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Ooops, I signed up for an Ironman. Am I Doomed? (Page 6)
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 2015-05-20 4:09 PM in reply to: Jason N |
New user  175   Houston, Texas |  Subject: RE: Ooops, I signed up for an Ironman. Am I Doomed?Originally posted by Jason N Do you have a plan for what you will wear on race day? Are you going to do a full change after the swim and after the bike? Make sure you get these details squared away now because race day is not the time to be experimenting. Being as comfortable as possible, and knowing you are going to be in clothing that doesn't chafe will become very important during a 14+ hour day. +1 I did my first IM this weekend and I knew I was going to do a full change from bike to run. I wore my Tri kit last fall at a HIM and it TORE ME UP something fierce. The same Tri kit was extremely comfortable at the sprint tri before that. I learned that there are a TON of details that make a difference from HIM (I've done 4 now) and IM distances. Be sure and have a that planned up like everyone has said. |
| 2015-05-26 9:01 AM in reply to: Guest |
Veteran 269 Media, PA | Subject: RE: Ooops, I signed up for an Ironman. Am I Doomed? All the way down to page 3? Lets get some updates on how things are going! |
| 2015-05-26 12:44 PM in reply to: ajfoster02 |
| 32 , England | Subject: RE: Ooops, I signed up for an Ironman. Am I Doomed? Well yesterday I did my 10km open water swim. Or rather, I attempted my 10km open water swim. I managed 5.25km in 2:15, at which point I called it a day. I was targeting 5km+ so in that sense it was a success but it's a shame I didn't go for the finish. Perhaps the most limiting factor was fairly significant abrasion on the back of my neck from the wetsuit (despite a good amount of bodyglide). Limited speed, fitness and motivation were also factors in throwing in the towel. Going into a difficult event with the mindset 'I will be happy enough when I reach half way' probably isn't going to cut it when its an arduously difficult (and surprisingly boring) event. That said, after struggling to walk on exit of the lake, I actually felt pretty good, good enough to get on a bike at least. It probably gives me a bit of hope for the swimming portion, although I worry about the fatigue effects on my already lackluster biking pace. --- I am going to try and slot a 100mile cycle into my event planner in two weeks time. Quite a hilly course, I am going to ride it out of draft, no breaks and try and emulate my race pace/nutrition strategy now I have a bike garmin. This is probably one of the most valuable things I could do right now. A week later, I have a 5km open water lake swim on the Friday, followed by a marathon on the Sunday. Given this is two weeks out from the Ironman, I am going to take it easy and target a 4:30-4:45 and quit if I feel any pain. This will likely result in a similar failure to finish as I experienced yesterday. I think you have to attempt difficult endurance events planning on finishing, or it will break you when things get tough. Still, I have bought my place, so I might as well turn up. --- Training has been both good and bad. Good; in the sense I have done some. Bad; in the sense that I haven't been on a real bike since my Half Ironman. I have managed a number of 20 minute sessions on an indoor bike. This is probably less than ideal, but I have at least seen a small improvement in my metrics. I moved gym recently, and the new gym has a Watt bike. This feels a good improvement over a traditional indoor bike and feels a lot more like my actual bike. Due to the number of long distance events I have done recently, the many hours have nudged my average training hours up slightly to an average of 3:20 per week since I started. This is still less than it should be, but it is at least an improvement. I was hoping to reach an average of 5 hours at an absolute minimum by IM time (ideally 8-12) but I think I am going to miss out on that now. I might be able to get a long ride in tomorrow with hill or two, if not, it will have to wait until next week. I am still going to focus on gaining a few % on my power to weight ratio between now and mid June. A few % might just make the difference. |
| 2015-05-26 3:33 PM in reply to: 5Sigma |
Elite 3779   Ontario | Subject: RE: Ooops, I signed up for an Ironman. Am I Doomed? Don't do the marathon. You're not gaining any fitness 2 weeks out from your IM, and all you're doing is digging yourself into a hole that you won't be fully recovered from within 2 weeks. It's a terrible idea, and there is nothing to be gained by doing it. |
| 2015-05-26 5:27 PM in reply to: GoFaster |
Pro 6011 Camp Hill, Pennsylvania | Subject: RE: Ooops, I signed up for an Ironman. Am I Doomed? Originally posted by GoFaster Don't do the marathon. You're not gaining any fitness 2 weeks out from your IM, and all you're doing is digging yourself into a hole that you won't be fully recovered from within 2 weeks. It's a terrible idea, and there is nothing to be gained by doing it. Uh, yeah. ^^^this^^^. Bad idea.
