Written by: Matt Fitzgerald

Click here to learn more about the book.

Based on these standards, anyone would have considered what Dave Scott and Mark Allen achieved in the 1989 Ironman World Championship, forever remembered as Iron War, to be impossible. Allen won the race in 8:09:15, demolishing Scott’s record by nearly 20 minutes. Scott finished second, just 58 seconds back, after having raced at his rival’s side for the first 138.9 miles of the 140.6-mile contest. Allen’s and Scott’s marathon splits were 2:40:04 and 2:41:02, respectively. Third-place finisher Greg Welch did not cross the line until 23 minutes after Allen had.

Impossible is impossible. When athletes do the seemingly impossible, they are actually redefining the possible. Put another way, they are exposing existing limits as illusions. But the question remains: How were Dave Scott and Mark Allen able to push so far beyond the illusory limit of Dave Scott’s 8:28:37 event record in their unforgettable Iron War?

RELATED – Iron War: Uncut Interview With Dave Scott And Mark Allen

I spent a year trying to answer this question in writing my newly published book, Iron War: Dave Scott, Mark Allen & The Greatest Race Ever Run. Part of the answer I arrived at is that fatigue—the ultimate performance limiter in endurance sports—is voluntary. Fatigue is not itself an illusion, but it is essentially a choice. Every athlete must make the choice to submit to fatigue at some point, but the most motivated and mentally strong athletes are sometimes able to resist making that choice better than they ever have before, and that’s when records are broken.

Fatigue in an event such as Ironman never feels like a choice, but scientists have proven it is. Among the more powerful proofs is a study conducted by an exercise physiologist named Samuele Marcora. In this study, Marcora asked athletes to hop on stationary bikes and perform a pair of all-out five-second sprints. The first sprint was performed in a fresh and rested state. But the second sprint was performed immediately after the athletes had ridden to complete exhaustion at a high but sub-maximal intensity. Basically, these athletes were required to pedal at a high, fixed wattage until they were totally wrecked and could not sustain the required output a second longer. They were then immediately required—without forewarning—to perform the second all-out sprint.

Written by: Matt Fitzgerald

Trust me, I’ve tried it. Several years ago I raced the Los Angeles Triathlon. The night before the competition I stayed with a friend who happened to live within walking distance of the start line in Santa Monica. Somehow I managed to sleep through two alarms. When my host came into my room to rouse me, it was 10 minutes before my wave start time. I threw myself together, dashed out the door and sprinted to the beach. Having missed my wave, I joined the next, the only blue swim cap-wearing fool in a sea of green swim caps.

I did not have a good race. The main problem was not that I had missed my usual warm-up or that I simply hadn’t been awake long enough to function well; it was that I had been forced to skip breakfast.

The pre-triathlon meal is important. It has a couple of important jobs to do. The first job is bringing your liver glycogen stores and blood glucose concentration up to top levels. During the night your body’s precious carbohydrate fuel stores are reduced by your nervous system, which runs on glucose. Therefore when you wake up after the overnight fast your liver glycogen stores and blood glucose concentration have been brought down to levels that are less than optimal for finishing a triathlon. But a high-carbohydrate meal can restore those fuel reserves in a jiffy.

When you wake up in the morning your body is also not in the ideal hormonal state for racing. In Hardwired for Fitness, authors Robert Portman and John Ivy point out that, first thing in the morning, before breakfast, large amounts of the stress hormone cortisol are flowing through the body. A high-carbohydrate meal brings cortisol levels down and releases insulin, the fuel-injection hormone that delivers carbs to working muscles during a triathlon.

It takes a fairly large amount of carbohydrate to do these jobs optimally. Research supports 150 grams, or 600 calories, of carbohydrate intake in the pre-triathlon meal. The problem is that it takes a little time to digest and absorb that much food, and it is important that the pre-race meal be cleared from the stomach before the race starts, or you’re likely to experience GI distress during the race. Most experts recommend consuming a pre-triathlon meal of that size three hours before the race start. That means 4:00 am, if your wave starts at 7:00. Ouch!

