ironman competition

[Pridehurtsform]

not sure if there's a forum more specifically aimed at triathalon or other cardio centered events but i just wanted to say that I've decided i'm gonna finish one. i was hoping for feedback for anyone has done them and any recommendations. this thread will also serve as a place i can update whoever bothers to read it.

i was inspired to take on this challenge when i turned 30. I've done the weightlifting thing and have accomplished a lot in my opinion but my joints are really taking a toll and it's getting harder and harder just to sustain let alone gain anymore. so it's on to new and exciting things for me

i started about 2 months ago and was running about 1 mile a day, 7 days a week. now i'm running 6 miles every other day and biking 20ish miles the day i don't run. i SUCK at swimming and currently don't even have anywhere i can swim.

my goal is to finish the Coeur d'Alene one june 2016 so that gives me about 18 months or so.

[JennyBond]

Wow! Good luck! I have only done three sprint tris but an IM is on my bucket list.

If you are not familiar with "bricks" I would highly suggest you make sure to add those into your training plan.

Another weird thing I learned on my last tri was to acclimate yourself to the water BEFORE jumping in to swim. I swam triple the distance so many times to prepare but on one practice day getting timed, I dove in and the water was cold enough to shock me. Threw my whole swim off with breathing etc. Sounds silly but my coach shared that it hits even the most seasoned triathletes. The advice given was to get in the water prior to having to start so your body is used to it before the leap in. I did that the morning of my last tri and it certainly helped.

Sorry I can't offer more spectacular advice. I am still pretty new to the sport and have never gone the distance you are going! Good luck and have a great time with it!

[RandomTim]

First Post !! Signed up just to reply to you here

I have done 2 tri's now, 1 super sprint and 1 sprint. And i am echoing the above post. If swimming is your weak point, make sure you do some training in open water, no amount of doing lengths in the pool will prepare you for the jump in !!
I dont know the specific distances your doing, but at Blenheim Palace in 2013 after the 400m swim in a 13* lake, my legs were like jelly and crampped up twice going to transition.
Brick training will be very important i imagine, get use to getting off your bike after 20 miles then going for a 5 mile run, or when you start swim training properly, get some one to drop you ad your bike off at the pool and then ride home after your swim.

These are just a few things i have learnedd from doing 2, reading a couple of magazines and things on the net. I'm not going to go into my results, last year was especially bad but allergies and injury serverly impacted my training

Best of luck to you, Tim

[kcb203]

I've done two Ironmans (Lake Placid and Kona). I went from being just a runner in March 2009 to finishing IMLP in July 2010.

Best resource on the net is forums.slowtwitch.com

Work on your swimming. Get a coach and some lessons before you get muscle memory with bad form. I hadn't swam more than 25 yards straight before I started, and finished the swim at Lake Placid in 1:12. Not great, but not bad either.

A great training program is endurancenation.us. Lots of good advice there as well.

Be prepared for your lifting to suffer. It's not really possible to swim, bike, run, and lift enough to do well at an Ironman. Lifting should be the first thing to go. Maybe keep doing it once a week to avoid losing too much.

Do a bunch of shorter races this year, including a half. Don't feel like you have to run a marathon first. An Ironman marathon is nothing like a stand-alone marathon.

Good luck.

[Pridehurtsform]

Wow! Good luck! I have only done three sprint tris but an IM is on my bucket list.

If you are not familiar with "bricks" I would highly suggest you make sure to add those into your training plan.

Another weird thing I learned on my last tri was to acclimate yourself to the water BEFORE jumping in to swim. I swam triple the distance so many times to prepare but on one practice day getting timed, I dove in and the water was cold enough to shock me. Threw my whole swim off with breathing etc. Sounds silly but my coach shared that it hits even the most seasoned triathletes. The advice given was to get in the water prior to having to start so your body is used to it before the leap in. I did that the morning of my last tri and it certainly helped.

Sorry I can't offer more spectacular advice. I am still pretty new to the sport and have never gone the distance you are going! Good luck and have a great time with it!

thank you very much for taking the time to respond, i'll definitely take your advice about researching bricks, as it stands right now i'm completely ignorant on the topic. thanks also for the advice on the water. I know I should be more concerned with swimming, especially cuz I've never been good at it.

you should be proud about finishing those sprint tris, you've already accomplished more than I have

First Post !! Signed up just to reply to you here

I have done 2 tri's now, 1 super sprint and 1 sprint. And i am echoing the above post. If swimming is your weak point, make sure you do some training in open water, no amount of doing lengths in the pool will prepare you for the jump in !!
I dont know the specific distances your doing, but at Blenheim Palace in 2013 after the 400m swim in a 13* lake, my legs were like jelly and crampped up twice going to transition.
Brick training will be very important i imagine, get use to getting off your bike after 20 miles then going for a 5 mile run, or when you start swim training properly, get some one to drop you ad your bike off at the pool and then ride home after your swim.

These are just a few things i have learnedd from doing 2, reading a couple of magazines and things on the net. I'm not going to go into my results, last year was especially bad but allergies and injury serverly impacted my training

Best of luck to you, Tim

wow Tim, thanks so much for signing up just to respond to my post. i'm lost right now, so when I do finish this, it'll be in no small part to the support and advice offered by the fitness community. grats on the tris btw, I've never finished even a single tri, although I have ran a marathon about 5 years ago. so I guess I have a long road ahead of me haha

I've done two Ironmans (Lake Placid and Kona). I went from being just a runner in March 2009 to finishing IMLP in July 2010.

