10 Ironman's in 10 days

mloc123 · 10-06-2011 1:46pm

Views on this will always be skewed with the posters on here.

I would guess that the biggest percentage of posters here are marathon 'runners' who see distance as king and anything less is not an achievement.

ThePiedPiper · 10-06-2011 2:09pm

Mloc, in relation to views being skewed by marathoner runners, I'm sure that yes, a lot of us here are marathon runners. Most multi-marathon runners have ran at other distance races, and more than appreciate and probably envy the speed of middle distance specialists.

However, there's a group of lads I trained with a few times over the winter who are 1.55 - 2.00 for the 800 metres and one of them a 1.09 half marathoner. My marathon PB of 2.58 is absolutely pedestrian in comparison to these lads.

Anyway, sorry for going off topic on the thread here but I did feel it necessary to re-iterate that Gerry is not only an endurance machine in terms of his 32 marathon challenge and Deca Ironman, but also a pretty handy customer over shorter one-off races. Maybe we should all call it quits and donate a tener each to Gerry's chosen charity for the event?

bryangiggsy · 10-06-2011 2:25pm

Am prob a bit late to the party on this but why does triathlon not have its own forum on boards. I have no interest in reading the running or athletics threads and im sure a lot of runners have no interest reading the tri threads. Surely triathlon is bigger than some of the other sports forums and merits a forum of it own?

tunney · 10-06-2011 2:35pm

RunForestRun wrote: »

Mloc, in relation to views being skewed by marathoner runners, I'm sure that yes, a lot of us here are marathon runners. Most multi-marathon runners have ran at other distance races, and more than appreciate and probably envy the speed of middle distance specialists.

However, there's a group of lads I trained with a few times over the winter who are 1.55 - 2.00 for the 800 metres and one of them a 1.09 half marathoner. My marathon PB of 2.58 is absolutely pedestrian in comparison to these lads.

Anyway, sorry for going off topic on the thread here but I did feel it necessary to re-iterate that Gerry is not only an endurance machine in terms of his 32 marathon challenge and Deca Ironman, but also a pretty handy customer over shorter one-off races. Maybe we should all call it quits and donate a tener each to Gerry's chosen charity for the event?

It was me that dragged it off topic. My comments were over the prioritisation of distance over speed. Nothing to do with Gerry really. Just the apparent consensus that, for example, a 13 hour IM is tougher than a 3:55 HIM. I'm not comparing person A's IM to person B's HIM but rather for the same person. Say someone did a 5:30 HIM this year. Which would be tougher for them to do in the coming years? A 3:55 HIM or a 13:00 IM?

RedB · 10-06-2011 3:02pm

IMO the object is to make progress and enjoy the journey and there is no definite right or wrong in terms of speed or distance or time. Its a personal mission that has a bit of external validation mixed up with it. It gets a bit tougher when making trade offs of conflicting priorities especially when nature takes its course and it becomes more of an uphill battle even just to maintain a standard let alone go longer or faster.

ThePiedPiper · 10-06-2011 3:31pm

Tunney,
In a general sense I completely agree with you. I'd trade my sub 3 marathon for a sub 30 10k 100 times over. People with no or little knowledge of the sport make the mistake of thinking distance is king and doing it over and over again is the way forward. But for the vast majority of people with even a passing interest, we know that Eddie Izzard's "amazing" accomplishment meant very little from an athletic point of view.

jeffontour · 10-06-2011 4:27pm

On topic. From FB he seems to be still ploughing ahead. The event site wasn't much use to me to check on his progress today. Anyone have an update on how he's going today?

And back off topic. As someone who went long & slow in preference over (relatively) short and quick for a while I can see both sides of the discussion. For me I actually like the drawn out suffering of ultra events and the prolonged mental struggle to continue. And believe it or not there are some of us who get their best performances at these more extreme, less high intensity ends of the spectrum.