But what about sleep? Isn’t that important too? There’s the rub. It’s next to impossible to maximize both pre-race fueling and rest before an early-morning triathlon. Some triathletes creatively work through this conundrum by setting two alarms for different times. They set one for, say, 3:00 am. Upon hearing it they sit up in bed and eat a banana or drink a high-carb meal replacement drink. Then they go back to sleep and wake up again, for good, when the second alarm sounds at, say, 5:00 am. At that time they consume a second dose of carbohydrate. This way they get something close to the maximum amount of carbohydrate and the maximum amount of sleep.

The only problem with this strategy is that pre-race nerves prevent some athletes from falling asleep again after that first alarm goes off. But if nerves are not a huge issue for you, this approach may be worth a try.

The only other alternatives are sacrificing sleep and sacrificing carbs. That is, you either “sleep in” and necessarily consume a smaller pre-race meal (say, 75 grams of carbs two hours before your waves start) or wake up an hour earlier to eat a larger meal. You must make this choice based on your individual needs. Let’s look at a historical example of what I mean.

The past year of my life was spent learning everything I could about the legendary triathletes Dave Scott and Mark Allen for my newly published book, Iron War: Dave Scott, Mark Allen & The Greatest Race Ever Run. Now, Dave Scott was known for his huge appetite—his hollow leg was a major theme in many of the profiles written about him in the 1980s. Mark Allen, on the other hand, was a huge sleeper—his 10-hours-a-day habit was the theme for one Sports Illustrated article about him. On the morning of their epic showdown at the 1989 Ironman, Dave Scott woke up at four o’clock and ate three slices of dry toast and three bananas. Mark Allen woke up an hour later and ate a much smaller breakfast. Both men broke the Ironman course record by more than 18 minutes that day, in part because each had done what was best for him.

So, the question to ask yourself in planning your pre-triathlon meal strategy is, essentially: “Am I like Dave Scott or am I like Mark Allen?”

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Matt Fitzgerald is the author of Iron War: Dave Scott, Mark Allen & The Greatest Race Ever Run (VeloPress, 2011). He is also a Coach and Training Intelligence Specialist for PEAR Sports. Find out more at mattfitzgerald.org.

Those are pretty big footsteps to walk in, right? Drew, an emerging triathlon talent, isn’t ruffled by the prospect. “I don’t feel like there’s pressure to do as well as he did or win Hawaii,” says Drew, who will begin his junior year at CU Boulder this fall. “He never pressured me to get into triathlon; I just jumped into it on my own, and I put pressure on myself. I’m sure some people have expectations, but it doesn’t really affect me, I just want to do well and have fun along the way.”

Scott most recently won the elite amateur division at the Boulder Peak Triathlon. Photo: Holly Bennett

He’s certainly done better than “well.” He was the first finisher in the amateur elite division at the Boulder Peak triathlon, his best showing to date. “I knew I was in the best shape I’ve ever been in, so I expected to do well,” says Drew. “ It was the perfect race for me. I was able to establish a gap on the bike and hold on for the run.” He also won his age group at this year’s Ironman 70.3 Buffalo Springs, qualifying for Kona.

PHOTOS: Dave Scott’s Search For Meaning

He’s completed three half-ironman races, but says he stills struggles with dialing in his nutrition “so I can have a good race across all three disciplines and not fall apart on the run, which is what has happened in my last few races.”

As a kid, Drew remembers being in Kona and watching his dad race. He even did a few youth triathlons just for fun. In high school, his sport of choice was cross country, and he swam in a summer league. It wasn’t until a few years ago that he began riding a bike in earnest. Most recently, his focus has been Nordic skiing, and he was a member of the ski team at Montana State University in Bozeman, where he formerly was a student. “From August through April I wasn’t riding my bike or swimming at all,” says Drew. And once he was able to devote time to his other sports and was beginning to feel strong on the bike and in the pool, it was time to rededicate himself to Nordic skiing.

No longer.

HITS, Inc. today announced the HITS Triathlon Series, the first race series to feature five distances at each event, with events taking place at unique destinations every month of the year. Designed for seasoned triathletes as well as first-timers, HITS Triathlon Series offers a distance for everyone.

Six-time Ironman World Champion Dave Scott will serve as a key advisor and spokesperson for the HITS Triathlon Series. Scott will also provide custom training programs, tips and more for race participants.

