I have been in the sport for 4 years now. Got incredibly hooked amd addicted by training, racing, healthy lifestyle and setting and achieving high goals
Have had and continue to have a great time and will race texas in may and kona in October
However, if I’m realistic I can’t keep going with current rythm of trainimg 15-20 hrs most of the year. Its very nice and rewarding but mid and long term it will not work with the phase of my life I’m heading into
Therefore. I’m thinking about how being in this wonderful sport could look like without making it being almost an obsession
Would appreciate to hear from others who gave it all for a few years and then successfully found a good balance
I’m concerned I will not be able to continue enjoying the sport without having big goals, afraid I will loose my fitness, gain weight, start to eat unhealthy etc
I’m thinking about maybe focusing on olyimocic half iron and running races for some time, trying to be fop. Not sure it will require much less trainimg than ironman though so maybe I should just so sports for pure fun
If I try to train hard for a local sprint or Oly, I just can’t convince myself it is worth it to drag my butt out there. But if I pick a specific cool race to do, Big Sur Marathon was one, I can get myself up for it.
I’ve gotten in a rhythm of an Ironman every other year, I still want to do one when I am 55 and don’t want to take too many years off. On the off years I try to find one or two races that I think would be really cool to go to and focus on that.
2012 I planned to do a string of local races and see how well I could do. April hit and I had barely moved so the June races were out, then since I wasn’t doing a June race it was easy to skip May workouts … Ended up not racing at all that year and just kind of farted around the whole time.
My number one tip when that time comes would be to forget about iron distance and concentrate on 70.3 (or even non-drafting Oly)
You’ll be able to keep the good results coming on less hours per week, and the race day experience of a 70.3 is largely the same.
Full iron training is a considerable time commitment no matter what.
That is the problem with Ironman as opposed to other triathlon distances. I am still obsessed but it doesn’t require 15-20 hours/week for my obsession. I have been doing triathlons for 10 years and have specificlly voided an Ironman because I honestly believe I will not like triathlon after doing it–I find the longer training simply boring not to mention the mental energy, time away from family, work etc. I honestly don;t understand how people can do it year in an year out–let alone multiple IMs in a year unloess you have no family, unlimited freedom in job etc. I plan to do 1 and only 1 Ironman so I can check it off., but that is it.
Yeah it would be nice if a 3 hour Saturday ride with good intensity would be a quality workout for an upcoming race
While a 3 h ride can have its place in ironman training it’s not really enough
My thoughts exactly.
IMO, when IM training, there’s sometimes nothing worse than racking up 2hr runs & 4hr rides and still wondering if you’re ready.
Being able to regularly train over race distances without rearranging your whole day is a massive weight off the mind.
That is the problem with Ironman as opposed to other triathlon distances. I am still obsessed but it doesn’t require 15-20 hours/week for my obsession. I have been doing triathlons for 10 years and have specificlly voided an Ironman because I honestly believe I will not like triathlon after doing it–I find the longer training simply boring not to mention the mental energy, time away from family, work etc. I honestly don;t understand how people can do it year in an year out–let alone multiple IMs in a year unloess you have no family, unlimited freedom in job etc. I plan to do 1 and only 1 Ironman so I can check it off., but that is it.
One exercise I go through with athletes is long term goal setting and it can be informative.
So instead of saying, “I want to do Ironman Texas this year, what needs to happen in terms of training, diet, lifestyle” etc and then do the plan.
Think to yourself, “I want to do Ironman Texas in 10 years, or 15 years.” If you do that you’ll find that the primacy of this year’s hours of training or this week’s fades a little and you start thinking more about maintaining flexibility, maintaining weight, maintaining a healthy family balance and those sorts of things.
I haven’t done an Ironman but I think you are right about the training load necessary to compete at that level as being unsustainable long term, particularly if you have typical family and career obligations. I used to train 15+ hours per week on the bike and loved being an endurance freak. I do a little under 10 hours per week any more and find that you can satisfy the drive and hunger by choosing what you measure, or more importantly what you don’t measure.
I stopped measuring distance and started putting more emphasis on the ratio of time I spent at or above tempo on shorter rides. As volume goes down, intensity can go up. While I may not have the staying power in the 4th hour like I used to have, my two hour and shorter power is improved. This is a good trade off and I focus on shorter events. I found a way to decrease my training commitment while getting laser focused on improving the shorter format. Win-win.
For multi sport the two paths seem to be to focus on Olympic distance or pick one sport.
After making triathlon a central theme and lifestyle for about 5 years, it came to an abrupt halt for me in the past 6 months. I didn’t quite plan for it, but a combination of life factors kind of caught up with me and I ended up going from full bore obsession to nothing very quickly.
A few positives:
It is nice not to have to plan your day around workouts. Gives extra flexibility in a schedule that otherwise has to be planned down to the minute.
I can get a LOT more sleep. Most of my training had to be done early morning (~4am), so now getting to sleep in until 5 has been really nice.
Lazy weekend mornings. Sitting, drinking espresso, on my back porch with my family.
Saved a lot of money in bike gear, race fees, nutrition, etc.
I’ve enjoyed some other activities, like lifting weights, working on cars.
I’m more focused at work.
The negatives:
I really miss it. Training and racing were a lot of fun and something is just missing.
I’ve gained weight. Some of it is from the strength work, but I’m up 25lbs from my mid 2014 weight, and that’s with still doing a few workouts a week.
Once out of the routine, it’s very difficult for me to get back into it.
