This is awesome. Just hope that rules aren't bastardized just to finish like the Iron Cowboy did. No ellipticals, no IVs during the race, no treadmills or trainers indoors. Starting each day at the same time to truly make it 1 ironman distance every 24 hours.

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2x Deca-Ironman World Cup (10 Ironmans in 10 days), 2x Quintuple Ironman World Cup (5 Ironmans in 5 days), Ultraman, Ultra Marathoner, and I once did an Ironman.

Don't forget walking along the beach and calling it swimming so long as the ankles are in the water...

I for one would much rather see a guy or girl announce when/where he's going to break the Iron distance record and then back it up. These sort of one-up on who-can-go-the-longest-at-a-pedestrian-pace contests just don't do it for me.

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Tim Russell, Pro Triathlete

Instagram- @timbikerun

Dude, it's to raise money for the red cross.

If you don't like it, fine, but why get negative?

Sheesh.

Just one opinion, sorry not all of my opinions are positive, Dave.

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Tim Russell, Pro Triathlete

Instagram- @timbikerun

Dude, it's to raise money for the Livestrong Foundation.

If you don't like it, fine, but why get negative?

It's okay the care about the integrity of a record, so that when the next guy does 150 ironmans in 150 days to raise money for Heart and Stroke Foundation, it is impressive enough to generate donations.

Lol. Literally.

I actually laughed out loud at this.

50 bucks says 99.99999999% of the dudes who are pooh poohing 100 ims in 100 days as being meaningless because they are "slow" would be crying, quitting little beeotches on day 3 of said endeavour.

It's one thing (and a very impressive thing) to put in 8 hrs hard work doing a single IM when fully rested, and an entirely different animal to try and do the same thing, over, and over, and over, and over again, regardless of pace.


When people try to find something wrong with something they don't even come close to having the mental, let alone physical, strength to do, partacularily when said endevour (sp?) is for charity, that says a lot about their integrity, IMO.


Hearing that from a pro (according to sig line at least)? Pathetic doesn't even begin. For his sake, I hope his sponsers don't see that crap.

If you knew him, you mightn't be so hasty with the negative judgements.

Mergler is in my age group, so I have 'noticed' him at countless events (not just tris) for decades now.

He's the real deal as an athlete. Winning his AG at Kona barely hints at his abilities. Into his 50s he's been pretty competitive in the open category, not just as an age grouper.

If you fancy a wager, I'd back him to do exactly what he says he'll do.

Doing it in Sydney in February will be a true test of endurance!

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'It never gets easier, you just get crazier.'

Fair play to him. I think 100 days off work might be an issue for me though :-)

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29 years and counting

See and I think being a top age grouper at Kona or something along those lines is a far bigger accomplishment than 100 IMs. Don't know what the fuss is all about, just giving my opinion on a forum...

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Tim Russell, Pro Triathlete

Instagram- @timbikerun

Seems he failed already at day 8.
:(

Pity. 100 was always going to be a massive ask, would have thought more than 8 though.

Any idea why they had to stop? Heard them on the IM Talk podcast and they sounded pretty confident.

He had some kind of leg muscle injury day 7. Seems they are continuing and "any deficit due to the injury will be made up along the course of the remaining 91 days". Still a failure even if he can make up the lost distance later.

I want to start off by saying that I actually supported this 100 ironmans in 100 days when I first heard about this venture (I even posted above how cool it would be if he finished). For the 100 ironmans in 100 days you can clearly see stated on their website that they plan to complete 1 full ironman a day for 100 days. They also state very clearly no riding or running indoors. My issue is with changing the clearly stated rules just to get a "finish" in (just like the Iron Cowboy). If they had published on their website stating that they were just trying to get the miles in over 100 days in any way possible then that's fine, they called out what they wanted and how they would get there. No problems with that. But when the going gets tough and you change the pre stated rules to finish instead of taking a DNF like many people who follow the rules have, thats what I don't agree with.

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2x Deca-Ironman World Cup (10 Ironmans in 10 days), 2x Quintuple Ironman World Cup (5 Ironmans in 5 days), Ultraman, Ultra Marathoner, and I once did an Ironman.

Not really any data from him on their webside post day 6. They say in their blogs that he is walking a bit and that any missing distance will be made up along the way.
His Strava is stone cold from after day 6 which I find odd. Why not just put up the numbers for all to see including his walking part? Hmm...

I've ridden and run past the converted motor home these guys are stationed out of at Centennial Park in Sydney a lot lately. The humidity here has been stifling over the last week and it has been torrential rain and thunder today. Someone said it earlier, it is a monumental effort to try this in Sydney at this time of year. We are in the midst of the hottest summer on record and the weather extremes are wildly fluctuating. I'm going to go for a run down there this afternoon, so will give a big shout out.

From their blog:

"As some of you may know, poor John has had some issues with his VMO and has only been able to complete his swim and bike – I say ‘only’, he’s still cycling and swimming more in a day than I would in a year! But due to the severity of Johns injury, yesterday he had to stop whilst on the bike and urgently needed a visit to his long-time sports doctor, Dr Donald Kuah.
The diagnoses is that the adductor tendon that runs under the VMO muscle is badly inflamed which consequently puts stress on the hamstring and VMO muscle – this was possibly caused by a combination of tired legs and slight misalignment on the cleats. Thankfully, Dr Kuah worked his magic, and John received treatment with advice to rest over the next couple of days.
Don’t panic though – John WILL be back! His Iron Century will continue, doing the full ironmans every day heading to Port Macquarie"

How it still is an "Iron Century" is a bit unclear to me.

How much does age come into play at these kind of extreme events? I believe the guy is almost 60, right? Even if its not about VO2max, I would assume factors like recovery is a bitch at that age.

Even though I do not know John I feel that he went out too fast at first coming in at 10 hours or slightly above the first few days. Even if you can go sub 9 hours for 1 Ironman that doesn't mean that coming in at 10 hours at first is a good idea, especially when you've never built up to 10 or more consecutive Ironmans and have no idea how your body will react. You can train and do 2 or 3 Ironmans in a row and feel fine, but there is a world of difference between 2-3 and more than 10 in a row. It takes several ultra races to understand what your body goes through and how it reacts, everyone is different. With this experience you can dial in your pacing (just like with any other distance). When I raced the Deca world cup the first 5 days I was literally forcing myself to stop, walk and take my time so that I wouldn't hurt as bad the final days. I could be totally wrong but if I was going for 100 in 100 days I would have played it very differently.

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2x Deca-Ironman World Cup (10 Ironmans in 10 days), 2x Quintuple Ironman World Cup (5 Ironmans in 5 days), Ultraman, Ultra Marathoner, and I once did an Ironman.

It sounds like this guy could have taken advice from you.

Or used an elliptical.

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'It never gets easier, you just get crazier.'

So guess John is back in action after a break. Just read this from their blog. What record is that of 41 consecutive IM?
Guess James' streak did not get recognized due to the elliptical.

"Result: Debi knocked out her 21st consecutive half-ironman and John finished his 11th Ironman which is his 4th consecutive! He’s going strong towards the goal of breaking the record of 41 and also continuing until May 7 at Ironman Australia. Fantastic!"

He is out again. Think he is just too old and his body can't handle it.