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| 2015-05-26 10:57 PM in reply to: TriMyBest |
| 928 | Subject: RE: Ooops, I signed up for an Ironman. Am I Doomed? Well, at least you can silence the haters that said you were going to drown in the open water.  I agree with the others-- don't do the marathon. If you want to make it a good training day, then maybe ride your bike for two hours first then do the half-marathon (if the race has one). |
| 2015-05-26 11:53 PM in reply to: TriMyBest |
Master 2406 Bellevue, WA | Subject: RE: Ooops, I signed up for an Ironman. Am I Doomed? Originally posted by TriMyBest Originally posted by GoFaster Don't do the marathon. You're not gaining any fitness 2 weeks out from your IM, and all you're doing is digging yourself into a hole that you won't be fully recovered from within 2 weeks. It's a terrible idea, and there is nothing to be gained by doing it. Uh, yeah. ^^^this^^^. Bad idea.
OP careens from bad idea to bad idea. I'm starting to suspect he's sandbagging his actual number of hours of training. "Does not compute" |
| 2015-05-27 5:32 AM in reply to: #5110360 |
| 261 | Subject: RE: Ooops, I signed up for an Ironman. Am I Doomed? Marathon is a bad idea. They really destroy one's body. You're younger than I am so you'll recover more quickly but it took me 1-2 weeks before I felt My body could handle an easy run and certainly could not handle an Ironman. Im failing to understand why you're packing in so many races leading up to your IM. races out a lot of stress on your body. Far different from training. IMO you'd be better served focusing on training sessions but obviously too late for that. Best of luck in your IM. Be safe. |
| 2015-05-27 6:11 AM in reply to: 5Sigma |
Extreme Veteran 5722 | Subject: RE: Ooops, I signed up for an Ironman. Am I Doomed? Originally posted by 5Sigma I am going to try and slot a 100mile cycle into my event planner in two weeks time. obably one of the most valuable things I could do right now. A week later, I have a 5km open water lake swim on the Friday, followed by a marathon on the Sunday. Why not schedule the 100mile cycle between the 5k open water and the marathon ? Your Saturday is wide open :-) |
| 2015-05-27 9:02 AM in reply to: 0 |
Master 3205 ann arbor, michigan | Subject: RE: Ooops, I signed up for an Ironman. Am I Doomed? Originally posted by brucemorgan Originally posted by TriMyBest Originally posted by GoFaster Don't do the marathon. You're not gaining any fitness 2 weeks out from your IM, and all you're doing is digging yourself into a hole that you won't be fully recovered from within 2 weeks. It's a terrible idea, and there is nothing to be gained by doing it. Uh, yeah. ^^^this^^^. Bad idea.