Knowing how much speed you’ve lost and the long road to get it back.
Expensive equipment, collecting dust.
I’m still in the process of seeing if I can find a balance. I think it largely depends on your personality though. Are you able to take a casual approach to training and racing? Would you be okay with slow finishes and just enjoying being out there? For me, I’m an all or nothing type person, so it’s been a struggle. The second half of this year I’m going to sign up for some races and see if I stay with the sport but not need to go all in.
this was taken at the Hawaiian Ironman, at Hapuna Beach, when they used to make us stop, to weigh us 5 times during the race, to make sure we did not lose so much weight so as to make the race dangerous to our health (or, so the organizers figured at the time).
this was my first ironman. and my last. i have enjoyed 34 years of triathlon since then. i am racing a full schedule of triathlons this year. none of them an ironman.
yes, there is a life after ironman. a pretty fruitful one, in fact.
It sounds like you have good experience and talent if you are headed to Kona.
I would bet that you could use this to keep those types of results with much less training. My n=1, I haven’t ridden my bike more than 3:15 in years (outside of races) and have kept up enough to do well at ironman distance stuff.
I’ve got a family and a full time job and do what I can. Try with less and see if it works.
Take a break from Ironman…take a break from triathlon if you want…you can always come back. You’re ticking the kona box, so that’s cool for you. I came close, but realized it wasn’t something I needed to do. Took time off, focused on other things (work, starting a family), kept fit (ran a few marathons, etc), and after 5 years came back to Ironman distance.
The key for me…in coming back… was not to WTC, but to tackle Norseman. Trained hard, but was great not to have a potential KQ hanging over my head. Only thing I wanted to do was get a black shirt…and was safely in that range the entire day.
So many great challenges out there…great experiences to have…to push yourself in different ways. That’s the reason I keep coming back.
Off-road triathlon! XTERRA, cross-tri, whatever you want to call it.
It ticks all your boxes. Shorter, generally Olympic-ish distances, thus less big volume training, every race is different (trails are not roads, and even the same event will differ year to year), its a more “fun” group (at least that is what is always said, although personally I don’t have anything against the road crowd). Plus, its a new challenge, different equipment, different training, different goals. It will be like being new to the sport again.
I have been in the sport for 4 years now. Got incredibly hooked amd addicted by training, racing, healthy lifestyle and setting and achieving high goals
Have had and continue to have a great time and will race texas in may and kona in October
However, if I’m realistic I can’t keep going with current rythm of trainimg 15-20 hrs most of the year. Its very nice and rewarding but mid and long term it will not work with the phase of my life I’m heading into
Therefore. I’m thinking about how being in this wonderful sport could look like without making it being almost an obsession
Would appreciate to hear from others who gave it all for a few years and then successfully found a good balance
I’m concerned I will not be able to continue enjoying the sport without having big goals, afraid I will loose my fitness, gain weight, start to eat unhealthy etc
I’m thinking about maybe focusing on olyimocic half iron and running races for some time, trying to be fop. Not sure it will require much less trainimg than ironman though so maybe I should just so sports for pure fun
I gave up triathlon while training for Ironman Kentucky. Was in the best run, swim, bike shape of my life. When I drastically cut down on the training (to just a bit of running and some weight training) I had to adjust my diet. I eat MUCH cleaner now. I am leaner than when I was training 15+ hours per week. Now I surf, paddleboard, run, do some weight training, hiking, whatever I like. I admit it is very nice not having a set training schedule and I don’t miss racing at all. Unstructured training can be very nice indeed.
I have been in the sport for 4 years now. Got incredibly hooked amd addicted by training, racing, healthy lifestyle and setting and achieving high goals
Have had and continue to have a great time and will race texas in may and kona in October
However, if I’m realistic I can’t keep going with current rythm of trainimg 15-20 hrs most of the year. Its very nice and rewarding but mid and long term it will not work with the phase of my life I’m heading into
Therefore, I’m thinking about how being in this wonderful sport could look like without making it being almost an obsession
Would appreciate to hear from others who gave it all for a few years and then successfully found a good balance
**I’m concerned I will not be able to continue enjoying the sport without having big goals, afraid I will lose my fitness, gain weight, start to eat unhealthy etc **
I’m thinking about maybe focusing on olympic, half iron, and running races for some time, trying to be fop. Not sure it will require much less training than ironman though so maybe I should just so sports for pure fun
You control what you eat, right??? So, even if you train less, then all you have to do is eat less to keep your weight at whatever you consider ideal. It’s not really that hard:)
Regarding enjoying the sport w/o having big goals, my experience has been that, if you train long enough, eventually the training itself is all you want or need to do, with a great reduction of the need to race. For me, this translates to setting aside about 4 hrs per day for training most of the year. This 4 hrs includes driving to the pool and/or running/biking area, clothing changes, social time, etc, so the net actual training time is more like about 2.5 hr/day, 6 days/wk on avg, so about 15 hr/wk times about 50 wk/yr, or about 750 hr/yr. I might do 1 or 2 races if I feel like it, but some yrs i never race at all. Really it is now all about wearing myself out and sleeping like a rock every night:)
Would appreciate to hear from others who gave it all for a few years and then successfully found a good balance.
After completing a few Ironman races I gave it up and got into bicycle touring and ended up going around the world on my own. After stopping triathlons I found I had more energy and became much healthier with a far more balanced lifestyle. Now you couldn’t pay me to enter another triathlon.
