where is the best place to do first ironman

bob5666

just thinking of doing an iron man and was wondering where are the best races not to far from ireland and if anyone has any trainning programs would be helpful thanks

tunney

galway.

hf4z6sqo7vjngi

tunney wrote: »

galway.

That would be the "full" half IronMan then:rolleyes:

hf4z6sqo7vjngi

http://www.runtri.com/2010/07/runtri-benchmarks-easiest-ironman.html

This will give you an idea of how some of the courses are rated, nearest IM is not always the best option for example UK whilst is easy to get to is a difficult enough course!!

tunney

Cedric Icy Spectroscope wrote: »

http://www.runtri.com/2010/07/runtri-benchmarks-easiest-ironman.html

This will give you an idea of how some of the courses are rated, nearest IM is not always the best option for example UK whilst is easy to get to is a difficult enough course!!

Problem with that graph is it doesn't take into account the calibre of athlete.

Germany is european champs and outside of kona is the strongest and deepest field.

St. George is alot of fat Yanks.

Austria is very very german in terms of competitors and the standard is very high.

Wisconcin is alot of fat yanks.

Western Australia is in the Mecca for endurance sports - Australia.

Louisville is alot of fat yanks.

(basically the american races are not deep in terms of athlete - alot of them are TIT racers (Team In Training) )

paky

bob5666 wrote: »

just thinking of doing an iron man and was wondering where are the best races not to far from ireland and if anyone has any trainning programs would be helpful thanks

hows your standard of fitness?

im planning on doing one in 2012.

hf4z6sqo7vjngi

tunney wrote: »

Problem with that graph is it doesn't take into account the calibre of athlete.

Germany is european champs and outside of kona is the strongest and deepest field.

St. George is alot of fat Yanks.

Austria is very very german in terms of competitors and the standard is very high.

Wisconcin is alot of fat yanks.

Western Australia is in the Mecca for endurance sports - Australia.

Louisville is alot of fat yanks.

(basically the american races are not deep in terms of athlete - alot of them are TIT racers (Team In Training) )

Fair point, Is there any sites you know of that compares both bike and run courses with elevation? I know other external factors would need to considered such at weather etc.

bob5666

is the iron man in galway a full iron man ?

tunney

bob5666 wrote: »

is the iron man in galway a full iron man ?

Its a half ironman

tunney

bob5666 wrote: »

just thinking of doing an iron man and was wondering where are the best races not to far from ireland and if anyone has any trainning programs would be helpful thanks

Being serious. IM Austria. Been there twice. Once was an "experience", I saw all the things you don't want to see. Medical tents, ambulances, hospitals. Once was a better experience and if I wasn't banned from every visiting or mentioning Austria again I would go back in a heart beat.

Great course.
Great organisation.
Great hospitals.
Great hospitality.
Great race.

As for training programs - a generalised IM training program is useless.

X files

I am sure a decent one will spring up in Ireland.
We have got 5000 triathletes and not that many fat ones
Probably takes a months wages to do one overseas.
Checkout www.k226.com for other non ironman brand events
GB and Europe have plenty

bob5666

is there a full
ironman in the uk

bob5666

whats the iron man uk like

hf4z6sqo7vjngi

bob5666 wrote: »

whats the iron man uk like

http://ironmanuk.com/2011/ironman-uk/race-details/courses/bike-course

Tough enough course by the looks of it, you can click on the link above to view each course. Bike looks tough enough with just under 7300ft of climbing.
You can join me there next year to share the pain:)

tunney

bob5666 wrote: »

whats the iron man uk like

Badly organised.

bob5666

how much training a day on average would you have to do ? just wondering how practical it is to fit around a working week and how long before a race would you need to train from ?

kingQuez

bob5666 wrote: »

how much training a day on average would you have to do ? just wondering how practical it is to fit around a working week and how long before a race would you need to train from ?

What's your fitness like? It sounds like your new to the triathlon thing, can you swim? cycle? run? How much time do you do during an average week at the moment? What sort of events/races have you done in the past (runs/triathlons/cycles)?

hf4z6sqo7vjngi

bob5666 wrote: »

how much training a day on average would you have to do ? just wondering how practical it is to fit around a working week and how long before a race would you need to train from ?

Starting in the base period around 6 hours per week and peaking around 20-22 hours in the peak period but training plans can differ.

bob5666

i done a marathon a few weeks ago in 3.15 i would usually train about six hours a week now and do 1 mile swimming 3 times a week and do no cycling at all yet so what do you think about a time frame on training for an ironman how many weeks before it should i start?

kingQuez

bob5666 wrote: »

i done a marathon a few weeks ago in 3.15 i would usually train about six hours a week now and do 1 mile swimming 3 times a week and do no cycling at all yet so what do you think about a time frame on training for an ironman how many weeks before it should i start?

Hi Bob, ok, I haven't done an IM yet but some of this may be helpful. I'm sure the experienced folk on here will have better advice. Listen to them over me

Most generic training plans seem to run for 20-30 weeks of specific buildup, kicking off with 6hrs+ of training a week and peaking out at about 20.Like everything else though, one size doesn't fit all and they usually assume you have the same ability in each of the three sports. You'll want to tailor anything you look at using, and be warned everyone on boards.ie has different opinions on how to structure IM training. You'll find a free plan over at http://www.beginnertriathlete.com/cms/article-detail.asp?articleid=441 which will give a rough idea of how a training plan might look, and if you look on amazon.com 'be iron fit' and 'going long' are two popular books on training for IM distance events.

Sounds like your running is fine for the moment, although trying to run after a long cycle is quite different than launching into a regular run. Swimming three times a week is a great start to the whole thing, since it seems to be the biggest barrier for most people. Depending on whether you need to work on your frontcrawl technique or not, I'd probably look at (progressively) increasing one of those swims so your covering a total of 4k during it.

Cycling is the sport I've least experience in myself; It will account for 50%+ of your IM. Given you don't train on a bike at all, this is the obvious limiter you'd want to start working on asap. I'm dog slow on a bike, but structuring training on the bike like running (one interval session, one tempo ride and one long ride) a week seems to be improving things a bit for me.

In terms of events, a lot of the popular branded Ironman races will already be sold out for next year. Entry for the races usually opens online the day after the previous years race took place, and some (like austria) sell out in about 30mins-1hr. The Challenge races (like roth -- http://www.challenge-roth.com/en/index.html) are the same distance, and generally organized just as well as the IM branded ones; if you do go there, watchout for ironman's superstar Chrissie Wellington. If you're looking for something more local, there are newer races like the outlaw in the uk (http://www.onestepbeyond.org.uk/the-outlaw-triathlon.php), again its not an Ironman branded race but should be a lot easier to enter and cheeper too.

tunney

bob5666 wrote: »

i done a marathon a few weeks ago in 3.15 i would usually train about six hours a week now and do 1 mile swimming 3 times a week and do no cycling at all yet so what do you think about a time frame on training for an ironman how many weeks before it should i start?

Emmmm start now.

The specific IM build shoudl start 16-20 weeks out from the event and you'd want to him that being comfortable riding for 4 hours, running for 2 and swimming 4km.