OP careens from bad idea to bad idea. I'm starting to suspect he's sandbagging his actual number of hours of training. "Does not compute" This thread has been referenced on "another site." It has been proposed that the OP is just throwing out the craziest, most ridiculous things to see how long BT can be strung along. I'm not sure if I believe (the theory that this is just a troll), but the OP might win the award for most misguided (clueless) first time IM athlete. Sorry. Not a very supportive or positive post but at some point you have to tell the truth about a situation. I predict zero chance of the OP finishing his race if the training and racing is actually going as posted. Edited by wannabefaster 2015-05-27 9:04 AM |
| 2015-05-27 9:37 AM in reply to: #5110360 |
| 261 | Subject: RE: Ooops, I signed up for an Ironman. Am I Doomed? Pics or none of it happened |
| 2015-05-27 9:52 AM in reply to: wannabefaster |
| Subject: RE: Ooops, I signed up for an Ironman. Am I Doomed? Like I said before...who cares if the story is real or not. You only get "strung along" if you get personally invested into the thread...and I'm not sure why some people have chosen to do so. Nobody has to tell the truth about anything. This is the internet. |
| 2015-05-27 9:55 AM in reply to: TriTampa2 |
| 1502 Katy, Texas | Subject: RE: Ooops, I signed up for an Ironman. Am I Doomed? Real or not, this post sure has maintained my interest. Regarding it's validity, I believe someone pinpointed who the OP was based on their HIM results and I don't believe the OP denied (nor confirmed) his identity, but I may have missed it. I've went back and forth, but I tend to think this person is legit and I don't think his exploits in leading up the the IM are stupid or crazy. Being new to the sport myself, I could totally see wanting to sign up for a bunch of races to constantly test yourself for the big event. In my taper leading up to my IM I constantly had the urge to do the same, and push the limits all the time, so I get it. It's kind of impulsive and goes against general wisdom, but I don't think it's crazy. Knowing what I know however, the marathon is not a good idea. I think there is a tendency to want to discount him because he is taking such a lackadaisical and seemingly chaotic approach to something we all work VERY hard at, especially when looking at his training hours/week. So we can take it personally. It's like someone going on a librarians' forum and saying, "no, no...I'm just going to put the books in a big pile, let entropy drive." Anyway, we will see when the results come out I suppose. If he is for real, I wish him the best of luck. Like I mentioned in a previous post, I think he is a throwback to the first crazies who took on this sport, before the books, and training plans, and coaches and forums, back when it was just a mountain in the distance and people said, "hold my beer...I'm gonna climb that sucker."* *I get that there was more involved than then that, even at the beginning, however there were a lot of folks that just came out for a sufferfest to test their mettle. |
| 2015-05-27 5:56 PM in reply to: marcag |
Veteran 1900 Southampton, Ontario | Subject: RE: Ooops, I signed up for an Ironman. Am I Doomed? Originally posted by marcag Originally posted by 5Sigma I am going to try and slot a 100mile cycle into my event planner in two weeks time. obably one of the most valuable things I could do right now. A week later, I have a 5km open water lake swim on the Friday, followed by a marathon on the Sunday. Why not schedule the 100mile cycle between the 5k open water and the marathon ? Your Saturday is wide open :-) Yup it also might be a good time to get some new running shoes and try changing up the fit on the bike. |
| 2015-05-28 7:34 AM in reply to: 3mar |
| 15 Tallinn, Estonia | Subject: RE: Ooops, I signed up for an Ironman. Am I Doomed? Originally posted by 3mar Real or not, this post sure has maintained my interest. Regarding it's validity, I believe someone pinpointed who the OP was based on their HIM results and I don't believe the OP denied (nor confirmed) his identity, but I may have missed it. I've went back and forth, but I tend to think this person is legit and I don't think his exploits in leading up the the IM are stupid or crazy. Being new to the sport myself, I could totally see wanting to sign up for a bunch of races to constantly test yourself for the big event. In my taper leading up to my IM I constantly had the urge to do the same, and push the limits all the time, so I get it. It's kind of impulsive and goes against general wisdom, but I don't think it's crazy. Knowing what I know however, the marathon is not a good idea. I think there is a tendency to want to discount him because he is taking such a lackadaisical and seemingly chaotic approach to something we all work VERY hard at, especially when looking at his training hours/week. So we can take it personally. It's like someone going on a librarians' forum and saying, "no, no...I'm just going to put the books in a big pile, let entropy drive." Anyway, we will see when the results come out I suppose. If he is for real, I wish him the best of luck. Like I mentioned in a previous post, I think he is a throwback to the first crazies who took on this sport, before the books, and training plans, and coaches and forums, back when it was just a mountain in the distance and people said, "hold my beer...I'm gonna climb that sucker."* *I get that there was more involved than then that, even at the beginning, however there were a lot of folks that just came out for a sufferfest to test their mettle. Couldn´t have put it any better ! |