Each approach/event presents different challenges. Anyone who wants can bitch and moan about the merits of higher paced completions of a distance relative to a slower completion of a significantly longer distance but I'll only listen to them if they've got some experience of something comparable to what Gerry is doing.

SkinnyLove · 10-06-2011 8:43pm

jeffontour wrote: »

On topic. From FB he seems to be still ploughing ahead. The event site wasn't much use to me to check on his progress today. Anyone have an update on how he's going today?

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He is still going well. Leads the field still, but more importantly he's still going. Should finish today in the next few hours... at least 1/2hours ahead of everyone else.
This distance vs. speed task is getting abit out of hand. For a 42/43 year old to do this (or anyone for that matter) is quite epic. Out of the 19 starters 6 remain. Looks like alot less will finish overall.
You can say what you want about speed but he is running along side some seriously fit people and continues to lead the field by over 9hours. However where he places isn't something that concerns him. Read his book, have to say it's a great read for anyone looking for motivation.

I have major respect for anyone doing this event, even the people who dropped out.

SkinnyLove · 11-06-2011 4:21pm

More dropouts again this morning. The only woman in the event finally threw in the towel, she was out on course until close to 4 this morning. She had 8under her belt and pulled out mid-way through the swim this morning. What a woman.

That means that 3 remain.

Once again Gerry is leading the deca field. He started today 15hours ahead of everyone else. I think he was the only person to finish before midnight last night. ( around 11ish ). He's just about to finish todays cycle and move onto the run. His run will be a challenge today, shins are hurting him and some swelling around the ankle. I shall post another update later for those of you interested. I personally can't take my eyes off it!

Mr Marri · 11-06-2011 6:28pm

Simply awesome, the shear grit it must take to do something like this!

ger664 · 12-06-2011 2:59am

Finished the 9th so only tomorrow to go.

SkinnyLove · 12-06-2011 4:11pm

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He is currently on the last lap of the bike just about to start his last marathon. It is currently lashing down over in New Forest (where the event is taking place). The 3 still remain, ploughing through. From what I've read from the facebook pages undates Gerry is in good form and keeping positive despite the constant rain since 6am! Almost there!!

One of the other entrants fell on the 6th day towards the end of his run doing quite some damage and had to pullout. Lets hope the same doesn't happen to Gerry. :eek:

buzzingnoise · 12-06-2011 5:33pm

This guy is a hero. Well done Gerry, you are an inspiration to us all.

smithwicks · 12-06-2011 10:04pm

Epic stuff, having being let down by so many supposed sports legends, an ordinary guy gives me hope that anything is possible with the right mindset.

Fook the narrow minded be grudgers, enough of them lined up in bars up and down the country and have no place is the previous pages. Have never met Gerry or known anything about him previous to reading his book. But I feel that he may be one of the characters that can lead us all through the darkness currently hanging over the country.

SkinnyLove · 12-06-2011 10:31pm

Couldn't agree with you more smithwicks! Simply awesome stuff. Really recommend the book for anyone at any level of fitness. I know it has certainly inspired me to get up off the couch.

He is so close now!! Almost there, 5 miles left in his run... the other two are way behind (tony and mark), they are really going to have to dig deep to mark the cut-off point. I really hope they can do it. Heros all 3 of them...

Joeyde · 13-06-2011 1:16am

He is done.

Amazing achievement.

Itziger · 13-06-2011 9:47am

When I saw the title of the thread and then Tunney's first post I was inclined to "Meh". Next it'll be 20 in 20 days, then 30 and so on.

But, hey, what a ****ing achievement. Reading the last page or so here alone made me root for the guy.

Congratulations from a new believer.

dna_leri · 13-06-2011 1:56pm

I don't usually go with the longer is better view but I make an exception for this, despite the media attention.
The mental and physical strength to complete this event is awesome.

mloc123 · 13-06-2011 2:00pm

I would think after 5 or 6 days sleep would become a big issue. When you finish after 17/18 hours and have to start again in 6/7 hours.

hot to trot · 13-06-2011 10:05pm

Its is amazing what he is doing and I hope he gets to really enjoy the satisfaction once it reallly sinks in what he has done and how proud the nation is of him. By the way , what is the name of his book?

