kevin,

I'm 18, and also look foward to my first IM. I've been in the sport for 3 seasons now, and I am also addicted. I wanted to do a marathon this september, and too many people have told me to wait a few years. In short, if I should wait a few to do a marathon, then tack on 1 or 2 more to get experience putting those kind of miles in, considering they will be coming after the swim/bike. This is just me but I am going to wait about 4 or 5 years to do my first IM. I am considering a 1/2 also this summer, which I think is a pretty good idea. I want to get at least 5 or 6 of these in before i start to train for a full IM. Just my opinion, good luck this season. Maybe I will see you at a race or to, being I am from NEPA.

Back in the mid to late 80s, I qualified for Hawaii a couple of times (they used to have a 15-19 age group). I never went, and have regretted it ever since (as it is now WAY harder to get in). However the reason I didn't go was because I physically wasn't ready: I went for a 2+ hour run in the midwest heat & came back pissing blood. My parents (who would have footed the bill for the trip) decided I was way too young & vetoed my race. IM training, to do it right, requires a ton of time & energy + it can really burn you out. I'm just now getting back into triathlons after 15+ years abscence, and while I am much slower, fatter & nowhere near currently competitive, I am mentally stronger & my body seems more willing to adapt to 4+ hours on the bike every weekend. Do the 1/2--if it wipes you out, then pass on the IM. You can always do an IM down the road--there are so many of them now--that being said, if you qualify for Hawaii, I would go just for the experience as you never know if/when you will be able to return.

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"There are two novels that can change a bookish fourteen-year old's life: The Lord of the Rings and Atlas Shrugged. One is a childish fantasy that often engenders a lifelong obsession with its unbelievable heroes, leading to an emotionally stunted, socially crippled adulthood, unable to deal with the real world. The other, of course, involves orcs." John Rogers

Question for the youngsters: What are your mid and long term goals in the sport?

If you have performance oriented goals for both short and long distance racing, then training for and doing an Ironman race at less than 20 years of age may set you back - way back! Could you do it, most definatly. However, it has been my experience, both direct and with input from a number of top coaches, that time at this age is best spent working on and refining speed, technique and strength not endless hours of endurance training. Why? There is a window of opportunity that you have, from the time that your body approaches the finish of growing in your late teens to some time in your early twenties, to maximize your potential with speed, technique and strength.

My suggestion would be to look long term. If you want to really crank out some fast times at the 1/2 and full Ironman distance in say 5 - 10 years, then I would focus on Olympic distance racing now and maximizing your speed, technique and strength in the three individual sports now.

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Steve Fleck @stevefleck | Blog

I was watching ironman Canada 1999 as I did my ride on the trainer this morning and there was a 19 year old pro from Australia (Mitchell Something ... it was 5:30am so I'm grasping for his name) who was racing very well. However, I've never heard of this guy since then. I think that you can do the race to finish at 19, but to "race" it and do the kind of training required takes more years to build up to. To try to jump into the high volume training at too young an age will just break you down.

Mitch Dean is the young Aussie's name and he has been racing IM races since his late teens. The kid has talent, and has done well but, with respect, in the grand scheme of things, his performances have plateaued in the past few years in his early 20's. I would like for him to prove me wrong, but where do you go when you go 8:50 for IM when you are 17 - 18 years old?

The counter-view and perhaps young Dean's motivation is the Olympic distance scene in Austarila is VERY competitive and thus, he may have figured his chances of doing "well" were better in the longer races. I note that he won the Hell of the West 1/2 Ironman on Australia last weekend.

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Steve Fleck @stevefleck | Blog

Not a good idea. At 19 it's quite possible that your bones are still growing, so battering on them by doing the training for the run can have long-term effects.

That aside, as Fleck already observed, if you have long-term goals in this sport, you'd be much better served by working on speed and technique now, and progressing to the long ones later. My personal experience - I started running ultramarathons at 18, and have regretted it. I think I'd have had better career results by working on speed first. Instead I came back at 26 and started working on improving speed, but by then it was a little late.

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"It is a good feeling for old men who have begun to fear failure, any sort of failure, to set a schedule for exercise and stick to it. If an aging man can run a distance of three miles, for instance, he knows that whatever his other failures may be, he is not completely wasted away." Romain Gary, SI interview

I agree with Fleck a hundred percent, but in my situation where I will be doing one IM (at the age of 18) and not another till I'm in my mid-twenties. I don't think one marathon is going to break my body down with lasting and long term affects. I think if you train smart and are not doing long runs every week then you can handle a single IM marathon. When I get back from my 2 year mission I plan on racing Olympic distance and an occational 1/2 IM for a number of years before I move up to IM again.

Cody

I am not considering doing the IM for a time oriented goal, ie break 12 hours or something like that

It would more just be for the experience of long course racing, to finish an IM in a respectable time, and do see if i really am hooked on the sport.

Most likely, i wont attempt another IM, or even IM qualifier for a few years, due to writing of MCAT's, and hopefully getting into med school and stuff in the coming summers.

Basically, it would be a one shot deal. One IM, one long run/week for it, and some long hours on the bike.

Reasonable?

I do intend i hope later on in life to race IM's fast, but i think for the first attempt i would just like to finish it, see how that feels, and make sure this is really "my sport."

How much damage can you do to yourself over the course of one season? I can see consecutive races/seasons at a young age, but would one race really hurt my body?

Thanks for all the info fleck, i think i need to make some serious considerations.

(heck...i may not even qualify ,. which would make the decision REALLY easy! ;) )

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"Anyone can work hard when they want to; Champions do it when they don't."

