oprfcc wrote:
He just did a half ironman in 4:01 two weeks ago. It was a fast course and almost 20 minutes behind the winner. But it is a very solid time that you can't do without significant aerobic work.
A lot more aerobic work than you "need" for a 1:03. He has some good turnover. If you have the turnover, triathlon training will take you pretty far.
That assessment is a bit unfair to Chad’s half Ironman. First, he competed as non pro. He was less than 18 minutes from the first pro (Lionel Sanders - one of the best in the world). Second, as a non pro, his swim to bike transition time is longer since the bike is usually not located as well (approx 1:30 diff). In spite of this, he beat more than half of the pros. He was the first non pros.
Only a couple of the pros had a faster bike leg (Sanders, Lagerstrom, Yoder and a couple other guys). He also had one of the strongest run leg. His swimming sucks. He was 10 minutes slower than the top pros on the swim.
Yes, Chad is good enough to compete with the pros. If he improved his swim, he could be a top pro. For example, he virtually had the same time on the bike as the guy in third and was one minute faster than him on the run.