The Half Ironman, also known as the Ironman 70.3, is one of the most challenging races around. It involves swimming, biking, and running a total of 70.3 miles, which is where the event gets its name.
All in all, a Half Ironman involves swimming 1.2 miles, biking 56 miles, and then running 13.1 miles: a half marathon. There’s no denying that it’s a massive endeavor.
People who have never competed in a race like this might wonder what the average Half Ironman time is and how long it will take to complete. As you might expect, the average time varies by age, weight, gender, and experience.
Fortunately, there are some tricks you can use to estimate your time as well as things you can incorporate into your training to get the best time possible, whether it’s your first half Ironman or the latest of many.
Average Half Ironman Times by Age and Gender
The average time it takes to complete a Half Ironman is dependent upon factors including your age, gender, weight, and fitness level. Triathlete.com has offered some guidelines for how long it takes to complete a Half Ironman and how to estimate your time:
Half Ironman Average Time for Men
Most men take between five and eight hours to complete a Half Ironman. Overall, the average time for a man to complete the Ironman 70.3 is five hours, 51 minutes, and 25 seconds. For most first-timers, the recommendation is not to aim for a specific time, but to focus on finishing instead.
You can expect your time to complete a Half Ironman to increase as you get older but older men with excellent conditioning can still achieve impressive times.
Half Ironman Average Time for Women
In most cases, women are shorter and have less muscle mass than men, which means their average times for a Half Ironman tend to be slower than the averages for men.
The overall average for women for Ironman 70.3 completion is 6 hours, 18 minutes, and 13 seconds. As is the case with men, the average times increase according to age.
How to Estimate Your Half Ironman Time
Triathlon.com offers some suggested calculations for anybody who wants to estimate their time to complete a Half Ironman. They are as follows.
- Swimming: Take your average 400-meter time and subtract 5-8 seconds per 100 meters.
- Biking: Take 85% of your functional threshold power or your maximum heart rate.
- Add 8% to 10% to your fresh half-marathon time.
How Does Ability Impact Half Ironman Times?
Ability is a subjective thing and it’s difficult to arrive at a meaningful average based on ability since everybody who competes in a half Ironman is unique. That said, here are some pointers to illustrate how ability can impact times for the half Ironman.
Aside from age, weight is another determining factor in how long it may take you to complete a half Ironman. People who carry excess weight tend to move more slowly than those who are lean, whether they’re swimming, biking, or running. Excess weight can slow you down while losing weight may help improve your time.
General fitness plays a role as well. Someone with good cardiovascular fitness and good endurance is likely to require less time to complete a half Ironman than someone whose fitness and endurance are not as good.
Beyond the basics, training is the final element that impacts ability. Serious half Ironman competitors spend their time focusing on technique in each element of the race, with some days dedicated to swimming, some to biking, and some to running.
What is a Good Half Ironman Time?
Professional triathletes can post some impressive times for the half Ironman. For example, the world record for men is held by Jan Frodeno, whose record speed is 3:36:30, more than an hour faster than the overall men’s average.
The women’s record is held by Daniela Ryf of Switzerland, who has completed the race in 3:57:55, more than two hours faster than the overall women’s average and only a little over 20 minutes behind the men’s world record.
For a beginner, a good time may vary depending on the factors we mentioned above. One of the best ways to set a target time is to choose a goal–say, finishing in the top 50% of your first half Ironman–and then looking at the times for your specific race for last year to set a target time to reach your goal.
Pointers to Decrease Your Time for the Ironman 70.3
Here are a few pointers to improve your speed and decrease your total time to complete a half Ironman race.
- Eliminate body fat. Being lean means you have less weight to carry and that can improve your times.
- Do interval training. Training at intervals that incorporate all-out sprinting with endurance training can do a lot to increase your speed.
- Train at higher speeds than you need to reach your goal. One of the top recommendations from Train Right is to train at speeds higher than you need. The benefit of doing so is that it will be easier to maintain the speed necessary on race day.
- Take long bike rides. Biking makes up the longest portion of the half Ironman, so make sure to incorporate distance into your training.
- Get proper nutrition. Eating enough calories each day and getting the right nutrients is essential.
These tips can help you get in the best possible shape and as a result, clock the best possible time for your next half Ironman race.
Crush Your Next Half Ironman
If you want to get the best possible time on your next Ironman 70.3, you can start by looking at averages for your age and gender. From there, use the training and preparation tips here to set a goal and crush it the next time you compete. And if you want to know how much it takes you to complete an Ironman, you can use an average calculator to estimate your mean completion time.