“HITS Triathlon events are the best option for triathletes who want to race competitively in a single category or challenge themselves with a greater distance,” said Scott. “I’ve seen the sport of triathlon grow tremendously in the last decade and believe that the HITS Triathlon Series will open the sport to countless others.”

Unlike other triathlon events, HITS Triathlon Series events include five distances during a single weekend ranging from the beginner in the HITS Open (100-meter swim, 3-mile bike, 1-mile run) to the experienced triathlete in the USAT sanctioned Sprint, Olympic, Half and Full distances.

The first triathlon series with an event every month of the year, the HITS Triathlon series takes place at 12 locations  around the country. It begins in Palm Springs, California on December 3, 2011, culminating with a National Championship in the same location one year later.

Read more: HITS Triathlon Series

Check back to Triathlete.com later for an interview with HITS founder Tom Struzzieri.

Drew Scott spent the past few years focusing his athletic aspirations on cross country skiing at Montana State, but now it looks like he’s going into the family business after all.

Scott’s father, Dave, is a six-time Kona Ironman champion. Drew’s grandfather, Verne Scott, is one of the pioneers of the sport. Drew Scott, 20, qualified for the Kona Ironman two weeks ago at a half Ironman in Lubbock, Texas, and Sunday he won the elite amateur wave of the Boulder Peak Triathlon.

“It ended up being a good day for me,” said Scott, who finished the Olympic distance event in 2 hours, 34 seconds. Runner-up Jim Hallberg was 30 seconds behind.

Putting elite amateurs into a separate wave was a new wrinkle this year that made it easier on the top amateurs, because they weren’t in different age groups.

“I think it’s great they finally decided to add an elite amateur wave,” Scott said. “You know where you are. You’re not out there saying, ‘I feel like I’m going good, but who knows what place I’m in?’ ”

Until this year, triathlon was secondary to skiing for Scott and something he did in the summer. But he’s transferring to the University of Colorado, not to ski for the Buffs but to train like a triathlete year-round.

“I think it’s been a big step forward for me this summer,” Scott said. “I’ve finally committed to triathlon.”

Scott is coached by his father, who was there Sunday to watch his son and about 30 other athletes he coaches.

Read more: The Denver Post

Triathlon, essentially, grew up along with Dave Scott. He may not have made much money in those early days – his prize for winning the third-ever Hawaii Ironman was a T-shirt – but he gained lasting fame. Even now, with nearly a million people yearly competing in races of varying lengths and with top pros earning $110,000 for a Hawaii Ironman title, Scott’s accomplishments grow more storied to those immersed in the sport.

But Scott, who will be at the Swimstitute in Rancho Cordova, Calif., on April 30 for an intensive, two-day triathlon clinic, is hardly one to wallow in past glory.

Now living in Boulder, Colo., Scott, 57, has become one of the sport’s top coaches – guiding such pros at Chrissie Wellington and Matty Reed. He also travels the globe giving speeches and clinics about a sport he took up on a whim back in 1976 after graduating  from the University of California, Davis.

We recently talked with Scott by phone from Boulder, where he said “I’m just about to crack the whip on 35 (triathletes) in the pool.”

You’ve been called the Babe Ruth of the triathlon. Does that give you pride or just make you feel old?

I am old. When I started this sport, I really had no idea it’d become a bona fide sport and that it’d grow to the extent it has. It reached 72 countries now.

Read More: The Sacramento Bee

Whenever you put the word “greatest” in front of an athlete’s name, people start to bristle. And while it’s hard to pick the greatest male iron-distance triathlete of all time, Inside Triathlon magazine’s staff got to talking about our picks for the athletes to consider. In fairness, we’ve listed them in alphabetical order. Let us know who you think by contacting us on Twitter and Facebook. To subscribe, click here.

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Whenever you put the word “greatest” in front of an athlete’s name, people start to bristle. And while it’s hard to pick the greatest male triathlete of all time, Inside Triathlon magazine’s staff got to talking about our picks for the athletes to consider. In fairness, we’ve listed them in alphabetical order. Let us know who you think by contacting us on Twitter and Facebook. To subscribe, click here.

