Ironman is the pinnacle of triathlon. In every sport there are varying degrees of achievement. One time I was climbing a mountain (Mt. Rainier) and a fellow climber was struggling. Halfway up the mountain the guide turned to the climber and told them, "Today this is your personal summit". I don't know if that made the distressed climber feel better or not but I can tell you that I was glad to make it to the actual summit of the mountain...

"Ironman is the pinnacle of triathlon. In every sport there are varying degrees of achievement."

This is exactly the "IM slant" that grates on me... Connotation that you haven't achieved until you've done IM. That IM is the be-all, end-all of triathlon. Just ask one of those IM MOPers about a 2-hour oly...

Neither is a pinnacle, or the ultimate anything. They are just different aspects of the same sport. And in the end, we're all going to be just dust and a collection of experiences.

And I'm like Bill and Ted: Be excellent to each other... (yeah, right!)

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Some are born to move the world to live their fantasies...

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I would love to compete in an IM but sadly I don't think my old body is going to allow it. The mental drive is there, the commitment to train is there, but avoiding the injury bug seems to be a problem. If an Oly or 1/2 is all I'm allowed, I'm happy. At this point, every day I get to run 6 miles is a gift from above.

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I'll be what I am
A solitary man

i am thinking this way too. might take a rest from the whole ironman thing after ironman nz (unless of course i should qualify for hawaii!). it just seems too time consuming. plus i have a low immune system as it is (diabetic) and ironman training just seems to compound my susceptibility to illness.

i find i don't go surfing on days where there are excellent waves because i 'have' to do a long bike. now this used to be one of my passions and now it has become subsumed by the obsession that ironman seems to dictate. i'm also someone who likes to do the best i can in anything i do and with ironman that necessitates some very long training hours.

Another ounce of sarcasm lost forever...

Not a chance...still trying to get all the coffee out of my keyboard... ;-)

That's a fallacy. You can be quite successful in Ironman on 8-10 hrs training per week which is hardly life dominating, especially if you get up early and bang out your workout before the rest of the family is out of bed. I've done 7 Ironmans and have qualified for Hawaii 4 times but I also play tennis twice a week, run my kids swim team, go to almost all their practices, ski on the weekend with the family, and hang out with the family every night after work. If you train correctly it doesn't have to be an all consuming affair. I'm proof. Sure I could be better if I trained more but I don't want IM to be all consuming just a really fun, really healthy, really rewarding hobby, which is what it is.

And yes, like it or not, Ironman is the pinnacle of the sport.

i'd say winning the olympics is a bigger achievement. that's just me though....

In most sports yes. In triathlon no. It's Hawaii.

Quick, who won the men's olympic triathlon? Who won the silver?

I swore that I would never do an IM. It was denial. I thought that I could never do one so I just told myself and others that I would never do one.

But as everyone here that has done one, the urge slowly creeps up on you, you start doing halfIMs, get in better shape and before you know it you say what the fuck... sign up and do it.

IMLP was my first and during the race I swore I'd only do sprints from then on.....Can't wait for IM wisco

"Slow"??? Old guy like you. Damn, I hope one day I can be as "slow" as you are. ;)

And yes, it is written somewhere that you have to do an IM distance race. That's the only reason I did one... honest.

Trae

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Trae McCombs
TSR - Sponsored by the Masses. Racing for the hell of it.
Ironman Finisher 2005 -- 14:09:18

Refreshing to hear that. I don't really LIKE to train half the damn day on a Saturday. I enjoy 60-90 minutes a day at the most, but it has been cutting into my surf time (I try to surf almost every day). I'll stick it out for IM Australia because I really want to do an IM to see if I can, but it remains to be seen if I will want to put in the hours to do another one.
About Ironman being the pinnacle, what about the Deca-Ironman? Wouldn't THAT be the pinnacle? I'm thinking for those folks a mere single ironman is a walk in the park!

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Question for you. I see where you finished an IM in 14:09:18.

Would you trade that 14 hour effort for a sub 2:20 oly finish?

Just wondering....

im gonna call bullshit on that. winning olympics much tougher than hawaii....



anyway hamish carter won gold, bevan docherty silver.



who won hawaii this year? faris al sultan. who got second. cameron brown.

sub 2:20 oly experience.... :/ Not really sure. I doubt it. I love and always have enjoyed things that require endurance. I've always loved long rock climbs, and anything that really requires me to reach inside and see what is there. (part of the reason I signed up for another IM ;)

The shorter races, for me, just don't seem to hold the allure or are as exciting.

