Young, 1st year, Ironman..

Can you?  All depends on your propensity to recover well, and not go overboard in training. 

Should you?  Personally, i think you've gotten good advice from the coaches you've talked to, but if it's what you really want to do (assuming you can swim), no reason you cannot train and finish in the next 9-10 months.  No idea if you can stay away from injuries.  IM training is a long journey in which many things can go wrong that are out of your control

Try doing a sprint triathlon all out for an hour or so.   it's not easy

Well. IMMT is in september, so I was planning on doing olys and one or two HIM before it. I want to do 10k and half-marathon as well.

I guess I'll see after my HIM if I can handle the IM, but I'll train for it and give it a try. 

Thanks for your opinions.

PS : My swim is fine. I will complete the distance, but slowly. 

I'm working part time with school. My days are busy but so are the days of so many triathlete. When you're young and you don't spend your money partying it's easier too .

btw school is almost free here, in Québec, Canada.

I might be a little help.   you said "I personally think I can do it".  

 Now, I I believe that you can do it, but what is really the point, if you only want to do an IM to say that you did an IM then you should wait a year.  You would finnish, but would you finnish with the time that you wanted, or would you just have to do another, just to improve your time.  If this happened  then you are better off waiting one year, with a lot more training.

 Also, by the way an Olympic, 1-2 Half IM, would make a big year already.  

 And your 20 so its not that you don't have a lot of time.  I think the lowest age you can do a IM is 18.  Somebody might know this.  My take, do the 1/2's and the Oly.  Not the IM. And that's my plan anyway.  Im doing two Oly's and 1/2.

I think you have a good amount of time to prepare yourself for this race. My concern would be longevity in the sport...20 is awefully young to start reaking havoc on your body.

I thought the same way as you when I first started (I was in my mid 20's).  I wanted to train and train long. You'll have to be patient with IM and just keep chipping away at getting better and better.  With the other distances, if you have talent, you can start working your way up the age-group ranks and possibly into professional contention somewhat early in your career. IM just seems to be one of those things that takes time. You will even notice that athletes who have less talent than you are able to smoke you in an IM.

Me, I am younger than you, by quite a bit right now, 16, but according to what you said I have a lot more experience than you have.  Started running in 3rd grade, and in 6th grade starting running everyday at about 23 miles a week.  Also, did swim team in 6th and 7th grade, was not very good so I didn't do it any more.  Now I have been biking for a year and a half, and will Cat up to a 4 next year, with the 10 mass starts.  Now I've been doing XC since 6th grade and this year started do long runs.  My PR for  Half Marathon is 1:45.  For cycling I've done many 50-60 mile bike rides(pretty fast in pace lines).

 So I am planning do a 1/2 IM.  I don't think I'm ready for anything more, even though I believe I could finnish the race.

Ok.

Not only are you thinking of doing an IM in your first year of triathlon, in your goals, you have listed a time goal of sub-11.  And an HIM time goal of 4:30, which would have won your AG at many races this year, to name one, Eagleman.

Enough with the nice talk.  Sorry, I think putting a time goal of sub-11 for an Ironman, before you have even completed one triathlon, is fantasy.  And a bad idea.  I'm doing my first IM this year, and when I suggested a time goal, I got (rightly, IMHO) slammed by some of my friends who have done this before.  If you do attempt this, don't have a time goal.

You've talked to coaches and they've told you it is a bad idea, and you're going too fast.  That also seems to be the prevailing opinion here.  So, are you looking for advice, or are you looking for people to tell you what you want to hear?

Your avatar says "knowledge speaks, but wisdom listens."  Are you wise?

IMO, the coaches you have been speaking do (and the consensus from the other posters) is exactly right.  While you can probably get to the point where you can finish the race, if this is something that you want to do long term then I would take your time and do it right.

As Chris mentioned, work to get very fast at short course (under an hour for sprint/under two hours for olympic).  If you spend the next few years working on short course (with a HIM sprinkled in for variety) and getting faster, when you eventually go to IM your body will be much more prepared for the distance and to really race it as you go for your sub-11.

I would say the first order of business is to get the swimming down pat; find a masters group or triclub with coached swimming and spend lots of time in the pool.  Since you already have some background with biking and running, this will probably be the best place to start.

Good luck,

Shane

[. You may want to consider listening to the Hendricks quote in your avatar.

Thanks a lot guys. You let me realise that I was way too confident.

No it isn't. I'm doing this for myself and only for myself and for my love for training.

The consensus is pretty clear, I should slow down and enjoy the sport at least a year before an Ironman. But how about the training? Should I train for it or should I use an HIM training ?

btw : for my goals on my log, I realise I won't be able to do this next year and even maybe later, but it was just a big boost of motivation. 

Thanks to everyone, your opinion is very important to me. 

I think you made a good decision. I see in your logs that you're shooting for IMLP 2010. I think that's a much better goal. The 2009 season will give you a better indication as to how realistic it is for you, if you're willing to put in the training, etc. The more training you have under your belt, the more enjoyable your first IM experience will be. Good luck, and have fun!

IMLP is much more enjoyable as well. Montreal is a 23 loop bike ride and 40 loop run. I think I made my decision.

I'll listen to my avatar.