10 Ironman's in 10 days

bryangiggsy · 02-06-2011 1:09pm #1

Just listened to Ray Dary and he had Gerry duffy on who is starting his challenge of trying to complete a Deca Ironman 10 Ironmans in 10 days tomorrow in England i believe. The blog of the challenge is
at

http://www.32marathons.com/deca_blog.php

Thats a 2.4 mile swim, 180k bike and 26.2 mile run each day for ten days in a row.

Will he do it?

Listening to him on the radio he hopes to come in around the 13 to 14 hour mark each day. Personally i think he has set his sights too high considering he has a 17 hr time limit per day.
Will be interesting to follow and see how he gets on.
Best of luck.

griffin100 · 02-06-2011 1:26pm

This I understand is the 'easy' way to do a Decca. Apparently the harder way is to swim 24 miles / bike 1,120 miles / run 262 miles in that order.

I like the look of this one more as an ultra triathlon:).

Izoard · 02-06-2011 2:54pm

Jeez, now the Ironman is dumbed down.

Where do I sign up for a double IM?

ThePiedPiper · 02-06-2011 2:55pm

I've absolutely full faith that Gerry will do this.

I ran a marathon with Gerry last year when he was doing the 32 marathon challenge. The day I ran with him, it was his 27th or 28th marathon in as many days in searing heat. It hardly took a fidge out of him. Gerry is incredibly motivated and hard working and even though the 10 Ironman challenge is probably tougher than the 32 marathons, I've no doubts that he'll get it done.

jeffontour · 02-06-2011 3:12pm

I just bought his book yesterday and then coincidently heard him on the radio this morning. Fair play to him, hope it all goes well. Sounds like he has put the work in to deserve a succesful outcome.

RacoonQueen · 08-06-2011 9:35pm

Day 6 and seemingly still going strong. Think he's still leading the field.

Oryx · 08-06-2011 10:23pm

An incredible thing to do. These kinds of event are getting more common, making an IM seem easy in comparison. So we're all just total pussies here

Truly is amazing what the human body is capable of.

bryangiggsy · 09-06-2011 9:09am

Oryx wrote: »

An incredible thing to do. These kinds of event are getting more common, making an IM seem easy in comparison. So we're all just total pussies here Truly is amazing what the human body is capable of.

In comparison yes. But there's no such thing as an Easy Ironman.;)

Check out gerry's progress on www.enduromanlive.com.

Hes on no 7. think there is only 12 of the orginal 20 left.

Oryx · 09-06-2011 9:27am

According to Ray Darcy there are only 5 left. And I was joking when I said IM was easy in comparison.

My mind boggles thinking about what this guy is doing.

bryangiggsy · 09-06-2011 9:35am

Just got an update there only 6 of the original 20 made it to the start line at 6am this morning. Carnage

connundrum · 09-06-2011 9:53am

5 at it now according to race director. One guy too cold to swim. Jeepers!

@enduromanevents

bryangiggsy · 09-06-2011 10:25am

According to the FB updates on 32 Marathon challenge..one guy at the Deca tripped on a tree root last night and cracked some ribs and is out.Another guy finished his 6th at 3.50am this morning but could not get back in the water at 6am as his core body temp was too low....and finally the guy above quit the swim after a few laps and got out of the water shaking. Mental stuff!

ger664 · 09-06-2011 6:15pm

He was Interviewed on morning ireland today. Click on Sport News and select the 08:35 sports bulitin about 2 mins in.

Morning Ireland Player

tunney · 09-06-2011 10:45pm

Oryx wrote: »

An incredible thing to do. These kinds of event are getting more common, making an IM seem easy in comparison.

Not really - 10 long long days in the office. I wouldnt' fancy it myself but its just plodding for 10 days.

15:15 was the fast time on day two. In alot of IM races they've pulled you out of the race at 15 hours saying "Sorry dude too slow".

Thats not to say its not an achievement. But its like equating 10 five hour marathons to a 2:59. Going longer does not mean going harder. I'd much prefer to do a 1:45 olympic distance than a 9:30IM.

hootini · 10-06-2011 12:13am

tunney wrote: »

Not really - 10 long long days in the office. I wouldnt' fancy it myself but its just plodding for 10 days.

No offence Tunney (I had some respect for you) but dont be such an arse.

The guy is doing it for charity ffs (http://www.mycharity.ie/event/gerry_duffys_event) and all you can do is throw a jealous / bitchy comment in?