See also - Inside Triathlon: The 10 Greatest Female Triathletes Of All Time
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Written by: Courtenay Brown

Dave McGillivray, Susan Bradley-Cox and Dave Scott were inducted into the USA Triathlon Hall of Fame Saturday. Photo: USA Triathlon/Tom Kimmell

This weekend, USA Triathlon welcomed a third class of inductees into its Hall of Fame with a celebratory banquet at the historic Broadmoor Hotel in Colorado Springs. The event was largely retrospective, yet at the same time, its themes of participation and personality attested to the future and growth of our sport.

This year’s trio of inductees represents a true cross-section of triathlon. Susan Bradley-Cox: age grouper, coach, volunteer, and perhaps the world’s most decorated triathlete. Dave McGillivray: race director, athlete, visionary, and 2005 inductee into the Running USA Hall of Champions. Dave Scott: six-time Ironman World Champion and charismatic coach who needs no introduction (unless you are a child looking for Dave Scott the Astronaut, which has happened).

Photo montages and glowing introductions preceded each inductee’s acceptance speech on stage. The highlights were frequent and poignant, so much so that the event ran well past its slated 9 p.m. endpoint.

Susan Bradley-Cox recounted her athletic history with humility that belied her athleticism. She spoke of Team USA with the spirit of a true team-player (and her photo montage evidenced the depth of her commitment to red, white and blue!). She went to the first World Championship Triathlon in Avignon, France, because she wanted to help her sport get into the Olympics. In the process, she became a world champion.

Dave McGillivray spoke with a rapidity and levity that left no doubt as to how one man could run across the United States, run a 3:14 marathon blindfolded, direct over 850 events, and, at the age of 56, parent a 1 year-old child. As a teenager, McGillivray posted a sign over his bed, begging “please God, make me grow”, so that he could play sports without being cut. While his physical stature certainly did not grow, his morality and character did.

Dave Scott’s segment began in a surprisingly appropriate way. “It is one thing to question the official story,” spoke a familiar yet misplaced voice through the speakers, “and another thing entirely to make wild accusations, or insinuate that I’m a superhero… The truth is… I am Iron Man.”

Well done, USA Triathlon, well done. Along with this quote from the Robert Downey Jr. film Iron Man II was, of course, an instrumental version of the Black Sabbath song Iron Man.

What followed was a heartwarming tribute to both the Scott family and the sport of triathlon as a whole. As Jane Scott introduced her brother, and as Dave Scott spoke of his career and of his father, 2009 USAT Hall of Fame inductee Verne Scott, the family collaboration was clear. Further, one couldn’t help but admire how one man’s spirit and tenacity has shaped what is now a global sport. To paraphrase the words of his sister, Dave created the life of his dreams and shared it with the world.

Sharing and participation were indeed the messages of the evening. These are very positive themes, and they speak to triathlon’s longevity, but one has to wonder why “The Big Four”, Dave Scott, Mark Allen, Scott Molina and Scott Tinley, were not all inducted together. The other three are sure to be Hall of Famers soon enough. Inducting all four together would have made a truly remarkable evening of lessons, storytelling and reliving athletic achievements that remain incredible some 20 years later.

Nevertheless, the 2011 USA Triathlon Hall of Fame banquet succeeded in celebrating three people who have made triathlon what it is today, and who continue to improve the sport. Dave McGillivray encapsulated the tenacious spirit of this Hall of Fame class perfectly. “My greatest accomplishment,” he said, “is my next one.”

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Pick up a copy and find:

The issue is on newsstands now!

- An analysis of the bike that Chris McCormack used to win Kona.

- How six-time Kona world champion Dave Scott is finding his place in a new age of triathlon.

- A photo gallery and analysis of the 2010 Ironman World Championships.

- A profile of two-time Olympic medalist Bevan Docherty as he looks toward 2012.

- A foolproof guide to altitude training.

- A look at how you can maximize your recovery efforts and increase your speed.

And more.

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Six-time Ironman champion Dave Scott, one of the most recognizable names in triathlon history, standout age group triathlete Susan Bradley-Cox and legendary race director Dave McGillivray have been selected as the third class of the USA Triathlon Hall of Fame, which will be honored at a January 2011 banquet in Colorado Springs.