I'm 28 right now, and I did my first triathlon at the age of 13, so I've got almost 15 seasons of tris--I took 2 seasons off to run. I did my first 1/2 as a 24 year old and my first Ironman as a 26 year old at Florida and then participated at Hawaii--I raced till 90 on the bike! Looking back, I would have done it the exact same way over again. When I started, qualifying could be done at an Oly race, not anymore. A good friend of mine competed at Hawaii as a teenager or in his early 20s. He is no longer in the sport and just sort of fell out of it after a few early attempts to have a good race at IMH.

My advice would be to focus on and develop speed, technique, and general endurance early. Once you get running legs, really good swimming technique, or learn how to ride it will come back to you quickly if you find that IMs are not your thing--I'm wondering if I really enjoy them. The speed is going to be much harder to find when you hit your mid-late 20s than it will be now. Endurance and strength will tend to increase for many years to come.

My $0.02 is to wait, get faster, and then focus on the longer stuff. A 1/2 might not be too much, but anything over that might be.

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Brandon Marsh - Website | @BrandonMarshTX | RokaSports | 1stEndurance | ATC Bikeshop |

fleck,

my goal for at least next season is to rank as a USAT all american, or at least honorable mention. I was 25th this year, so I have some work to do, but i raced locally for the most part, so i will go to larger races this year. I will be a freshman in college next year as well, either at James Madison, or West Point, both of which have tri teams. I plan on building my skills on the team doing mostly oly, and i will sprinkle in a few 1/2IM's too. I would like to get to be a serious racer, probably on the oly distance, but before i die, i want to to IMH.

College/University is a great way to plug into some outstanding single sport training options. Most schools have swim teams and cross-country/track teams. Make as much use of these tremendous reasources as you can over the next few years. Even if you don'y compete for the respective varsity teams, those teams may allow you to train with them. Don't miss out on this opportunity. This is golden!!

Cycling is not such a big sport at the College/University level and that's OK, but you will have to work more on that on your own. You need to be creative and patient. Bottom line, if long term success is what your goal is in the sport it may be best to just focus on swimming and running for the next couple of years. The great thing about the bike is that, if you have decent overall fitness it can be picked up at any time and you can get back into a reasonable amount of shape relativly quickly.

Some schools have tri teams/clubs as you have noted, but I would really reccomend giving the single sports a real try while at college. There is no better time to immerse yourself in the training for that sport and really take it to the next level. This will pay HUGE dividends down the road if you have long term goals in triathlon.

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Steve Fleck @stevefleck | Blog

Kevin, my $.02 CDN is to sit on it for awhile. It's never too late to do an IM, but it can be too early. Consider me, I'm 52, started tri a few years ago and hope to do an IM in a few years.

Notice all the top IM pros are almost all in their early 30's or so and that AG times of the 30 somethings are usually faster than those of the 20 somethings. So you have lots of time to develop as a triathlete.

Your long bones are not fully fused at the end plates and your lungs, heart, etc are still developing. I've known lots of guys my age who were superb athletes in their younger days but by middle aged are either plaqued with old injuries or are burned out. Most are way out of shape now. About twenty-five years ago, my ex wife's cousin was your age playing Junior A hockey in Ontario. He was being touted as a future NHL super star. To make a long story short he never made it to the NHL due to injuries and since then his life has been a bit of a zero. We blame his parents and coaches for making him play through injuries and forcing him to concentrate on hockey at the expense of everything else. Obviously your situation is quite different from this, but it does demonstrate that life should be balanced.

It sounds like you've got lots of other things on your plate besides tri. You're at an age we're life should be a lot of fun with unversity life. My advice to you is concentrate on sprint/Oly length and wait until your early or mid twenties before thinking IM.

Kevin, I'm even younger at 17 (male) and would love to race on Ali Drive.

However, I'd like to race there, not run so I'm having to contain my enthusiasm and learn to really swim, run and bike?

Its a real shame as even at my age, I much prefer the hard long distance races to the quick spurts you get in Sprint tri. I've done half marathons since 15, though not particulary fast at about 1.27.

The standard is very high in GB, what is it like in the US - Dave, Kevin what are good times for under20s in the Sprint/Olympic?

i would say a good time for a sprint tri would be anything below a 1:10, and for oly below 2:15. It is all relative though, since all courses are different.

Sprints here in Canada are won around 1 hour.. give or take a couple min based on the course.

Back home in alberta, finishing a spring somewhere in the 1:05-1:10 range should put you top ten. I saw one sub-1:00 win last year, i think the rest were just above.

Thanks for the advice guys. I've gotten many different opinions here. I may go and see a doctor about the growth plates, maybe he can get an x-ray or something taken to determine if im still growing (that would be cool if i was!)

As for the growth plates, i may have screwed them up doing squats in highschool. Never know?

I think ill race the shorter races, and if i qualify make the decision then.

Do they offer rollovers at IMCanada does anyone know?

Thanks,



-Kevin

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"Anyone can work hard when they want to; Champions do it when they don't."

Probably the youngest member here on slowtwitch, 15 years old.

Well, I don't have a huge triathlon history under my belt(3 years) but I would say wait on it and do your sprints, oly, and 1/2 IM sometimes. Your still young and the last thing you want to do is damage something in your leg, shoulder, hip or anywhere.

It isn't just one race, it's one super long huge race. The race might not hurt you, but the training will if your considering of letting your mind and body know there is a 100% chance your going to complete it.

Just have fun now, work on the technique, and get some PR's on races you've done before. Then a little while down the road, go for the big one.

Plus, it's only your second season in the sport. Take your steps torwards the top at an easy pace. Not from beginner to a pro in a year. =)