Anyone done an iron distance at age 18?

Not answering your question, but I plan on doing one when I'm 18. I'm about to turn 16 (and I'm getting a forerunner 310 instead of my current 305!!!!!!!!) but I dont swim. I did one duathlon and am doing one next weekend. I feel I can do it since I've started early.

True, short course could be a great option ...I'll have to mention that and perhaps learn a bit more about her motivation to do Tri in the long term.

Standbyzero, why ironman for you? What's drawing you to that goal. Just curious.

Doesn't answer the question the OP asked but I know of one under-age iron-finisher.

One of the guys I share a house with at Beach2Battleship had spent the summer training with his 17 yr. old daughter - she had a running background and some swimming but no bike, and definitely not much tri experience. She did the full with no difficulty, smiling at the end, and basically made it look disgustingly easy. My understanding is that it was a one and done experience and she planned to use the story as the subject for the essay on her college apps. Both the racer and her family were beside themselves with pride - heck of a thing to witness, actually.

For young people, I would agree that, in general, they would be better served to focus on shorter distances but I also see nothing wrong with it if 140.6 is a goal.

WTC has a minimum age, and while I don't know about other non-branded 140.6 events, B2B definitely was good to go for under 18.

I would strongly encourage her not to rush to IM. Instead short course (and if she's interested in being fast, then draft legal) for the next few years with a focus on sprints and occasional oly. After a couple of years of that, still short course but maybe a few more olys and possibly a HIM for fun. Then a couple of years of that before the jump to IM.

Shane

Maybe she wants to go to Hawaii! The youngest AG is 18-25, right? For Kona, those times have historically been pretty soft but are getting faster. So, that tells me that more and more young people are getting into distance, but also that she has 7 whole years before moving up into the tougher AG's.

I guess the consensus for beginning a "triathlon career" would be to stick to the shorter stuff first and get fast, but doing one probably wont "break" an 18 year old, and doing one on your 18th birthday will probably garner you the "youngest competitor" title, which is pretty cool. They will name you at the banquet usually, and perhaps even on race morning.

Thanks everyone. I do get the feeling that she's looking at a one and done deal, but I also don't want to imply that it's a risk free endeavour.

I appreciate the responses!

I don't know why the 140.6 distance except for the challenge that it gives. I saw the 2012 World Championships on tv and have had a desire to do them ever since.

I was, but am no longer planning to do Ironman Lake Tahoe after turning 18 at the beginning of the month. For me it was not a question of training volume (hitting 20+ hrs a week training short-course) or ability to handle the distance (training weekends can approach IM distance often with a little less running) but more a question of what else was going on. If I was doing mediocre at short course racing and doing cross country for fun I definitely would have done it as a one and done sort of thing before heading back to short course. With that said, as my results have put me in a pretty good spot for short course and heading into cross country I couldn't risk injury during the marathon or take enough time off training to facilitate a proper recovery.

I don't see a problem with it if she has the training volume and is just doing it for fun, but if she really wants to compete encourage her towards short course. Speed then distance.

My daughter completed a non-WTC 140.6 last year a month before her 18th birthday. The longest race she had completed previously was a sprint triathlon. She did swim for her high school team during the winter and she ran for her high school cross country team in the fall. She has always been more of an endurance person than a speed person.

She expressed a strong interest in taking on an Ironman distance race. Before I let her register she built up her training to half distances. In other words, she had completed a 60 mile bike and a 13 mile run and had done multiple open water swims.

As for training - all training was aimed at completing the distance and avoiding injury, not racing for a fast time. She did focused IM training for 13 weeks.

She did an open water swim every week and built up to the 2.4 mile race distance in the open water. This was in addition to one or two pool swims of 1500 to 2000 yards per week. As soon as temperatures dropped low enough to allow it, she did all her open water swims in a wetsuit to get used to the different feel and the additional shoulder fatigue.

Long bike rides were done at about her IM race pace and built up to 100 miles about 3 weeks ahead of the race. Long rides were supplemented with two or three additional rides per week, usually about 20 miles and sometimes on the trainer. She did not ride in groups, but only with one or two other riders. She would generally ride in the front into headwinds to get mentally prepared for that part of the race. Focus was kept on maintaining a good position on the road, especially late in the long rides to avoid riding off the edge of the road late in the ride.

Long runs were always done at an easy pace with walking breaks of about one minute every mile to take in nutrition. These were meant to establish the pattern she would use in the race and to get used to walking and then restarting her run. Long runs were built up to 18 miles. This running was supplemented with her cross country workouts of about 20 miles a week that also included a 5k race each week.

She did very few bricks to avoid running overly fatigued and risking injury. Her main confidence building workout was a 1.2 mile swim, 90 mile bike, 6 mile run session about 5 weeks before the race.

The training served as a great bonding experience for father and daughter as we did all of our long rides and runs together. On race day, she raced alone. She had a strong swim and a very solid bike that included stops at each aid station to replenish nutrition and for bathroom breaks. She ran the first 21 miles before walking miles 22 and 23 and then running the final 3 miles. Overall it was a very positive experience for her and built a lot of confidence in her ability to tackle whatever the future might hold. I think she will do more IM races in the future, but probably not until some point after college.

She does. Her family does. Her friends do. All 2000 people that applaud her for being the youngest competitor there do.

And welcome back to BT Kit!

the youngest athlete at IM Chatt this weekend was 21 (I think), and on his third IM - the first he did when he was 18

Ejm- thanks so much for sharing your daughter's experience. That sounds so sensible.

Josh - excellent point and thanks! I couldn't stay away

austhokie - that's great to know.

And update on my friend - she's doing her first sprint tri this weekend, so we'll see how she likes it. I'm trying to sway her towards B2B (my personal fave) should she continue towards doing a full next year,