Look at how most people who complete one consider running a 5K. They think they've done something important (and they have, if they got off the couch).

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

As a former couch potato, like within a year, and trying to workout in some fashion (run, bike, swim, lift, or a combo) 5-6 days a week, I can say with certainty that your roommate is way off. Majority of Americans could not finish a sprint. Period. 90% couldn't do an Olympic, and as for all of you Ironman finishers, kudos to you, I'm working to get there but I dare not speak to what it takes.

According to the Centers for Disease Control, 37% of American adults cannot swim the length of a pool. Every day, about 10 people die from drowning. (from Infinit Nutrition Website)

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2016 Specialized Shiv Pro Race 1x
2015 Specialized Venge

Yes, but a fun one to pile on.
More than half of America think an Ironman is the local sprint or Olympic tri.
Half of America could complete an Ironman with a reasonable amount of training even though they think it's totally unobtainable.

And that's not even taking into account their fitness level. Most anyone can bike or run/walk, swimming is a whole different animal.

And the second thing that would get most anyone with no training, is the absolute misery they would be in sitting on a bike seat for hours on end. Again, regardless of their fitness level and tenacity.

What if he is? What if he's a doctor? What if you profession has nothing to do with triathlon?

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Make Inside Out Sports your next online tri shop! http://www.insideoutsports.com/

From what I've seen here, if you're not one of those, an attorney, or in finance, it's almost impossible to find the right equipment.

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http://www.jt10000.com/

I could not imagine how my ass would feel if i tried to ride 112 without any previous riding.....

Similar to the title of the post when I come to work on Monday's at a campus of ~1000 I often muse myself by wondering how many of my associates, if there life were threatened, could even ride a bike up from the bottom to the top of just one of the many hills I climbed on Sunday's ride. My mind goes to strange places after hard weekends ;)

I took a quick look at the results of an Olympic distance tri I did. Now, these people are (hopefully) not on "no training".

3% of finishers didn't swim a fast enough pace to make the IM cutoff.
5% of finishers didn't ride a fast enough pace to make the IM cutoff.
8% of finishers didn't run a fast enough pace to make the IM cutoff.

That is in a race that was 1mi/20mi/5mi. So, yeah, I can see where your roommate thinks a dude pulled from the couch could do an IM.

literally laughed out loud at this one. But also very true or sad.

No, take a walk around your main part of town, where ever you live. Yesterday I was out riding thy and there was a BBQ Party in my towns main area. While stopped at a red light, I noticed the physical shapes of some of these people, and they would not make the swim cut off (put simply). This is not to say that all people at this BBQ festival couldn't do an Ironman, but the general fitness of America is not in the Ironman fitness level.

I just did a quick Google and it suggests that between 33 and 50% of American can't even swim 25 yards.

My slightly amended veraion:

I think most people could do a 70.3 if they trained consistently for a year. Not sure what the normal 70.3 cutoff, can you speedwalk and make it?

Yes. Haines City a good friend entered and suffered a partially torn hamstring in training a few weeks prior to the event. She said it hurt to swim a little, hurt to bike more, but hurt like hell even trying to jog. So she walked most of it (against her doctor's wishes) and came in under cutoff. But please keep in mind she is far from a couch potato, so back to the op post, I still don't think most Americans could finish any one of the three events under cutoff. Heck, I'm training and hope to finish under cutoff next year.😂

Certainly. My point is that a significant # who do train, would struggle to complete the event without that crutch. I'd pay money to see those people at Walmart or a Theme park, try to put on a wetsuit. You could make a reality TV show off that premise.

I think most people underestimate the difficulty of merely walking a marathon. People who don't exercise think if you go slow enough, you can do something indefinitely. I walked probably 30-35k of my marathon at Whistler. I was 31 years old, in fantastic shape, and I was so sore after finishing I thought I got hit by a bus. It wasn't the swim that did that (swim was easy), it wasn't the bike (I had never experienced that pain from any training ride), and it wasn't the 7-12k I ran. It was that long, long walk.