About the other business Id love to be able to run a lot faster but in truth I dont have the ability or capacity or interest in hard training. I love the mental challenge of going longer, personally. I admire both camps and feel that they are different , not one better than the other...

SkinnyLove · 13-06-2011 11:18pm

hot to trot wrote: »

Its is amazing what he is doing and I hope he gets to really enjoy the satisfaction once it reallly sinks in what he has done and how proud the nation is of him. By the way , what is the name of his book?

About the other business Id love to be able to run a lot faster but in truth I dont have the ability or capacity or interest in hard training. I love the mental challenge of going longer, personally. I admire both camps and feel that they are different , not one better than the other...

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''Who dares, runs'' is the name of the book. I don't know how many copys were made/printed but there should be a good few available. Easons,amazon and all the bookshops in the Mullingar, Westmeath area had it. If you're stuggling to get a hold of it email their facebook page or website and I'd say they'd get it out to you snappy.

jeffontour · 13-06-2011 11:29pm

I bought a copy in Eason O'Connell street a few weeks ago. Signed by the author no less!

TFBubendorfer · 14-06-2011 10:31am

I got mine online from http://www.bookdepository.co.uk . It arrived yesterday.

Keedowah · 14-06-2011 10:48am

I tried the book depository - outta stock. I cant bring myself to pay for postage after using that site for so long now! Will look in town over the next few weeks.

hf4z6sqo7vjngi · 14-06-2011 10:54am

mloc123 wrote: »

I would think after 5 or 6 days sleep would become a big issue. When you finish after 17/18 hours and have to start again in 6/7 hours.

+1, imagine how sleep deprived you would be heading into your last one. Gutsy stuff.

JosDel · 16-06-2011 8:20am

Gerry is doing an interview on TV3 NOW...

bryangiggsy · 16-06-2011 3:47pm

Jaysis Gerry Duffy is everywhere this week. RTE Radio 1, Today FM, RTE News, Nuacht and now TV3.. people keep coming up to me and saying…did you see your man doing 10 Ironmans?!!??!!

Great achievement and great exposure for the charity

I know I started this thread but Have had enough now thanks.

P.S.Not one mention of the Irish team competing in Izmir this weekend.

hunkymonkey · 16-06-2011 11:13pm

Having taken 7 years to do 5 ironmans and with everyone I know thinking I'm an athletic god, along comes Gerry Duffy and does ten in ten days. All I'm hearing now is "you must be a bit of a blouse if ya can only manage one, sure your man did ten in ten days!"

I used to be somebody. People used to point and stare and say, he did an ironman, it's got an marathon at the end of a swim and bike!
Now I feel like I've been going on about a marathon only to be told it's a mini-marathon.

Gerry Duffy put ironman in the national vocabulary this week, but not in a good way for me. *

So in the words of Paul Gogarty "f*ck you Gerry Duffy!"

Btw Well done Gerry!

woodchopper · 16-06-2011 11:51pm

Great stuff by Gerry,given his age I would put it up there with a 2.18 marathon. All this talk that it is slow compared to a sub 3 hour marathon is rubbish. Sorry guys a sub 2.59 hour marathon is rubbish a 38 minute 10k runner could do it. Could a 38min 10k athlete do what Gerry did? answer is no. Good man Gerry.

ger664 · 17-06-2011 1:57am

woodchopper wrote: »

Great stuff by Gerry,given his age I would put it up there with a 2.18 marathon. All this talk that it is slow compared to a sub 3 hour marathon is rubbish. Sorry guys a sub 2.59 hour marathon is rubbish a 38 minute 10k runner could do it. Could a 38min 10k athlete do what Gerry did? answer is no. Good man Gerry.

No but Gerry would not think any less of them or rubbish the fact he could only do a 38 min 10K.

10 Ironman's in 10 days

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