Ironman Feasability

[awilki01]

I've been riding for over a year now, and although I know it takes years to fully develop a proper aerobic engine, I think I have a good base. I usually train about 8-10 hours a week. My main goal right now is time trials. I wanted to pick a year to do an Ironman. I was considering doing one in 2015. My plan (admittedly flawed not fully understanding what I need to do yet) is to devote the whole year to IM training. If I started in late 2014 to train for it, and considering the aerobic base I'll have on the bike by then, is it possible to get my running legs and swimming up to snuff by then? I was going to do some smaller triathlons here and there between now and then.

Or, perhaps, a half IM in 2015 and a full IM in 2016 would be better.

Is 8-10 hours a week enough time to train for an IM during the year I choose? I'm not looking to win. I just want to finish.

 

[danfoz]

Originally Posted by awilki01 .
is it possible to get my running legs and swimming up to snuff by then? I was going to do some smaller triathlons here and there between now and then.

A very good question, when I was a teenager I was contemplating the IM. 112mi on the bike no sweat, I had done a 10 mile run and figured it wouldn't be that much more difficult to tack on the extra 16mi, but the swimming part... I couldn't even manage a 2 laps in an olympic size pool (talk about activity specific fitness). I tried training for a short time but I just didn't want it bad enough. 8-10 hours a week may be enough for each component alone, I could be talking out my ****, but if I were training "just to finish" a century for instance, even less than 8-10 hours/wk may work, adding the swim and run I'm not so sure. Then again it could be that my swimming technique is just so atrocious that I was completely inefficient in the water. Unless your forte, I would think the 2 mile swim would take the most training, especially because there is no such thing as "coasting", it's basically sink or swim.

At the age of 24, not having ridden since high school, I decided to get back into riding and went to a bike shop in the city and picked up a lovely Merlin w/DA. That day I went to CP and did 4 laps (less than 30 miles). Two days later I road from NYC to the Hamptons (110 miles). I hurt for days but I made it (granted there was a beautiful gal waiting for me so I had heavy incentive). Personally I think if I made it past two miles in the drink, I could probably finish the second two legs on willpower alone, or at least I could have several years back. My point is even when I was out of shape I was able to ride 100+ miles, but when I was in great cycling shape (the year I came in 2nd at Bear Mountain) I couldn't even manage a couple laps in an olympic size pool.

The shorter tri's seem like a good segue.

Edit: Someone who has actually trained for and completed an IM would have an actual answer but I imagine short of having completed each leg consecutively, having completed the distance for each discipline separately would go a long way toward mustering the mental fortitude to just finish.

 

[awilki01]

The swim is intimidating to me as well! I'm going to buy some training DVDs (maybe even a swim coach) to help teach me the proper technique for the swim. Once I have the technique, I don't think it will be an issue whatsoever. I just have to get comfortable in the water and make it all 2nd nature. I have 3 years to work on this, but I want to get the swim down now as I feel it is excellent recovery day exercise for my current time trial training.

And, even for the shorter sprint tri's, I need to know how to swim. The run for sprint tri's is nothing really. 3-4 miles - no problem. I don't even need to train for that. I'll just run. I may be a little sore the next day or so from it, but it is doable. As I get into 2014, I will start to focus more and more on tri's of longer distance as I get away from time trial training. This will start incorporating running for some of the days I'm doing the bike. I have lots to learn on how to schedule it all. But, I think towards the end in my build phase, I can put in 12 hours/week for a couple months then taper for the big IM. A half IM would be doable at the end of 2014 I think.

I need to lose those extra pounds for the run though. My body weight at 10% body fat is around 165-170. I'm 198 now. Even when I do lose the extra weight, 170ish is quite heavy for a runner - I would think.

 

[maydog]

I have done a few sprint Tri's and I am seriously considering a half Iron. I think that for many the biggest hurdle in competing in a Tri is the swim. When you become fatigued cycling or running you can easily slow down or coast. The threat or sensation of impending death is not an issue on land. Get too tired in the water and panic can set in. Also, many people are not taught or trained to swim well - technique is critical to good swimming.