| 2015-05-29 10:43 AM in reply to: 0 |
| 701 | Subject: RE: Ooops, I signed up for an Ironman. Am I Doomed? Originally posted by 3mar *I get that there was more involved than then that, even at the beginning, however there were a lot of folks that just came out for a sufferfest to test their mettle. Some of us have/do/will fall into that category even for sprint! I'm a little curious and following this as well. As I got into the early meatier portions of my 70.3 plan, I was like "I totally got this. I am going to actually smoke that course to my standards. Sure, I won't compete near the top, but I'll have moments and overall outperform (relative to the distance) anything I've done before. You know, I bet I could pull off a full one some day." Then I got into the really meaty portions of the plan, and it starts to look a little more like "You know....maybe the full is just out of the question. There wouldn't be any shining moments. It would be a very metered pace and the shining moments would be exceptionally brief. I'd be doing it just to test my mettle as I don't think I could keep up with the training regimen required to have those shining moments. I'm not even sure I'll be 'racing' myself in the half." Then again, that came in the first week after a 'recovery' week. Two weeks out from a 'recovery' week and I'm feeling stronger again. Funny how this works. The people that put those plans together seem to know what they're doing. I'm still leaning away from even thinking about a full. Edited by jhaack39 2015-05-29 10:44 AM |
| 2015-05-29 10:59 PM in reply to: #5110360 |
Veteran 277 The Nation's Frosty Capital | Subject: RE: Ooops, I signed up for an Ironman. Am I Doomed? 17 hours provides for a lot of poor training choices. Good luck. |
| 2015-05-29 11:31 PM in reply to: 0 |
Master 8247 Eugene, Oregon Bronze member | Subject: RE: Ooops, I signed up for an Ironman. Am I Doomed? My understanding is the OP is quite young. If all this is on the level, he's going to suffer whether he finishes or not, but since he's shown that he can handle a long OWS, unless he crashes on the bike, I doubt he'll do any permanent damage. If nothing else, he'll learn a healthy respect for the sport and the distance. When I did my first marathon (at 14), I wasn't much better prepared and yes, it was an epic sufferfest I remember to this day. But it did teach me NEVER to underestimate an endurance event, and to ALWAYS train adequately for the events I enter, and pace sensibly. In some ways I'm glad I learned those lessons the hard way early on. Fortunately, there's no technical aspect to running a marathon so it didn't affect anyone else's wellbeing-- just a few bike escorts and fellow runners having to listen to me b**** and moan in those final miles, and I probably had plenty of company in that. I just hope OP has his learning experience without hurting himself or taking anyone else down with him on the bike--sounds like a pretty technical course. Edited by Hot Runner 2015-05-29 11:33 PM |
| 2015-06-01 3:11 PM in reply to: wannabefaster |
| 32 , England | Subject: RE: Ooops, I signed up for an Ironman. Am I Doomed? I'm aware that I probably look like an idiot on this, although I am surprised to hear that other sites are discussing it. I'm sure there are plenty others who have entered relatively under prepared. I would argue that I am not hopelessly prepared at this stage, even through my training hours are pretty short compared with the ideal and my event strategy is a little hectic. Regarding events, I am probably trying to overcompensate for my lack of experience. At this stage, I feel pretty comfortable with the individual disciplines, although I am reasonably concerned about the cycling. I think the 100mile cycle is a good idea, and the 5km swim. The marathon is a little too close to the Ironman but given I have entered it along with someone else, I don't particularly want to cancel it. I recovered pretty fast from my first marathon (I was training two days later), and I am hoping to do the same again. I am going to take it leisurely (if there is such a thing) and put a few regular walking sections in. I will trial my proposed nutrition strategy and quit if I am not feeling it. Perhaps its a little naive (like my general approach so