Shouldn't really be a surprise that a young, fit person with good suffering ability can get round an IM with minimal specific training. He seems to have excluded his transitions from his overall time as by my reckoning that's a 14:15 finish, but hey ho.

Bike leg seems the most impressive, that's a pretty decent bike time for a guy wearing running shoes and doing nearly 5000 feet of elevation while doing the whole ride in the dark (from the way he describes it, it also seems a pretty dumb and dangerous ride but it's his life!).

And that name is certainly out there, sounds like something out of Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, I guess his parents didn't want him growing up to be an accountant or an actuary...

ETA: Quiet morning at work so I just checked Strava (surprisingly there is only one Zeppelin Zeerip!), the bike leg makes a bit more sense when you realise that he started at 10,000 feet and had a net drop of nearly 6,000 feet, most of the first 70 miles was a nice steady descent at 1-3%. Maybe he should give himself a bit more credit on the planning front

Makes my IM time look like shit! But well done to him, its those kind of epic adventures that you will remember forever!

I am not surprised in the least, with that being said, he bikes around town on a fixie and climbs mountains on the side, and never ran more than 15 miles (I assume at one time, fwiw Rinny's biggest run before her win was 16)...So IMHO this isn't really a couch to Ironman overnight. I have said it before, Ironman just isn't that difficult for any one that has some base level of fitness. A stretch maybe, a long day definitely, but doable. We get so wrapped up into our training that sometimes we forget that less is more.

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my first thought was, "well, it will come down to the taper" or, "8 AM, head to bike shop" ...

Thats awesome. Seems like a terrible idea, but awesome nonetheless.

what are you doing tomorrow??

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Swimming Workout of the Day:

Favourite Swim Sets:

2020 National Masters Champion - M50-54 - 50m Butterfly

Uhhm, a lighter person who can hike in snow 5000 ft up to board down isn't necessarily a couch potato.

This is why the Horner episode played out as long as it did. Pretty solid or deep basic fitness plus some will power and you should be able to get a finish.

Of course he isn't a couch potato. Where has anyone said that he is? Still doesn't mean it was a good idea. He himself said through the article that it was a bad idea, but sometimes you just gotta do it even though it's a bad idea.

The big difference between himself and Ashley Horner is his humility going into it. He knew it was gonna be hard. but did it anyway.

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Swimming Workout of the Day:

Favourite Swim Sets:

2020 National Masters Champion - M50-54 - 50m Butterfly

Not surprised at all - I just enjoyed reading it and figured it would generate some butt-hurt from uber type-A folks who think too highly of themselves for training 30hrs/week when this guy casually decided to knock it out with no specific training, planning, or preparation :) Hell, I've done a handful of IMs with a respectable PR and I think it would be a bit daunting to just head out for 140.6 miles if I hadn't been training for it. Maybe my problem is that I know how much it would suck and hurt and he was oblivious until it was too late. IMO, the hardest part of an Ironman (or pseudo-Ironman in this case if you want to bitch about the details) is psychological. The general public that thinks it's so amazing to S/B/R 140.6 miles simply can't comprehend it, so they see at as being nearly impossible. The have no perspective so it seems way more than it is. This guy has never done anything like it but has a ton of experience doing big things and a good general fitness base. I'm not saying anyone can go out tomorrow and do it, but I do believe that 98% of the population can do it with some preparation. More than anything though, they need to believe it's possible otherwise they are destined to fail. For whatever reason I just really appreciated this guys casual approach and how it was written up. He was naive but went into it with a positive attitude and a level of confidence, perhaps as a result of that naivete, and I think helped a ton here regardless of his fitness base.

Awesome story and guy! Though it shows that pro-athletes in any arena are just specimens...I had a good friend in college that was a low ranked pro tennis player for a while, and was just naturally good at everything...tried golf and could shoot in the 80's after a month, beer-pong undefeated (legit accomplishment in college), crazy good freestyle skier, and mountain biker as well. I had just gotten into triathlon and had been training pretty consistently for an Olympic tri. He signed up a week before, swam twice (having never swam competitively), and came in 3rd overall...I barely placed top 3rd--though I'm JV athlete at best. This was also after he quit tennis and was working a regular job.

Simply completing a 140.6 distance triathlon, for someone in "good shape", is not *that* hard. With his 14+hr time (counting his transitions) he was still at the back of the bell curve, sure, but he finished it.

The barriers here start in the swim. If you are capable of swimming at all, you can probably hit the 2:20 cutoff time. Again, this is for someone in "good shape" to start with.

The bike isn't that bad, however here is where nutrition is key. Getting fuel into you body while riding is not something the casual cyclists tends to do. This guy seems to have figured that part out to some degree.