The third annual USA Triathlon Hall of Fame banquet will be held in conjunction with the 2011 USA Triathlon Race Director Symposium on Jan. 15, 2011, at The Broadmoor. The festivities will run from 6-9 p.m., and tickets are on sale now online for $50. The event, which has sold out in each of the past two years, will be limited to around 200 attendees.

“USA Triathlon is thrilled to welcome this well-deserving and diverse class into our hall of fame. Susan Bradley-Cox, Dave McGillivray and Dave Scott are outstanding representatives of the multisport lifestyle, and we are incredibly grateful for their contributions to our sport,” said Chuck Graziano, chair of the USA Triathlon Hall of Fame Committee. “The hall of fame banquet has become a must-attend event on the multisport calendar, and we look forward to another full house this year.”

The USA Triathlon Hall of Fame was founded in 2008, and this year’s class will bring the total number of inductees to 13.

About the 2010 inductees:

Susan Bradley-Cox (age group triathlete):

Arguably the most decorated female age-grouper in U.S. triathlon history, Susan Bradley-Cox is the only athlete to be a member of Team USA at every ITU Age Group Olympic-distance World Championship contested – from 1989-2010. In all, Bradley-Cox has participated in 22 ITU world championship events, earning 18 medals and 11 age group world titles. At the national level, she has competed in 25 USA Triathlon National Championship events and owns 11 national titles. Bradley-Cox was second in her age group at the 1986 Ironman World Championship, setting a masters’ record in the process. Since beginning her triathlon career in 1982, she has competed in more than 200 triathlons. Bradley-Cox was named USA Triathlon Grand Master Athlete of the Year in 1997 and 1998 and was selected as Masters Triathlete of the Year by Triathlete magazine in 1997. Additionally, Bradley-Cox has served as the head coach of the Wildcat Masters Swim Team at the University of Kentucky for 19 years and has served as the Lexington (Ky.) triathlon coach for the Kentucky Leukemia/Lymphoma Society’s Team in Training for 10 years. She is also a founding member of the steering committee for the Susan Bradley-Cox Tri for Sight Triathlon, which donates all proceeds to eye research at the University of Kentucky. Bradley-Cox resides in Lexington, Ky.

Dave McGillivray (contributor):

Already an accomplished endurance athlete, Dave McGillivray directed his first triathlon in 1982 – the Bay State Triathlon in Medford, Mass., which drew the sport’s biggest names of the 1980s. Since then, McGillivray has served as the race director for more than 150 triathlons, including the Cape Cod Endurance Triathlon, which debuted in 1983 as what is believed to be the first ultra-distance event in the continental U.S. Additionally, McGillivray directed the second-ever ITU World Championship in 1990 in Orlando, Fla., and the 1998 Goodwill Games Triathlon in New York City. His New England Triathlon Series, which was comprised of one race in each of the six New England states, was one of the first triathlon series in the United States. McGillivray served as a member of the Tri Fed USA Board of Directors for seven years, was a member of the ITU Technical Committee for five years and has directed a number of ITU World Cup events in Bermuda and St. Thomas. McGillivray entered the 1980 Ironman after reading about the event in a 1979 Sports Illustrated article; he went on to complete the race eight times. Personally, he also completed the New England Run, a 1,522-mile triathlon around New England to benefit the Jimmy Fund of Boston. For 32 straight days, McGillivray swam a mile, biked 80 miles and ran 20 miles before finishing in front of 60,000 people in Foxboro Stadium. Also the director of the Boston Marathon, which he competes annually at night after his duties of race director have ended, McGillivray is the owner and president of Dave McGillivray Sports Enterprises, Inc. He resides in North Andover, Mass.