far), but it's not totally ridiculous. --- Looking back from where I started: Working on the basis that my approach is cutting it unnecessarily fine, what does the ideal approach look like? How many months/seasons do you build up your experience to reach Ironman *completion* level? How many training hours/week should you do at a minimum to have reasonable confidence in hitting the 16h Nice time? Is Nice really such a terrible starter course? How would much space would you put between events? I think I am pretty clear now on the answer to at least some of those. --- There is still plenty of scope for me to fail pretty hard in Nice and I will have to accept the big chunk of humble pie that comes with that. That said, I have to look at the 9 months so far and be pretty happy with what I have achieved. I know it pales into insignificance vs. what others here have achieved; but I really had no idea 9 months ago if I could manage a marathon or half-Ironman, I didn't even know if I could pull of a half marathon! In a sense, I have already succeeded in my own eyes, even if I get dragged of the course early. Might as well give it a good go though. |
| 2015-06-01 3:28 PM in reply to: #5110360 |
Member 622 Franklin, TN | Subject: RE: Ooops, I signed up for an Ironman. Am I Doomed? Do not run the marathon. Move down to the half or run no more than 15-18 miles. Making it to the start line fresh and injury free is job #1 with only 27 days to the race. |
| 2015-06-01 3:37 PM in reply to: 5Sigma |
| Subject: RE: Ooops, I signed up for an Ironman. Am I Doomed? Originally posted by 5Sigma I'm aware that I probably look like an idiot on this, although I am surprised to hear that other sites are discussing it. I'm sure there are plenty others who have entered relatively under prepared. I would argue that I am not hopelessly prepared at this stage, even through my training hours are pretty short compared with the ideal and my event strategy is a little hectic. Regarding events, I am probably trying to overcompensate for my lack of experience. At this stage, I feel pretty comfortable with the individual disciplines, although I am reasonably concerned about the cycling. I think the 100mile cycle is a good idea, and the 5km swim. The marathon is a little too close to the Ironman but given I have entered it along with someone else, I don't particularly want to cancel it. I recovered pretty fast from my first marathon (I was training two days later), and I am hoping to do the same again. I am going to take it leisurely (if there is such a thing) and put a few regular walking sections in. I will trial my proposed nutrition strategy and quit if I am not feeling it. Perhaps its a little naive (like my general approach so far), but it's not totally ridiculous. The marathon is a bad idea. Just trust me on this one. You will likely gain nothing from it fitness wise at this point, and only dig yourself into a recovery hole. Just because you can train 2 days after a marathon doesn't mean you are fully recovered. --- Looking back from where I started: Working on the basis that my approach is cutting it unnecessarily fine, what does the ideal approach look like? The ideal approach is arbitrary depending on what your expectations are. One could argue that if you simply want a shot at finishing, and are willing to suffer a lot in the process...then your approach is just fine. Most people prefer to build up their training in a way that allows them to work up in distances...but it's not to say that is the only way to approach things as not everyone has the same goals and expectations from racing.
How many months/seasons do you build up your experience to reach Ironman *completion* level? Most people new to the sport spend at least 2-3 seasons before building up to Ironman. Some do it their first season because they have a strong endurance background. Again...there is no right or wrong answer here. How many training hours/week should you do at a minimum to have reasonable confidence in hitting the 16h Nice time? Is Nice really such a terrible starter course? Again...it depends. You may prove that 3-5 hours is sufficient...where others may not have a shot at finishing despite 10-15 hours of training per week. Nice is probably one of the harder IM courses on the WTC circuit. The 16 hour cutoff time certainly doesn't help compared to the 17 hour cutoff at most other IM races. How would much space would you put between events? I think I am pretty clear now on the answer to at least some of those. It depends on the type of event, how hard you are pushing, and how you are managing your recovery and training in between events. Someone new to the sport probably does not want to be racing every weekend unless they are shorter races like sprints, 5k runs, etc. More experienced athletes can likely get away with racing an Olympic distance quite often. Not very many people will perform well doing marathons and HIMs on a consistent week after week basis.
