Can i finish ironman

Frank currently lives in Tulum, Mexico and is fluent in English and Spanish which allows him to coach athletes throughout the world. Follow Coach Frank on Facebook and Instagram. BY Frank Campo. Race Budget Be prepared to drop some cash. Gear Budget Triathlon is not a cheap sport so plan accordingly.

Bikes: Consider getting a used bike, but make sure you have an expert inspect it to ensure it is safe to ride and it is the right fit for you. You will be spending a lot of time on the bike so it needs to be very comfortable and fit you well. A poor fitting bike may even impact your running mechanics and eventually cause injuries.

Instead, focus on getting a feel for all three disciplines, it is easy to distract yourself with power meters, fancy heart rate monitors and sweet aero wheels. Keep it simple, you will have plenty of time to get all the toys next season. That being said, a power meter or a heart rate monitor can help your coach identify your training needs more efficiently, and might help you pace better during the race, so if it is within your budget, consider investing in one or the other.

The Event By now you have put in the months of necessary training , you have your nutrition dialed in and you are well-rested at the starting line waiting for the cannon to go off. Swim If you have a chance to warm-up , take it.

Bike Be smart on the bike. Run Be smart and pace yourself. Training Guide. Ultimate Ironman Training Guide. Each chapter is packed with tips, workouts, and insights from triathlon coaches, to give you all the tools you need to succeed. Read The Guide. Related Articles.

These 5 tips This is obviously well below the 17 hours cut off time, so if you train well you should be able to finish in time. Course difficulty and extreme weather can influence the finishing times. High temperatures or heavy rain give almost all athletes a slower time. The world record time for an Ironman distance event is 7 hours 35 minutes, held by Jan Frodeno.

The best way to make sure you finish an Ironman under the cut off is to do everything you can to help yourself before race day. Following a quality training plan will make sure you are fit enough to complete the race. Similarly, completing a half Ironman will give you valuable experience and confidence going into the full distance. You should also consider which event to enter.

Some races are notorious for challenging bike courses or extreme weather. Avoid these races to give yourself a better chance of finishing the Ironman under the cut off. To achieve the best possible time you can, it is important to maintain a consistent effort for the entire race. For this reason, correct pacing is crucial to finishing under the cut off time.

If you push too hard on the bike, you may pay for it during the run. Alongside pacing, poor fuelling is one of the major reasons why athletes do not finish the race. Athletes can burn around 10, calories during an Ironman, so you need to provide your body with the energy it needs to keep going. Eating and drinking consistently throughout the race is important, as it is hard to correct problems once they happen.

Practicing a fuelling strategy in training is also key to avoid any surprises on race day. There are a few steps you can take to improve your time without any extra physical effort.

Firstly, make sure you can sight well during the swim. Swimming directly behind an athlete who is slightly faster than you allows you to move faster for the same effort. Similarly, aerodynamic efficiency is crucial on the bike. Whilst you cannot draft behind other cyclists, you can still gain an advantage by reducing your drag. You can do this by buying a more aerodynamic bike or clothing, but the cheapest way is to simply change your position.

A professional bike fit will help you achieve a comfortable and streamlined position. It is easy to waste valuable time faffing around in transition. The countdown is on! Sports Tours group rides on Zwift are back from tonight at pm! Follow the link below to sign up now: sportstoursinternational. We will only send you newsletters from Sports Tours International featuring items of interest to you. You may unsubscribe at any time.

Please see our Privacy Policy for further details. Sub Menu. My mother 72 is a lifelong runner that until recently with health issues isnt allowed to compete. After all the suffering and the tumultuous emotions experienced in these races, I simply cannot fathom how most athletes are out there hell-bent on finishing no matter what the cost — for 12, 13, even 17 hours! I know with certainty that the men and women pushing forward for that length of time are experiencing more pain longer than what I had to endure.

Speed is subjective. For others, however, the minimum training needed will be relevant to a finishing time much faster than the hour cutoff. There is, of course, no entirely conclusive way to know your full iron triathlon potential until you actually complete one. However, there are surprisingly intelligent ways to project overall finishing time and splits based on your current athletic condition.

With your TriDot Score along with your physical characteristics, such as age, weight, time in the sport, etc. Understand that your functional threshold capacities are usually found in short intense time trial tests. For example, we use a 5K run to determine your current running functional threshold. Iron Index uses your threshold and physical factor data along with known information about the terrain and climate of an IRONMAN course, the strength of the field based on past results, and your body mass variance to determine personalized finishing time and splits and even potential age group placing.