Dave Scott (pre-2000 elite triathlete):

One of triathlon’s most recognizable names, Dave Scott’s career began with inception of the sport in 1976. Scott is a six-time Ironman world champion, crossing the finish line first in Kona in 1980, 1982, 1983, 1984, 1986 and 1987. Well known for his epic duels with Mark Allen, Scott was the first-ever inductee into the Ironman Hall of Fame in 1993 and celebrated his induction in 1994 by coming out of retirement to place second in Kona at the age of 40. Scott also finished fifth at the 1996 Ironman World Championship at the age of 42. He also was inducted into the Triathlete Hall of Fame in 1999. A native of Davis, Calif., Scott currently resides in Boulder, Colo., where he coaches many multisport athletes, ranging from age-groupers to elites. Additionally, Scott continues his athletic and business passions through his involvement in corporate presentations, clinic presentations, marketing, instructional DVDs and as an author for numerous publications. Scott’s father, Verne, is also a member of the USA Triathlon Hall of Fame.

Kona Countdown continues, and in honor of his six wins in Kona, our sixth featured interview is with The Man, Mr. October, Dave Scott. He came on back in 2007 to talk about his first ever Ironman win back in 1980, the last year the event was on Oahu.

Click here to listen to the complete podcast.

According to a lawsuit filed in Boulder County District Court, Scott sustained “bodily injuries” and medical expenses after he crashed his bicycle into Ramona Sands’ BMW as she was making an illegal U-turn on May 16.

To read the complete story click here.

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With the black nothingness of the Big Island’s lava fields as a backdrop and an entourage of spectators on mopeds and bicycles hovering behind, Mark Allen and Dave Scott moved swiftly through the third act of the three-part Ironman play. Their swim times for 2.4 miles were 51:17 and 51:16 respectively. Bike splits? 4:37:52 and 4:37:53.

They began the 26.2-mile marathon in tandem, under a muggy haze – ideal conditions when compared to the usual blast-furnace-from-hell marathon heat the Hawaiian Triathlon Gods are famous for. The two made their bike-to-run transition at the Kona Surf Hotel, headed up the “what-joker-decided-to-put-this-sucker-here?” hill and settled into a little more one-on-one as they strung together sub-six-minute miles down Alii Drive.

“Dave set a really good pace through town,” recalls Mark Allen. “I remember thinking, ‘I don’t know, 26 miles at this pace is going to be pretty tough.”

Throughout the bike ride, Allen’s focus was totally on Scott. He ignored Wolfgang Dittrich of West Germany, who put two minutes between himself and the chase pack during the swim. Dittrich then rode off the front for 112 miles, his lead hovering around three minutes early, but dwindling down to less than two by the time he reached the Kona Surf and the bike-to-run transition. Behind him was a pack of riders that included Kenny Glah, Mike Pigg, Rob Mackle, Scott and Allen. Allen was in a zone of his own, lurking in the shadows, monitoring every move Scott would make.

“I never saw his face during the bike,” says Scott. There was no need for Allen to show his face. Scott KNEW he was there. After blowing up every time he’d tried to pull away from Scott in previous years, Allen was taking absolutely no chances.

“It was really difficult for me at first reconciling to the fact that I was going to have to run with him for 18-26 miles,” says Allen. But he knew there was no other way.

The two ran wordlessly along, the mobile spectators sensing the enormity of the performances they were witnessing. The best marathon ever at the Ironman was Scott’s 2:49. Allen had a best of 2:55. Both were running well under that pace as they reached the 17-mile turnaround at the inflatable Bud Light beer can. Nine miles to go, both athletes still in synch, only the sound of their breathing and of their shoes skidding every faster across the pavement breaking the silence.

The fans that followed the leaders did so like they were watching a horror file or awaiting a storm. Something was going to happen, but what would it be, and when?
Who would make the first move?

As Allen and Scott moved closer and closer to downtown Kona, the thought of a sprint to the tape must have must have been going through their heads, too. Their gap over the fast-closing Aussie Greg Welch was an insurmountable 20 minutes.  The only game in town was the one they were playing. But who would make the first move? And when?

“Mark had the inside track at the aid stations,” remembers Scott. “Mark would get aid and I’d have to slow down to get it. At mile 23 it happened again and Mark picked up the pace and opened up 20 feet on me. He looked over his should and could see he had a gap. I told myself that I had to come back. But it hurt to come back. Once I got up to him again I thought, ‘Okay, I’m back in the race.’ Psychologically, I did that to say, ‘Okay Mark, It’s not yours yet, you’ve got to earn it.”

