Ironman

aimdawson

This is a question for the other crazy fitness nuts out there. I am thinking of attempting an ironman. How crazy am I? I have ran a few marathons and bunch of half marathons. I plan on doing a half ironman first. If anyone has done one was it killer? Just curious. I know I will do it I just want to know what is in store for me. Thanks

rjennifer89

I have only ran 5k's but I know a few people who ran an Ironman and they said they loved it they had to train like crazy but if you have done marathons you can do it !! All I can say is good luck and kick some butt

thkelly

do you have any triathlon experience? my friend did the Penticton Ironman 2 years ago and he said it was pretty grueling. he trained for a couple of years with a coach working up to it and participating in sprint and olympic distance triathlons.
i think your swimming has to be pretty decent. he basically had to re-learn to swim so he wasn't wasting so much energy.

ilsie99

I've heard that the training involved in doing a half-iron is similar to training for a marathon in terms of time & effort. Have you thought about trying the Olympic distance first?

Disclaimer, I've never done any tris.

AshleyR84

I am training for the Augusta half Ironman this September and so far it's been manageable. I know that training for a full is very different though.

For the half, I will have trained for 6 months total. Right now I am exercising 6 days a week, 2-3 days are 2-a-day workouts, always swimming, biking and running 2x a week and strength training 1-2x a week. I'm getting in about 8-10 hours of exercise a week and it's only going to increase. I've heard that most people need about a full year to train for a full Ironman.

I hope this doesn't steer you away - I really think the biggest issue for most is the amout of time put into training. If you can make it a priority though, you can do it!

chuckyp

I haven't done one myself, but an old girlfriend of mine has. I swear she spent like 2 years of daily professional training to get ready for it but I'm not sure what her fitness level was before beginning the training for it. She had a blog about the whole time leading up to the 2009 AZ Ironman. Here's a link to it. Maybe you can peruse it and get a feel for what she went through and what's involved. http://goirongirl.blogspot.com/

gaeljo

thkelley is kicking out some good advice. Definately do the 1/2 iron first. I too have the same goal in mind but I'm doing the 1/2 iron next year and the full iron the year after, at least that is my plan. Right now I'm doing sprints and olympic distances. Have you done those at least?

Swimming is a big deal, I too had to relearn how to swim and wow do I love it. Good luck to you. Gael

Mrs_TrimWaistFatWallet

I'm doing it! 20 week training plan @ http://www.beginnertriathlete.com/cms/article-detail.asp?articleid=441

I've done the 1/2 and Olympic lengths...now for the big one. Yes its crazy. Yes its going to be F-en AMAZING!!

HayesSanborn

Doing my 3rd this year at Ironman Wisconsin.

Expect to spend 13-17 hrs a week training + any admin time getting to and from locations for training....It will take over your life.

I swim about 10,000 yards a week
Bike 100-150miles a week
Run 25 miles - 40 miles a week.

Eat everything in sight.

ranjant

I will be doing my first ironman this year, to register took alot of courage by itself. My main goal is to enjoy the training and not to take over my life. Balancing life prior to doing an Ironman is an Ironman Event itself ^^.

chrisuy

I've done a few of them. It seemed like something totally insane and unreachable back when I was younger, but the more I trained for one the more realistic the goal was. Like someone else said, it'll pretty much consume your life for a while (at least it did mine). But if you do all the training, race day is pretty fun. At least that was my experience.

If it's really a dream of yours, I'd say go for it!

Rompa_87

Hi!

I've done a few sprint triathlons, 2 half-ironman triathlons and am competing in my first ironman triathlon in December. Among working, completing a PhD and having a social life it is pretty difficult to fit in time to train for 3 disciplines. However, it is possible to do so with about 8-12 hours a week assuming you give yourself plenty of time, something like 36 weeks which includes 1 long swim, bike and run on the weekends and some form of the three disciplines once a week doing either interval work, hill work and technique work.

Based on experience from the half ironman distances if you want to know what you will be in for make sure after your long rides you go for a short run so you adapt to the transitions. They're half the battle. The other half is finding out how much you can eat/drink while training over 2-3+ hour sessions to balance having energy without having an upset stomach. Painful but rewarding!