I like the half IM's though. That is a great distance. Can't wait to do another one this summer. I'll probably keep doing at least one of those a year just for fun. And maybe do an IM distance ever other year or ever 3 years or something. (as long as I can do them)

Heck, I said I'd wait 2 years before trying another one, and signed up for another IM race only 3 weeks or so after my first one ;) [short memory helps I guess]

What was I saying? heh

Yeah, I doubt I'd trade my experiance doing the IM for just about anything. It was a great day and I'll have my "pretty pictures" of that day in my head for a long time.

Trae

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Trae McCombs
TSR - Sponsored by the Masses. Racing for the hell of it.
Ironman Finisher 2005 -- 14:09:18

Maybe you should ask Kate Allen which is tougher?

Or Simon Lessing, or Chris Mccormack, or Michellie Jones, or Joanna Zeiger, or......
oh never mind.

it's not about which is tougher in terms of doing the event. it is what is tougher to win. my money is on the olympics. anyway ironman you can afford to be a CRAP swimmer. olympic distance you can't/ olympic distance athletes are more well rounded...therefore REAL triathletes ;)

Except for all that wheel sucking.

so you dont think olympic distance athletes are any good at cycling? kieran doe has gone 2.02 in a half ironman on bike and kept up with chris mccormack at roth. now him and bevan docherty came in at exactly the same time in round taupo road race. do road races count in determining who the strongest cyclists are? or is it only time trials? did u actually watch the athens mens olympic race? that race was won on the bike (pretty much). just so happens the guys who came in 1st, 2nd, 3rd n 4th are also extremely good runners. not to mention pretty good swimmers in triathlon terms.

People do tend to assume, when my shirt has something about 'triathlon' on it that it is to do with the race they see on tv. I want to collect the whole set - this coming year as well as the usual couple of olys and a half IM I'm going to try a sprint and a full IM.

Now, I wonder how it's going to be; then, I'll know.
My first marathon was completed in a way that horrible agony led to joy; my first oly was such a positive experience, despite having to walk for 3k thanks to intestinal cramping, that I immediately thought of myself as 'a triathlete who also does marathons'; after my first half IM I was filled with such happiness and sense of achievement, despite actually being in tears twice on the race course - it was that positive experience that led me to dare to try the full IM. I want to do an early season sprint because I don't want to spend too much time in water that will still be rather cold, and because I want to see what it is like to redline it for an hour and a quarter, or however long this old bod takes.

I'm still not sure I actually 'want' to do an IM - last year was a poor year for me, stressed, tired, likely overtrained; I didn't qualify, and had to travel to Penticton to sign up for '06 - but I *need* to do it; need to prove to myself that it is possible, not just to endure, but to organise getting there, getting fitter, staying fit. Then I'll have the whole set, and I'll be able to choose which I like better.

When I did my first marathon it was to prove I could to myself - I didn't really think it was possible - I had to do it to believe that it could be. The distance is still mind-boggling - it's a boring drive, let alone being able to run it! I certainly didn't plan to do more than one, since I thought that dying on the spot was a real possibility. But as soon as I finished I recognised that it was something I wanted to do more of. We'll see if that might also be true of IM.

I used to hold forth that the real triathlon would be if one could run a marathon, perform Schubert's Winterreise, and develop an elegant mathematical proof all in the same day. That would be a bit more balanced, don't you think? This swim/bike/run stuff is crazy! And here I am, already thinking of each workout in terms of how it will affect something over eight months away.

Well done, staying away from such madness! j

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"I'm going to stick to my sardines" - Cassidy
"Others took their lemons and stood up and walked." - Kestrelkerri
"I will never know quite why I set out on the run. I guess because it was next." - Nachocheese
"No, just to people on the Forum. My athletes are the control group." - Paulo Sousa
" Actually, I am naturally an Asshole....not unlike the way you are naturally an idiot." IRONLOBO

"Personally, I think the shorter distances are a ton of fun, and I don't think you will find any lack of support here on ST is you stick with the minis."

"Now get your ass to the back of the bus."
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The back of the bus ain't so bad. At least there aren't any fat 14 hour Ironmen here.

SAC I love the sarcasm...keep it coming. Just making sure you weren't a thin skinned whiney euro. Any body willing to come here and earn their keep is fine by me...move to Texas and I'll buy you a beer.