Just at the base of the long hill into town, 24 miles into the run, Allen decided to earn it. Allen had decided beforehand that if the race was tight, if he was still with Scott at mile 24, the last grade would be his spot to make a move.

“He’d always be a little behind me on the uphills, so I thought, ‘All right, where’s the best uphill?’ I thought the best one was the last one into town. I started to push a little bit before the hill so see how he was feeling,” says Allen. “Right at the mile 99 highway marker I thought, ‘Okay this is it, man!’ I felt good. I felt that I could go hard for two miles.”

Hard enough to put 58 seconds between himself and the Lord of the Lava in the last two miles. And fast enough to erase a lot of past Ironman disappointment. He hammered down Pay and Save Hill, turned left and headed for home.

Allen needed an incredible 2:40:04 marathon  to hold off Dave “Never-Say-Die” Scott, who turned in a 2:41:03 – 18 minutes off his own course record – and, somehow, someway came up short.

To see the complete Countdown To Kona series click here.

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Written by: Mike Plant

It was hot. Somewhere along Hawaii’s Kona Coast a cool breeze was blowing, but there wasn’t a hint of it in the parking lot of the Kona Surf Hotel. Overhead, a clear, cloudless sky. The bright mid-day sun blazed, beating down on the head and necks and backs of the large crowd of volunteers and photographers. Video cameraman and reporters who had gathered to watch over 1,000 athletes trade the ridiculous for the simply impossible; trade a pair of soon-to-be damp and sweaty running shoes. For most onlookers, damp themselves in the steamy humidity, the emerge thought of walking to a nearby Pepsi Cola vendor was torture. The idea of running a mid-afternoon marathon was insane.

There were those who were willing, however. Paid for the privilege even. This was, after all, the Ironman Triathlon World Championship. Eight thousand fools from 31 countries had applied for entrance into the event and only 1,300 had received letters of acceptance. One thousand athletes started the race. Since the heat destroyed so may, some who go in would live to regret their “good fortune.” Some who had done the race before were stunned at how tough the event had come in just one year. Other first-timers were shocked to find that the Ironman was not only as nasty as everyone had said; it was much, much worse.

By quarter after one in the afternoon, the lead men had already arrived and departed. Mark Allen had been first, rolling in at approximately 10 minutes before the hour, wearing a face of almost dreamlike concentration. Dave Scott, in second place, was still several miles down the road. He wouldn’t arrive for nearly 12 minutes. In the smug words of one knowledgeable but grossly mistaken reporter, “Allen looked as if he could fall down and crawl half the marathon and still win.”

Allen was lean and very fit, well rested and very confident after his win over Dave Scott in Nice, France just four weeks earlier. Allen pedaled in the lead quickly, then proceeded to put minutes and miles between himself and second place. Lost in concentration as he spun his way through the bleak, lonely black lava desert, Allen had only the ABC camera van and a bike marshal or two on motor scooters for occasional company. Behind him, Scott seemed to be struggling. Almost everyone conceded the race to the skinny guy from Southern California. “The run is my strength,” says Allen. “In my mind, with the lead I had off the bike, there was absolutely no way Dave Scott was going to beat me.”

Allen started celebrating early in the marathon. “During the first 10K through town I was high giving my friends in the crowd,” he continues. “I was going to be the Ironman champion. At the bottom of Pay and Save hill I was still the Ironman champion. When I reached the top and started into the lava fields, I was completely out of gas. It’s hard to win the Ironman when you’re walking the marathon.”

In just minutes, he went from a sure winner of the most prestigious triathlon in the world to just another endurance freak trying to finish.

Scott insists that he though the race was over as well. That assertion is hard to believe considering the way Scott flew into and out of the Kona Surf parking lot with his singlet on backwards.
“This is my island,” Scott seemed to be saying. “This is my race.”

When the lead finally did change hands, a couple of miles before the turnaround at the 17-mile point, it happened very quickly. So quickly, in fact, that the ABC camera crew following the leaders got caught setting up for a static shot on the road, tearing things down and hopping in their van.

“We have a new leader in Dave Scott,” came the message crackling over the walkie talkie.

“Ahhh, we’ll check on that,” replies and embarrassed voice from the camera van.

