletes in my country.

So i think a good running base would serve equally good as a good swimming base in triathlon. Personally i think a good cycling base is worst as you initially do good but have a hard time to improve from then on.

My experience further as a runner are that of just one bike ride i went on to do a 2 hour 09 first triathlon.

I can swim and i can run. If you can run it is easy to hold on to it in a triathlon if you learn to dose in cycling. In cycling little is gained by riding at 5 bpm higher heart rate but a lot is lost in the run. I had a really slow bike ride at 1 h 14.

I think the Olympic distance and Ironman distance races discussions are bleeding together here. 30 minutes is a pretty easy swim time to make for a 1500M Olympic distance swim on pure technique and zero fitness if you've got any sort of competitive swim background, even if you haven't been in the pool in years.

As for the Ironman distance races and relative speed, there's no direct open water elite analog for 2.4 miles, but if a guy wants to be a contender in the 5K at open water worlds, he needs to swim 54 minutes. In comparison, it's rare to see the FOP Ironman swimmers break 50 minutes for a significantly shorter distance.

Ritz, IIRC, did some swimming/tris as a middle school kid, so he probably could bluff his way through an Iron distance swim and make the cutoff time without much worry.

Tri-guy wrote:

If he would start cycling 4 times a week with wattage and is capable after three months of riding 300 watt sub maximally on the bike (considering his running talent it seems a possibility) i guess he would be capable of putting in 200 - 210 watt on the bike. A good bike he would get. That would put him up for a 5h 10 - 5 h 15 ride on an american ironman.

A 300 watt bike is pretty bright for a Newby.