When I signed up, there was no doubt in my mind that I would complete. I think based on my background, as you suggest, quitting is not really an option. In fact, this was probably to my detriment, as I pushed through a serious injury that should have ended my day. Instead I chose to walk the last 15 miles with an ankle the size of a softball. Not my best decision, but due to hubris there was no way I was coming home with a DNF.
Crossfit gave me a great platform to start my sport specific training. It molded me from soft to rock hard in a little over a year, and helped me to do all the things crossfit touts as so great: run faster, jump higher, lift heavier, less body fat, tough attitude etc. Did I complete the race because I can squat? Nope, but it gave me a very fit starting point for my training.
I swam, biked and ran a lot. I wrote most of my workouts based on the CFE model, but generally I was looking at 4 hours of crossfit and 8-12 of sport specific training a week. Sure, this may be on the low side of an Ironman program, but I think any reasonably fit individual would be fine with that amount of time.
Again, and I have researched this heavily, I really think there are more similarities than people think to other training programs. This is partly because CFE choses to market a certain way, as a rogue counter-culture. That is their prerogative and it has been effective for them. And it tends to polarize people.
They believe that you can push your overall performance curve to the right by training heavily in the anaerobic and lactate zones. I think anyone on this forum would probably agree that this is A way to train. They cut out active recovery and long slow distance. A lot of other plans are doing much of the same. Like I mentioned, I am now using a power based plan straight from the book, and it sure doesn't feel much different. The only real difference I see is the ability to quantify when to stop intervals as opposed to just pushing through.
To answer your question, yes, I think my background has a lot to do with why this was effective for me. I like tough workouts, and I couldnt imagine riding around in zone 1 all day. Did it deliver optimum performance for my genetic potential based on hours trained? Who the hell knows. I felt prepared. I'll call that successful.
Crossfit gave me a great platform to start my sport specific training. It molded me from soft to rock hard in a little over a year, and helped me to do all the things crossfit touts as so great: run faster, jump higher, lift heavier, less body fat, tough attitude etc. Did I complete the race because I can squat? Nope, but it gave me a very fit starting point for my training.
I swam, biked and ran a lot. I wrote most of my workouts based on the CFE model, but generally I was looking at 4 hours of crossfit and 8-12 of sport specific training a week. Sure, this may be on the low side of an Ironman program, but I think any reasonably fit individual would be fine with that amount of time.
Again, and I have researched this heavily, I really think there are more similarities than people think to other training programs. This is partly because CFE choses to market a certain way, as a rogue counter-culture. That is their prerogative and it has been effective for them. And it tends to polarize people.
They believe that you can push your overall performance curve to the right by training heavily in the anaerobic and lactate zones. I think anyone on this forum would probably agree that this is A way to train. They cut out active recovery and long slow distance. A lot of other plans are doing much of the same. Like I mentioned, I am now using a power based plan straight from the book, and it sure doesn't feel much different. The only real difference I see is the ability to quantify when to stop intervals as opposed to just pushing through.
To answer your question, yes, I think my background has a lot to do with why this was effective for me. I like tough workouts, and I couldnt imagine riding around in zone 1 all day. Did it deliver optimum performance for my genetic potential based on hours trained? Who the hell knows. I felt prepared. I'll call that successful.