The real barrier after all of that is the run. Running 26 miles is HARD no matter who you are. That said, the article pointed out he had done 15 mile runs at some point in his life so he had the ability to run long. That probably was a main contributor to his ability to not just stop and quit, which is the easy thing to do when a long race gets to the point of really sucking.

While I don't think anyone could simply get off the couch and finish an IM, I think just about anyone in reasonable shape can do it. I think in this case as was pointed out in a post above, his bike course might have included a lot of climbing, but it also included much more descending, which probably helped him out a ton.

Per his strava it’s mostly downhill, not flat. From mile 2 to 67 it is all downhill and drops 5400 feet. But that doesn’t sound as impressive so it’s easy to leave it out

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Matt

I actually think this is a lot easier than doing an 100 mile ultramarathon, for which a surprising large number of people do not much training for at all (like <40mpw) and then do.

No impact on the swim and bike, and you can still shuffle the marathon. Still, impressive to me for anyone who doesn't train for an IM and still can finish the distance.

I'd be willing to bet that 12-14hrs is the fat part of the curve - even for people who actually train, prepare, and have full course support. Maybe I'm wrong. Regardless, he didn't go out to see how fast he could go. He simply wanted to do the distance.

I've done part of his bike course except I parked outside of Park City and rode and turned around where he started. Where he started is pretty easy. He bypassed a few tougher hills by going through Coalville which is smart for him. Him going up East Canyon is a tougher climb so props for doing that. The marathon I'd bet was pretty flat with him living close to downtown.

Impressive going off the couch without goggles. I don't think I would have wanted to do that swim without goggles. I'm sure he pissed a few fishermen off as that's a fairly popular lake to fish. All and all it is impressive to me. Not something I would personally want to do. Smart planning on his part with the net downhill bike.

Good on this guy especially since he can't swim for a lick.

If you can swim 2m/100y, bike 15mph, and military walk the marathon (4mph), your base time is 15:25 + transitions.

Seems to me any reasonably fit person should be able to make the 17h cutoff tomorrow if they had to. Who's in?

There’s a huge difference in starting a long training day........and jumping in the water and going when the gun goes off and the man tells you to go.....on a measured course.

I’ve got a buddy who fancies himself a runner. He claims to have run a marathon, but he did it on his own (not in a sanctioned race).

If you want to say you did an IM or ran a marathon, just do one. Otherwise, you haven’t.

Is it a "coach" person? An average "coach" person will not be able to put a wetsuit on!!!

Not a lot of IM bike courses that are net descent of 6k feet. Do you even have to pedal?

An interesting Stupid Human Trick from a young man who is likely in pretty great shape from being very active in the mountains.
Good on him for dreaming it up, and getting it done.

I just want to know - did his body crave squats and lunges after he was done?
/end pink.

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float , hammer , and jog

By letter of the law, this is true.

If you want to say you completed a full distance triathlon, any old training day can suffice. Better if it's with training buddies and you do it mass start, because all real triathlons are mass start.

Why would some type-A, 30hr/wk triathlete who is likely FOP care one bit about someone that did a 14 hour day on no training? Tell me he dropped a 9:30 and I can see that.

Btw, that's not me. I'm solidly MOP and hat's off to him for a crazy undertaking. I wouldn't want to do it.

If all we want to compare is finishing an IM within designated cutoffs and finishing a 100 miler within designated cutoffs then yes. Finishing a 100 miler is much harder than an finishing an IM. Just stand at the finish line of an IM and see how many out of shape looking people finish, then stand at the finish line of a 100 miler and compare.

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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.

Why? beats me but you can see from some of the comments above that this hit a nerve with a few of them. Basically looking for any opportunity to make themselves feel better about their own accomplishments by claiming what he did somehow doesn't count. The funny thing to me is this guy probably doesn't give a single fuck about being able to say he did and an "Ironman". He just thought it would be fun to challenge himself to go the distance. His quote was actually that he wanted to do a "DIY 'off-the-ottoman' (because we were too fit to honestly call it the “couch”) Ironman with them just to have a spicy summer adventure, and do something way out of the weekend-warrior ballpark.". Some of you all take yourselves to damn seriously. Carry on...


"If you want to say you did an IM ..., just do one. Otherwise, you haven’t."

"Not a lot of IM bike courses that are net descent of 6k feet. Do you even have to pedal? "

One thing that I did notice that was stated in the article was that he does a lot of ridgeline linkups. I am planning one of these this weekend 12.5 mi that will take me approximately 8hrs to complete. Mileage isn't everything in the Wasatch. I am imagining that he is no stranger to very long days exercising.

Gotta go for the WURL! We tried a couple years ago and stopped due to my buddy having super shortness of breath due to asthma that hadn't flared up in years. Lots of great ridges here make for a fun day.