Would it be a an enormous and likely too taxing and unenjoyable stretch to go from Olympic distance to the full Ironman distance?
I just completed my first tri, an olympic distance.
My initial plan was to do a 70.3 this year (and maybe an Olympic and some shorter running races thrown in there) and then do a full Ironman the following year.
But was sort of thinking, why wait if the ultimate goal is 140.6? Why not just go for my ultimate goal? I have no kids, no significant other. I’m turning 34 in January, seems like as good of a time as ever to just go for it…
I should mention that I did battle some knee and shin issues in my training for the Olympic. I plan to get to a physical therapist and do what is necessary to heal/prevent those issues from coming up again hopefully.
Would I be setting myself up for a really unenjoyable experience and likely failure here? Maybe even likely injury?
Goal would be to finish with around average times in each discipline.
It’s entirely achievable if you approach the training in a measured way and give yourself sufficient time (6-9 months, preferably 9).
I went from never having done a triathlon and not having any substantial swim / bike / run experience (but exercising every day), to booking an IM and doing a 10hr 35mins.
Before I booked it, I did 3 months training and a DIY half Ironman. Once I got through that, I knew I could withstand training and knew if I trained properly a decent effort would be achievable. I then followed a 12 month (free) plan from Triathlon 220 online with two 70.3s in the run up.
If you have issues resulting from running you can mitigate this in your planning, assuming (entirely arbitrarily) your goal is 12 hours on a reasonably flat course, there is no reason to be running 3-4 times a week, 2 quality sessions is sufficient.
In terms of the time commitment, now is the time. If you end up having kids it becomes a different game (especially more than 1 child).
If it excites you then just get it done. If it doesn’t excite you and you think it will feel like a chore then don’t do it.
But, choose an event which doesn’t sell out quickly, that way you can afford yourself a few months of training before you confirm your body can take the load before booking.
In summary - if it feels right then go for it! (but don’t get drawn into panic induced ridiculous training weeks and 4x runs a week, it simply isn’t necessary)