How long before you went to Iron distance? (Page 2)

Starting training for triathlons approx. April 1, 2010.

First triathlon: 5/29/2010 (sprint distance)

First HIM: 5/7/2011

First full IM:  8/28/2011

Certainly not the path I would suggest taking.  Looking back, I should have waited at least another year.  YMMV.

Lake Placid, this year, was my first triathlon. I got a lot of funny looks from people who thought I was naive to do it without any previous shorter distances but I have a strong background of marathons and cycling and enjoyed the training. I am a hopeless swimmer though and that slowed me down and I hope to improve on that next year. My aim was to get around comfortably , which I did in 13:29 and I learnt so much from the experience that I hope to put into practice in the future and with perseverance, improve my times.

Did a year or two of sprints and an olympic here or there.  I was never really that fast, but enjoyed being out there and competing.  Right before my first kid was born I treated myself to my last toy ever (tri bike) and did 5 races.  I was in good shape but still not fast. 

Then I gave it up for a while due to work being busy and just wanting to be around wife and kid.  Then I put on like 35 pounds and was in aweful shape.  Another child and a couple years later I needed to get back into triathlon because I missed it and for health reasons.  So in a year I was able to train for 70.3 and shed about 40 pounds.  After finishing that race, the dreams came.  Ironman dreams.  I kept having recurring triathlon dreams of the big race and thought maybe it wasn't such an unattainable goal.  So again, set a year up of progressive distance races worked into training culminating in IMFL this year.  Worked well, finished with a smile on my face and am in the best shape of my life.  Still moderately slow runner though, and wish I'd waited til my run was stronger.  The dreams went away though, only to be replaced by new dreams of a stronger finish.  On to new goals I guess.  Good luck.

May 2009 - first Sprint

May 2010 - first Olympic

November 2010 - first HIM

November 2011 - first IM.

I came with no background at all in any of the sports.  Hadn't even swum or run for 20 years.  But I was generally fit from some MTB and mountaineering. 

Like others have said - it depends on your goals.  Finishing a HIM or IM in a 1-2 year progression - relatively easy enough if you have the time to train and are not carrying aroung an extra 60 lbs.  Racing them - meh - not so easy. 

Adrian 

In July 2009 I watched my father-in-law complete IMLP.  I was a 6'4" 230lbs, 15 year pack-a-day smoker.

By August 2010 I was 195lbs toeing the line at the Lake Stevens 70.3 (on my way to a less than ideal 6:13:xx) having completed two sprints and a 1/2 mary prior.

By August 2011 I was a lean 179lbs finishing IMC in 12:07:xx having completed 3 more sprints and having cut over 20 minutes off my 1/2 mary prior to that.

Goal for 2012 is to do as many sprints as possible and try to get close to an hour flat (for a 750m swim, 12-13 mile bike, and a 5k style sprint) and to break into the 1:2x:xx for a 1/2 marathon.

kathy caribe - 2011-11-15 7:17 ABut I'm 51 and life, she rolls by fast. 

Yes!

I'm 54 and there were many years when doing even a Sprint tri was out of my reach. I wanted to do one while I could because who knows what the future might bring.

Now that I've done 2, though, I feel like I can ease up and take it more as it comes. Which is good because I start a new job on Monday and it's in the exact opposite direction as all my evening weekday workouts. So I suspect there will be no IM this year at least.

started c25k: 1/2008

1st 5k: 3/2008

1st sprint: 4/2009

1st 1/2mary: 12/2009

1st HIM: 4/2010

1st Mary: 1/2011

1st IM: 11/2011 

That's pretty impressive, but maybe I'm being a bit cynical, but I think any IM really is pretty hard.  I do think there are people out there that can do one with almost zero training, but if you grabbed a sample of the population its pretty small.  I'm trying to think about all my non tri friends that could do that and out of about 30 people maybe two could pull it off.

The big X Factor in doing an IM the first year is if the body can take the punishment.  These conversations always frustrate me, because the success stories are always louder than the failures; and there are failures.  The body going from the couch to 15 hours a week training in under a year is going to be stressed.

I don't want to discourage anyone out there, but there are risks to going long too early.

First tri September 2010

First half ironman July 2011

First Ironman IM Lou August 2011

Not sure why I was in such a hurry to do ironman distance, after a massive weight loss just seemed like the right thing to do.

I did a handful of duathlon and sprint triathlons in the 2005-2006 era.

Then got married, started traveling a bunch for work, and stopped tri training with any sort of frequency.

My first race back was a sprint in June 2010.  I did 3 more sprints that year.

In 2011, I did a sprint, an X-50 (about halfways between an oly and a HIM), and a HIM.

In 2012, I am doing IMCdA.

So, it took me 7 years to do an IM from my first tri, but only 2 years after recommitting myself to triathlon.