--- There is still plenty of scope for me to fail pretty hard in Nice and I will have to accept the big chunk of humble pie that comes with that. That said, I have to look at the 9 months so far and be pretty happy with what I have achieved. I know it pales into insignificance vs. what others here have achieved; but I really had no idea 9 months ago if I could manage a marathon or half-Ironman, I didn't even know if I could pull of a half marathon! In a sense, I have already succeeded in my own eyes, even if I get dragged of the course early. Might as well give it a good go though. The bolded is all that matters IMO. I really couldn't care less if you finish in 13 hours or DNF on the bike at Nice. Who am I to judge what other people feel is worthy of their free time? I think there are a lot of things you could have done better during these 9 months, but if you feel good about it, and the results that will follow, then good on you for challenging yourself in a way that most people wouldn't. |
| 2015-06-02 9:35 AM in reply to: 5Sigma |
Member 622 Franklin, TN | Subject: RE: Ooops, I signed up for an Ironman. Am I Doomed? Here's some good training advice. It also addresses the marathon question. http://firstoffthebike.com/triathlon-training/triathlon-training-the-myths-revealed/
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| 2015-06-17 1:08 PM in reply to: JoelO |
Veteran 269 Media, PA | Subject: RE: Ooops, I signed up for an Ironman. Am I Doomed? Where's the update on the 100 mile bike ride from this past weekend? Still slated for the marathon this weekend too? |
| 2015-06-17 2:43 PM in reply to: ajfoster02 |
| 32 , England | Subject: RE: Ooops, I signed up for an Ironman. Am I Doomed? I didn't end up doing the 100 mile cycle unfortunately, although I did the 5km swim and marathon this weekend just gone. I did the 5km swim in 1hr 50 minutes, which was quite a bit faster than I was anticipating. I'm not sure how/why it was faster but it gives me a bit more confidence for the Ironman (just 11 days away now). I should be able to take it nice and steady and easily do a 1:45 on that basis. The marathon was less good. I got a 4:47, which was a PB but it was expected given the much easier course, it was a poor race. I didn't manage to find a consistent pace and I had little in the tank at the end. I did struggle with a few emergency toilet breaks which surely didn't help, this was probably a result of the curry the night before. In hindsight, I should really have avoided that. Probably the biggest issue was that I wasn't tooled up for it mentally. I don't think it's ever a great idea to go into an event like a marathon and trying to take it casually. Mentality is important for such distances and I didn't have it for that race. This at least won't be an issue for the Ironman. I will be entering that event with a plan to give it everything I can. I think that alone is worth 20%-30% extra endurance. Post marathon, I didn't feel too great on the Monday, but I'm feeling pretty good now, I decided training tonight might not be the best, I am sure there is lingering fatigue from the marathon, even if I can't feel it. Hopefully that fatigue won't carry too much into my Ironman. No more events not, getting a little nervous about the race. Fitness wise, I am where I am now, its just a case of doing all the other prep I need to give myself the best odds possible. I'd give myself 35%-50% of finishing, I think I may have cut it too fine on the bike. My Bib number for the race is 667 |
| 2015-06-17 3:13 PM in reply to: 5Sigma |
Champion 10018 , Minnesota Bronze member | Subject: RE: Ooops, I signed up for an Ironman. Am I Doomed? Good luck on the 28th, I think it would be great if you surprised yourself (and many of us) if you can get it done with the 16 hour cutoff. I'm a little late to the game, but I have to say that I am skeptical you will make the bike cutoff. I don't think the usual formula of 2xHIM plus one hour comes close for someone that far back in the pack. This is just my gut instinct as someone who also have a mid-6 HIM time. I was as well trained as I could hope, so if you're that "slow" (and I'm saying this about myself too!) you just don't have a talent for it. Things will unravel quickly. So, I guess my best advice is: make sure you've got that bike ride plan 100% worked out. Aim for a ridiculously easy effort for the entire ride. If it starts to feel hard (or even, frankly, fun/fast) then slow down and gear down until you run out of options. You also need to have your nutrition worked out perfectly, gear, etc. There's no room for error. Limit stopping time and come up with some plans to motivate yourself. It will be hard, so be ready for that. |
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