Hello, my name is Sam and I’m a Triathlon addict. I found this forum a couple of weeks ago and haven’t done much work since, so thought it was about time I posted something. ')"]
Anyway, I’m doing my first Ironman in just over a week. After reading a lot of the posts on here it seems everyone else is doing a lot more training that I have been, hence being a bit scared now (as it’s too late to do anything about it).
Since the beginning of the year (last 12 weeks) I’ve done the following training:
Swim: 18km (11 miles) - 5 hours
Bike: 1452km (900 miles) - 58 hours
Run: 337km (209 miles) - 30 hours
and done these as my longest sessions:
Swim: 4km (2.48 miles) non stop - 1hr 5mins
Bike: 183km (113 miles) - 5hr 52m
Run: 33km (20.5 miles) - 2hr 50m
Anyone want to place bets on whether I’ll make it to the end of the race or not? And if so, how long will it take me? If you’d like more info before guessing, ask away. ')"]
Right, I’m off to see what else I can post on… ')"]
Don’t try to kill any given leg and you’ll be fine. Just finishing an IM isn’t actually that hard (though “racing” one is).
~You seem to be a pretty decent swimmer. Just “cruise” the swim and save your energy for the rest of the day.
~You’ll probably be on your bike for an hour or two longer than your longest ride to date. How tired were you after that ride? Again, take it EASY. Don’t get sucked into racing those around you.
~Just keep putting one foot in front of the next on the run. If you feel good after 20mi, that’s your time to reel in about a thousand people.
You can finish under the cutoff, likely by a decent margin.
Sounds like good advice, thanks. I was planning to go nice and easy on swim and bike and the start of the run, so that seems like a good idea. I do like my sprint Triathlons though, so I’ll have to concentrate on going slowly (which seems very strange for a race).
As the previous posters said, you will be just fine and have no worries. Barring something crazy, finishing is really quite easy. I’m an average athlete at best and because of some injuries was forced to do New Zealand on sparse training (ie… I swam ONCE before the race in 2009 - 4000M on Jan 5th, running mileage YTD was 60 miles - one long run of 14 miles, but lots of water running, 500 miles on the bike - only one bike over 100 miles). This great training plan (haha) got me to the line with hours to spare… Enjoy the day and have fun!
On another note, my wife and I spent some time in Melbourne on our visit your way as well. What an AMAZING city! We stayed in the South Yarra district and had a blast!!! We saw KOL at Laver, enjoyed Federation Square/everywhere else the train took us and spent too much money on the temptations of Chapel Street. I would move from the states tomorrorw!!!
You’ll “easily” be able to finish an IM. A couple of tips:
This is your first Ironman, so go easy (don’t worry it’ll get hard sometime on the marathon anyway). It’s going too hard in hour 3 that kills you in hour 10.
You’ll feel great a dozen times in the race and aweful a dozen times; take either too seriously and you might not finish.
Find a nutrition plan that works for you (fluids, calories, electrolytes) and stick to it.
Welcome to ST and just relax and enjoy your race. You’ll do just fine.
I thought you were scared about some of the posters here on ST - not whether or not your race will go well. Many of these fine posters can get a bit crabby some days. Don’t let them worry you either.
You’ll do fine. Take it easy. Pace yourself and it will all come together.
There are those here and elsewhere that make this sport extraordinarily complex - in actually fact it’s pretty straight-forward and easy. Just do the training. Show up on race day and put in an honest effort.
After reading a lot of the posts on here it seems everyone else is doing a lot more training that I have been,
i wouldn’t be too sure of that. i think everyone else may say they’re doing a lot more training than you. but warped perception rarely reflects actual reality.
