Ironman Question

Here was my entire triathlon build up:

2004:  2 short duathlons, 2 Sprints, OLY, 1/2 IM, OLY

2005:  1/2 marathon, 1/2 IM, Ironman Lake Placid

A lot depends on your background.  I've had 30 years of cycling base coming into mine.  Have you ever done anything in sports that requires a long time period at zone 2 aerobic levels?  Don't discount other sports here as cross training.  Knowing that you can be out there for 14 hours doing something aerobically is a big psychological advantage.  Knowing that I'd done several double centuries on the bike and 1-day mountain hikes as long as 35 miles over 10 summits told me a lot about how I'd be able to handle the long day of an Ironman.  You can train you legs and your lungs, but you have to work on your head too!

There are several ways to look at this....first as a previous poster stated if you just want to do an Ironman to cross it off your life list, get the tattoo and wear around all your cool finisher gear, then sign up for one (IMAZ is open) do it and be gone.

 On the other hand if you truely want to make triathlon a lifestyle and enjoy the sport then take some time and learn about tri's, do a few sprints, gradually work your way up the ladder and tackle an IM in a couple of years, I guarantee you will enjoy the journey more and it will mean more to you when you finish. If you need examples read Tri Take Me Away and JeepFleeb's IMAZ race reports. That is how you should feel before during and after the experience. It's really all about the journey, seeing how far you can push yourself, what you are made of deep down.

You said that you wanted to do an IM before you turned 30 in five years, now I am no math whiz but I would say that makes you 25 ( ) You have plenty of time to acheive your goals and beyond. Get into tri's, adopt the culture, enjoy the experiences.

Good Luck! 

I did sprints from 1996 to 2000.  Then in 2002 I did Oly and sprints.  Then in 2003 did my first marathon and that's when the endurance bug kicked in.  I did my first HIM, another marathon and my first Ironman in 2005 followed by another 8 months later in 4/06.

the sick thing about it is that the next time I train up for an Ironman I'm going to do 2 within about 3-4 weeks of each other because, quite frankly, training so much for just one day isn't worth it.

It's kinda like getting married.  You spend months and months planning for one day that goes by so quickly...

A little off topic... IM Canada doesn't have a lottery system in place (or at least they don't anymore). In past years you either had to be there in person to sign up or have a friend there to sign you up. I think that they may have used a lottery for spots that opened up due to dropouts. This year becuase 2007 is going to be the 25th aniversary of the race and it's going to be nuts, you have to sign up in person. I'm going to be camping out in line the night before with my wife and friends to make sure we get a sopt next year. Last year the mass start was 2100 people I think. Crazy.

To the OP. My road to Ironman is hopfully going to look something like this

Summer 2006 - 4 sprints, 2 Olys

Oct 2006 - Half Marathon

Nov 2006 - Marathon

June 2007 - Half Ironman

Aug 2007 - Ironman Canada

I've been training since January of this year and I'm having a blast. Can't wait to sign my life away up for Ironman