What happened was very simple. Scott was running a sub-seven minute pace on his way to an Ironman marathon record. Allen was walking, jogging, talking himself into merely staying in the race.

To see the complete Countdown To Kona series click here.

The 2009 event is especially timely to the multi-sport community as two athletes have been recently struck by vehicles while on out training on their bikes. Duathlete Andrea Ratkovic was hit by a car traveling 50 mph while riding on May 11, and six-time Ironman world champion Dave Scott was struck by a car attempting to make a u-turn while riding on May 17. Both athletes are currently in the process of recovering.

To learn more about the Ride of Silence click here.

Inside Triathlon assistant editor Susan Grant caught up with Dave Scott regarding common nutrition mistakes, his new partnership with Forze GPS nutrition bars and his thoughts on world champ Chrissie Wellington’s future.

Inside Triathlon (IT): Looking back, how important overall was your focus on nutrition and nutrition strategy to your success as a triathlete?

Scott: I think nutrition was always paramount for my success. It was one small ingredient at first, but became larger as I began to focus on longer distances. It was key in the early 80s and 90s. Getting that unknown factor taken care of was important. Over time, it was an area that I could rule out and put a check by and know that it wouldn’t be an issue. Fifty percent of the calls that I get asking for advice are nutrition-related; it’s wild!

I think people often take in too much too soon or just not the right formulation and then they just shut down. In Half-Ironman and Ironman races, people think they need to tank-up before the race and they end up taking in too much.

IT: When you look at how today’s athletes prepare, what are some of the more common mistakes you see them making in regard to nutrition?

Scott: I think that one of the biggest things with nutrition is that all the carbohydrate drinks work just fine the way they are manufactured, and you don’t need to add more to them or dilute them to a certain concentration. The other part of the equation is that we know that the carb-to-protein ratio of four to one is key. The proteins helps preserve muscle glycogen and help you not pass water through your system too quickly.

Accelerade was kind of the catalyst of this carb-to-protein movement. Other stuff that I see athletes needing to improve on is overlooking those last three weeks of training and not including enough higher intensity leading up to the race. If you just rest and slow down for the weeks leading up to a race, I guarantee you will have a soft and slow race. Intensity has to be specific to all three of the sports.

IT: You’re now working with Forze GPS, which is a line of bars and drinks designed to be an appetite suppressant. Could you describe how the science works toward controlling an appetite and how a triathlete might use it?

Scott: It’s used during the periods when your hunger pangs are starting to rise and you are trying to control your food intake. Most people have these hunger pangs early to mid-afternoon. Like-say 3 p.m., when you are reaching for something, and often that something is 300 to 500 calories. If you look at the best athletes, the leanest athletes are the best athletes. Your VO2 goes up just by dropping weight. The science behind it is that there is a certain stomach peptide your body produces called cholecystokinin (CCK), which control appetite cravings and the feeling of being full. Certain foods are CCK-stimulating foods, such as those containing calcium, eggs, soy, milk, olive oil and oleic acid, but people tend to eat too much of these foods. The CCK in Forze bars and drinks make your brain say ‘I feel full’ and it works fast.

IT: What are your personal plans for this year? We understand you’ve been struggling with injury issues this past year.

Scott: I feel pretty good injury-wise for the first time in a long time. I had some calf and heel issues that weren’t fun, but now I am exercising a little bit. My motivation isn’t quite where it once was. People tend to want me to push a button and go. Last year I was really motivated to do Hawaii again, then I got this injury and I couldn’t do it. Now, all of the sudden I have all my injury issues resolved to where I can ride and run, and now it’s just a question of motivation. I travel too much. I have five weekends out of six where I travel. I don’t know if I am going to race, is what I’m really getting at.

IT: Chrissie Wellington is spending a lot of time in Boulder. What’s your impression of her as an athlete?

Scott: Chrissie is one in a million. I think she is going to clobber the women, not to discredit any of them, but she has “the gift.” I’ve only met a few triathletes like this; she is relentless and tenacious to the nth degree. She’s very interesting as well; she has evolved into this superwoman in an extremely difficult sport and why not let her exploit this to the nth degree for as long as she can?