There are always stories of outliers like that.  Usually they involve someone who already has a strong cardio base from participating in a sport like basketball or soccer, and a middle-of-the-road time like 12:55.  I'd love to hear how well your friend was walking a couple days after that.

Also you don't hear so much about the DNFs (did not finish) and near zero about the DNSs (did not start) from people trying to emulate that sort of thing.  Even if they do start and finish, their result is not what they could have had.  If zero training gets him to 12:55, imagine his time if he actually took his training seriously.

^^^^ this ^^^^^

I think finishing an IM within a year (couch to IM) is within reach for a lot of people, certainly two years.  The time cut-offs are generous, so if you’re goal is “just finish” within 17 hours it’s probably do-able within a year if you pick a beginner friendly venue.  It’s not something I’d recommend. 

Everyone is different as they say but in reality there are common patterns of problems with going long early. I've heard about them for years on BT so I'll sum then up for you:

First, run related injuries. If you have a looming deadline of an IM, you may be tempted to increase your run mileage (distances, miles per week) quickly. There are common guidelines (10% increase per week, etc) that you may ignore on your way to hit your deadline. So your chances of an injury go way up. And then you may be tempted to try to shortcut a normal recovery period, so your back on the running trail sooner than you should be. And then you have to make up for that injury and lost time (deadline looming, remember?) so you're increasing mileage quickly again. There is a high opportunity of starting a vicious circle of repetitive injuries.  Or they get to the point where they say “OK, I’ll just run/walk the run, I don’t really need to learn how to run, there are plenty of walkers on the course”.

Second, frustration issues with the swim. It takes a while to develop technique that's both efficient and fast. That means time in the pool. If you're going long early, then again you'll want to shortcut the time because you have a deadline. Too bad swimming isn't something you can just shortcut on demand. I think everyone has some natural swimming ability and builds from there. People get frustrated when they see person X hop in the pool and effortlessly churn out lap after 1:30 lap, and they can't put 2500 yards together, certainly not 4224.  They look to shortcuts to accomplish their goal (snorkles? really?) or again, they say “well, there’s a 2:20 cut-off, and I can always rest a while on my back” or some such.

Third, burnout issues before the race. People artificially pushing toward a deadline can squeeze all the joy out of their training. This is supposed to be "for fun", and they forget that in their quest to finish an IM by their deadline.  Each workout becomes a make-or-break moment on their quest.  Any minor training problem is magnified in importance. This again starts the vicious circle of frustration and leads to burnout and oh just F this and a DNS.

Fourth, the post-race letdown.  Either it’s the post-DNF self-pity party, or “what do I do with my life now?” / “that was all it was, really?” people who go long early seem to get it more than most.  There was such a focus on this one event that when it’s achieved a very real sense of loss appears. 

Two more personal opinions: really an IM isn’t a good place for the first timer.  There are many things going on that take some practice - bottle pickups, transitions tents, wetsuit strippers, open water swimming, bike handling skills in a crowd, hill climbing, etc.  People should really learn these skills elsewhere to make race day safe and fun for the rest of us.

Also I think it’s important to actually be a triathlete, not just a person who does triathlons.  A  triathlete should be a reasonably competent in all three events.  The usual going-long-early plan seems to involve survive the swim, hammer the bike, survive the run with some run/walk combo.  That doesn’t sound like reasonable competence to me.

What's your friend's name? 

I was looking at the results in http://ironman.com/assets/files/results/arizona/2011.htm

and I'm curious as to what he achieved for his swim split and bike splits, and if he walked any of the run.

kathy caribe - 2011-11-15 9:17 AM um, less than a year?  I did my first sprint in March, HIM in June and have my first IM in 2 weeks, so around 9 months.  But I'm 51 and life, she rolls by fast. 

Ok, I did it.  The swim alternately went by faster than I thought and slower but it sure goes a LOT faster than 4000m when you're swimming alone.  I was 3rd in my AG out of the water (but still slow at 1:17 or so).  the bike, what I thought was my strength, was awful.  My first lap was glorious and then reality set in.  I had changed my saddle (as the old one broke) a week before the event and I could not get low (drops) at all.  I stayed on the hoods the whole time and while I passed people in aero, I had 400 people pass me on the bike.  I also had a headwind the entire 3rd lap as a norte blew in during my last lap and turned the previous glorious tailwind to driving rain and wind.  But whatever.  The run surprised me.  I'd never run longer than 21k but I was running 4 to 4.5 hours/week and daily.  I had no idea if I could do it.  Mostly my quads are sore but I'm walking fine and today, Wednesday, will go for a ride and maybe a swim.  I don't know how long I should wait to run again but I'd go today if I thought it was "okay".

I've already decided I'm going back next year.