Two years ago, I decided to give TRIs a shot. The particular event I was training for has a particularly short 400m swim. I figured I could just power my way through that. Off too the pool I went - I was fit and strong, but could not swim more than a few lengths of the pool at a time. To my wife, I descibed my swimming as drowning a lap at a time. I researched the total immersion technique and worked in the pool 3 or more times a week. I also did several open water swims.

After a few months, I felt pretty comfortable in the water. I could breathe properly and swim beyond my target distance without stopping. At the event, I was ready to go and had rented a wetsuit to make the swimming even easier. The race experience was so much different than the training. I had one or two swimmers grab my foot and swim right over me, I was bumping into others and struggled to swim a straight line. Needless to say, my rhythm was broken and my hands and arms were tingling within the first 100m. I kept going and eventually my rhythm came back and I finished the swim.

I still don't consider myself a good swimmer, but I do laps several times a week and think I am slowly improving. I do think that swimming is a great complementary sport/exercise to cycling and believe that it has helped make me better cyclist. Swimming is a challenge that I enjoy and will keep at it. Like cycling, it probably takes several years to become good at it.

That said, you don't have to be a great swimmer - you just have to finish. I consider myself a below average swimmer, good cyclist and mediocre runner. Running is so hard on my bad knee that I don't really even train for the run. I finish well because the bike portion is more than half the event.

I do reccomend that you try some shorter distance events to help you gauge the physical requirements. I have not seen an Ironman in person, but 1.2 miles in the water for the half looks like a helluva long distance to me.

The events are fun and I am always impressed by the athleticism all around me.

 

[awilki01]

Can't I just start at the back of the swim group so I don't get run over like that? - at least until I'm more comfortable doing them with all the people.

What did you think about the Total Immersion DVDs? Those were the ones I was going to get.

 

[swampy1970]

Originally Posted by awilki01 .

Can't I just start at the back of the swim group so I don't get run over like that? - at least until I'm more comfortable doing them with all the people.

What did you think about the Total Immersion DVDs? Those were the ones I was going to get.

... If you start at the front of the swim bunch then you can have total immersion without having to buy a DVD.

I used to be a fairly good runner at school and an even better swimmer prior to the running but I can't imagine doing a swim or run of that length even if I just devoted 10 hours per week to those two events. Willpower - you can get by on that on a bike because it's not a weight bearing sport - but bonk seriously on the run after 10 hours of fun and it might well be game over after limited training.

Id at least try a season of doing a few 1/2 IM distance events first. A few - not one. If anything just to get all the mistakes and gotchas out of the way to at least give you a fighting chance at a full IM.

The again Frank Day (mr PowerCranks) completed the first ironman in Hawaii by a well timed rest and refuel in McD's - not sure what state of training he was in prior to that event. Maybe you can just wing it...

 

[awilki01]

I would definitely do a few half IMs before the full one.

 

[InfinityMPG]

Sorry in advance if a month and a half is considered thread resurrection.


To your original question: is that enough time to train for an Ironman?

Yes. That is plenty. You could compress the h-ll out of that if you wanted to. If you want to get serious, you can finish a full length Ironman in 2013. I'd say 2012 but most of the official, full Ironman Brand events are sold out already. You could still fit a late Half-Ironman event into 2012 if you want, though. With a good base you can compress training for a half into just a few months. It's not ideal, but if we're talking about survival then it could work.

It sounds like the swim is your biggest hurdle, but I'm not getting a full idea about your swimming background. Any pool-length swimming experience? Just summer club fun?
If you're learning from the ground up, then a real live instructor may be the best bet. If you do something like one supervised lesson a week or month you can keep costs down but learn a lot, or for the free route, just swim at the local pool and ask people who seem knowledgeable for critique. Supplement with normal training days of course. If you have basic swimming experience you can get away with just videos, but if this is ground-up experience then without critique there is a chance you'll develop bad habits that you won't know about. Swimming is all about water confidence, and "no one fears to do that which he is confident he has learned well." - Vegetius

Once you can take on the pool, find a lake. Personally, for open water swims I put my GPS watch under my swim cap and wait for the 1-mile beeps to see how far I've gone. You can also use mapmyride or similiar web sites to check distances between points at lakes.