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Long Chile was a silly place.

I think your roommate spends too much time on letsrun

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The first time man split the atom was when the atom tried to hold Jens Voigt's wheel, but cracked.

have your room mate show you how it's done.

Even for someone reasonably fit, making it to T2 would be risky if they don't have any sort of swim background.

the bike is a piece of cake to just get through. But for an untrained person, running off the bike would be a slow disaster. Nutrition or lack of, and improper hydration would leave them in pretty bad shape to try to walk to the finish line.

Enough people that have done at least some training still DNF or miss the cutoffs, so the average guy ain't gunna make it.

In short, your room mate is an uninformed dufus, but most good room mates are. I bet he can drink pretty well tho!

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TriDork

"Happiness is a myth. All you can hope for is to get laid once in a while, drunk once in a while and to eat chocolate every day"

Cutoff is 8:30 I think. Lots of Ifs I could apply to your question, but ...

I'll do the math as I go ...

1:10 is the swim cutoff time. Let's say Roommate can get through T1 in 5min.

He then needs to ride a 4:10 or faster to make 5:30 cutoff with a 5min T2. Not sure what that is in mph.

From 5:30 to 8:30 ... 13.1/180 minutes is ... 13:44 per mile? YRMMV as to whether he can maintain that pace and finish under the cutoff time. Hope it's not a hot day.

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What are you people, on dope?

—Mr. Hand

I drove SAG for a 60 mile charity ride once. People registered for the ride months in advance. They did fundraising for it. They had plenty of time to prepare and train. But there were people who couldn't do even the 60 miles with no time cutoff.


I was momentarily shocked, then I remembered several examples from my life. My husband swears he knows how to swim, but in the 20 years we have been together, I have never seen him do it. My mom didn't learn how to swim until she was in her 60s. I know a woman in her 20s who mountain bikes and runs and wants to do a triathlon, but she gets too tired swimming the length of the pool. So yeah, I do believe that 37% of American adults cannot swim the length of a pool.

The majority of Americans would never make it out of the water

Back when my mom was in university I think it was required for all college students to pass the "swim test" (mid 1970's). She grew up on a farm working every day, so she had no idea how to swim. Swimming was something they didn't do or have interest in. So in uni, she would go practice because she dreaded it...she simply couldn't swim. Now I think all you had to do was "swim" a 50 (down and back), and I think front crawl. Essentially if you didn't drown during the test, you passed. She understands the freestyle and backstroke but even now, it's more of a modified doggy paddle/side stroke/front crawl for her. She's comfortable enough to know she won't drown, but if you told her to go swim in lake/ocean/bay, she'd shrug her shoulders not being able to do it. At her beach house she will go into the breakers or just beyond, to float around, but she aint going to swim. We grew up lower middle class, but one thing my mom knew we had to do was swim. So we were in the water at an early age.

I know atleast in mid 2000's, there was no requirement for college students to show swim proficiency, but that was part of the North Carolina public universities requirements for a long time.

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Brooks Doughtie, M.S.
Exercise Physiology
-USAT Level II

Rofl. No. Majority of Americans can't walk 26 miles in one day. Or swim for that matter. At all. Let alone 2.4 miles.

Most people who can swim 2.4 miles can bluff their way through a 7-8 hour bike, then would have enough time to walk the marathon. The swim is the high bar for entry.

I think this is a dumb thread to post

So maybe the average American can't do one. But what if we were to change that statement just a little bit. "The average american, with 6 months of moderate training, could complete an an ironman in under the cutoff time" Let's think about it... You can do a head out of the water breast stroke and still make the swim cutoff, bike at 15 mph and run a few miles of the marathon with periodic walking. Is completing an ironman really all that impressive seeing as it requires little to no athletic background at the time of registering? (This is of course assuming that you don't think finishing a marathon is impressive--pace independent of course)