Best resource on the net is forums.slowtwitch.com

Work on your swimming. Get a coach and some lessons before you get muscle memory with bad form. I hadn't swam more than 25 yards straight before I started, and finished the swim at Lake Placid in 1:12. Not great, but not bad either.

A great training program is endurancenation.us. Lots of good advice there as well.

Be prepared for your lifting to suffer. It's not really possible to swim, bike, run, and lift enough to do well at an Ironman. Lifting should be the first thing to go. Maybe keep doing it once a week to avoid losing too much.

Do a bunch of shorter races this year, including a half. Don't feel like you have to run a marathon first. An Ironman marathon is nothing like a stand-alone marathon.

Good luck.

wow that's awesome! you're officially the first person I've ever been able to contact who has finished an ironman. i'm going to spend a great deal of time looking up the resources you've supplied and i'll definitely take your advice to heart. with that said the not lifting more than once a week is going to be tough for me. right now I spend about an hour first thing in the morning on my cardio, either running or biking, then at night I train upper body. just taking lower body out of my routine has been hard, so taking out the upper body will be tough too. I guess i'll just have to let my vanity take a backseat for a while.

I do plan on doing several tris, however until I can find a way to swim I may have to focus on either running or biking. I know that the swimming part will be difficult, and i'm in no way trying to ignore it, in fact I live right down the street from a huge lake, but until it starts warming up I can't really get in there. I also plan on joining a gym that has a pool, as mine right now has none.

I have lots of questions, however before I ask them i'll check out all the great resources you've all supplied

thanks again!

[Knucklesanguich]

Hey man,

I did 8 full Ironmans but the last one was in 2008 lol. feel free to PM me or ask any specific questions. ITs super late here ATM so I dont have time to type a long post but Ill follow along.

[a_emory]

OP, I am an adult who is still teaching himself how to swim. I found total immersion to be a good starting point. But also found it to be fairly limiting after a certain point. The best things I can say to you are, like running, thinking about how the circle plays into your movement. Realize rhythm.

In movement your core has low angular velocity and high power. Whereas your extremities have high angular velocity and low power outputs. Think of a baseball player throwing a ball or a swimmers arm turn over. The power comes from the core and legs and is expressed through the arms.

[kcb203]

thank you very much for taking the time to respond, i'll definitely take your advice about researching bricks, as it stands right now i'm completely ignorant on the topic. thanks also for the advice on the water. I know I should be more concerned with swimming, especially cuz I've never been good at it.

you should be proud about finishing those sprint tris, you've already accomplished more than I have



wow Tim, thanks so much for signing up just to respond to my post. i'm lost right now, so when I do finish this, it'll be in no small part to the support and advice offered by the fitness community. grats on the tris btw, I've never finished even a single tri, although I have ran a marathon about 5 years ago. so I guess I have a long road ahead of me haha




wow that's awesome! you're officially the first person I've ever been able to contact who has finished an ironman. i'm going to spend a great deal of time looking up the resources you've supplied and i'll definitely take your advice to heart. with that said the not lifting more than once a week is going to be tough for me. right now I spend about an hour first thing in the morning on my cardio, either running or biking, then at night I train upper body. just taking lower body out of my routine has been hard, so taking out the upper body will be tough too. I guess i'll just have to let my vanity take a backseat for a while.

I do plan on doing several tris, however until I can find a way to swim I may have to focus on either running or biking. I know that the swimming part will be difficult, and i'm in no way trying to ignore it, in fact I live right down the street from a huge lake, but until it starts warming up I can't really get in there. I also plan on joining a gym that has a pool, as mine right now has none.

I have lots of questions, however before I ask them i'll check out all the great resources you've all supplied

thanks again!

The problem with lifting is the recovery. You'll probably be cycling 3x week and running 4x a week. If you're squatting, it's tough to have a good run for a couple days. It's possible to bike, but you'll definitely feel the effects of the squats.

And don't think that your strength will be a help to you. It won't. Whether it's fat or muscle is immaterial--you're just hauling around extra weight. The top athletes are all about 5'10" to 6'1" and 150 to 165. You're probably hoping to finish and finish strong, not to be competitive, so how much you want to trade off muscle loss vs. weight is your call. The best triathlete is a Brit who focuses on Olympic distance, Alistair Brownlee. Scrawny little dude, but fast as can be. He's confessed to being barely able to bench press the bar. But he can run a sub 30' 10k off the bike, and his 10k time in the triathlon at the Olympics was only 90 seconds slower than the winning time on the track for the 10,000 meters.

That's a long way of saying that it's a tradeoff among weight, training intensity, and preserving muscle.

[lukasfalch1]

How much training did it take you guys to do an ironman?

[lukasfalch1]

4 -8 months?

[kcb203]

How much training did it take you guys to do an ironman?

Difficult question. Most training plans are 12-16 weeks, but that's assuming you're starting with the ability to swim a mile, bike for 3-4 hours, and run 10-13 miles continuously. If you're starting from scratch, add another 3-4 months to get to that point. It's very tough mentally to follow a specific training plan longer than about four months.