As for surviving the swim in an event, one thing to remember is that you don't have to be on your stomach. Back stroke is always an option. You can back stroke the entire distance and still make the time cutoff. And starting from the rear of the group is certainly an option, but this will depend on the event. If it's an official Ironman 70.3 or 140.6, you can see a lot of variety in the way it's conducted. For instance, Ironman Louisville is a big mess for swimmers. Check this out:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=icmzreosxxY
Imagine being a slow swimmer but having 600 people behind you just because of the way they start this event.
Austin 70.3 is another mess. Check out the start wave order:
http://ironmanaustin.com/course/swim-waves/
They start the pro's, then they basically start the slower groups before they start the faster groups. They start the fastest group last. Now that's good for the race organizers because they can close the swim early, but it's bad for slow swimmers because all of the fast people ARE behind them and WILL catch up to them. Trampling results.
Other events are mass start, which are probably better for newer swimmers. In those you can jump in whenever you want, just make the time cutoff.

So pick your event carefully. The official Ironman events in your area may have unfavorable swim conditions, so be sure to check the unofficial events too. My first 70.3 was only 150 people. That's manageable. Some sprint and olympics even have their swims in indoor pools. That's very manageable.

 

[awilki01]

Originally Posted by InfinityMPG .

Sorry in advance if a month and a half is considered thread resurrection.


To your original question: is that enough time to train for an Ironman?

Yes. That is plenty. You could compress the h-ll out of that if you wanted to. If you want to get serious, you can finish a full length Ironman in 2013. I'd say 2012 but most of the official, full Ironman Brand events are sold out already. You could still fit a late Half-Ironman event into 2012 if you want, though. With a good base you can compress training for a half into just a few months. It's not ideal, but if we're talking about survival then it could work.

It sounds like the swim is your biggest hurdle, but I'm not getting a full idea about your swimming background. Any pool-length swimming experience? Just summer club fun?
If you're learning from the ground up, then a real live instructor may be the best bet. If you do something like one supervised lesson a week or month you can keep costs down but learn a lot, or for the free route, just swim at the local pool and ask people who seem knowledgeable for critique. Supplement with normal training days of course. If you have basic swimming experience you can get away with just videos, but if this is ground-up experience then without critique there is a chance you'll develop bad habits that you won't know about. Swimming is all about water confidence, and "no one fears to do that which he is confident he has learned well." - Vegetius

Once you can take on the pool, find a lake. Personally, for open water swims I put my GPS watch under my swim cap and wait for the 1-mile beeps to see how far I've gone. You can also use mapmyride or similiar web sites to check distances between points at lakes.

As for surviving the swim in an event, one thing to remember is that you don't have to be on your stomach. Back stroke is always an option. You can back stroke the entire distance and still make the time cutoff. And starting from the rear of the group is certainly an option, but this will depend on the event. If it's an official Ironman 70.3 or 140.6, you can see a lot of variety in the way it's conducted. For instance, Ironman Louisville is a big mess for swimmers. Check this out:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=icmzreosxxY
Imagine being a slow swimmer but having 600 people behind you just because of the way they start this event.
Austin 70.3 is another mess. Check out the start wave order:
http://ironmanaustin.com/course/swim-waves/
They start the pro's, then they basically start the slower groups before they start the faster groups. They start the fastest group last. Now that's good for the race organizers because they can close the swim early, but it's bad for slow swimmers because all of the fast people ARE behind them and WILL catch up to them. Trampling results.
Other events are mass start, which are probably better for newer swimmers. In those you can jump in whenever you want, just make the time cutoff.

So pick your event carefully. The official Ironman events in your area may have unfavorable swim conditions, so be sure to check the unofficial events too. My first 70.3 was only 150 people. That's manageable. Some sprint and olympics even have their swims in indoor pools. That's very manageable.

Thread resurrection is not a problem in my book. Thanks for the advice! It's really appreciated!

I can swim just fine now, and I feel fine in deep water. I just need to learn the technique of freestyle. This year I'm going to be focusing on time trialing on the bike. But, when I get a chance, I will head to the gym for swimming - especially on off days. I have the Total Immersion DVDs that are really good. I will see how I progress. Lately, I haven't spent anytime in the water like I've planned to. The swim, without a doubt, is the most daunting for me.