Before you even attempt to make a derisory comment like that , I'll ask the question - "Have you done one for charity?"

If not then 'man up' and do it yourself for a charity of your choosing if you think its "just plodding for 10 days".

Some people in here might even sponser you too ....

tunney · 10-06-2011 6:23am

hootini wrote: »

No offence Tunney (I had some respect for you) but dont be such an arse.

The guy is doing it for charity ffs (http://www.mycharity.ie/event/gerry_duffys_event) and all you can do is throw a jealous / bitchy comment in?

Before you even attempt to make a derisory comment like that , I'll ask the question - "Have you done one for charity?"

If not then 'man up' and do it yourself for a charity of your choosing if you think its "just plodding for 10 days".

Some people in here might even sponser you too ....

Ah the charity defense. You win.

The comment i replied to was a statement on how much harder this version of a deca is over an IM. Not the relative merits of charity events.

Oryx · 10-06-2011 7:55am

From your standpoint tunney it might be a pointless plod. But the fact that those doing it are dropping like flies shows its not actually that easy. From where I'm standing its a massive achievement even if your level of fitness makes you consider speed to have more merit than endurance.

Mad Benny · 10-06-2011 9:46am

tunney wrote: »

Not really - 10 long long days in the office. I wouldnt' fancy it myself but its just plodding for 10 days.

15:15 was the fast time on day two. In alot of IM races they've pulled you out of the race at 15 hours saying "Sorry dude too slow".

Thats not to say its not an achievement. But its like equating 10 five hour marathons to a 2:59. Going longer does not mean going harder. I'd much prefer to do a 1:45 olympic distance than a 9:30IM.

I have been in complete awe of Gerry Duffy since hearing him on the radio yesterday morning.

Tunney, you are obviously an elite athlete at the top of your game to make comments like that. If you're not then ..... "there's always one".

shels4ever · 10-06-2011 9:56am

Mad Benny wrote: »

I have been in complete awe of Gerry Duffy since hearing him on the radio yesterday morning.

Tunney, you are obviously an elite athlete at the top of your game to make comments like that. If you're not then ..... "there's always one".

Yep its some going , wouldnt be something that i'd fancy doing myself,Have to say, I do see where Tunney is coming from on this, the main thing people tend to focus on these days is how far you can go and not how fast.

ThisRegard · 10-06-2011 10:01am

The man is doing 10 of them, 10 days in a row, who gives a **** how fast he does them (apart from Tunney of course), particularly taking into account the fitness base he's coming from.

bryangiggsy · 10-06-2011 10:03am

Lads if you read Gerry's blog the training he has put in is no different than the Iron athlete who follows his training plan. I think he would be the first to agree that he is no fitter than that athlete.This is not dummin down the challenge which is immense in itself am just putting it into perspective. This challenge i believe has more to do with mental endurance than physical fitness. You have to go slow enough to be able to do the same the next day but not go too slow to miss out on essential recovery time. It is a fine line and he and his team are managing it very well. Sleep deprivation would be a major obstacle in itself. It is an amazing conquest and one which i have been following avidly. Keep it lit Gerry!

Izoard · 10-06-2011 10:09am

As ever, this comes down to the "elite vs average punter" discussion.

The vast majority of people are, rightly, in awe of what Gerry is doing, but there will always be elite types who see it as nothing more than plodding around for 10 days.
Sure there is arguable merit in that view, but it is held by a small minority.

A bit like climbing Everest - how may people really care how fast you did it?

BTW, in terms of "elite" club, I'd suspect that the number of Deca Iron finishers is a lot smaller than those in the sub-9 IM club....

nerraw1111 · 10-06-2011 10:43am

I do detest the 'he's doing it for charity how dare you criticise' nonsense.

Fair play to the guy, very impressive.

That said, sigh, I do slightly agree with Tunney

tunney · 10-06-2011 12:25pm

Its not an elite versus plodder thing.
For starters I am a plodder.

My issue was with the "Deca makes an ironman look easy".
I've said similar on "ironman makes half-ironman look easy threads." And similar on "stepping up to half ironman distance" threads.

There is an obsession with distance on ART, I will be fair here and say its probably not limited to ART. Its viewed as longer equals harder, longer equals tougher, longer equals the ultimate challenge.

When I started out in triathlon I joined a well known Dublin club. I was taken under the wing of one of the main lads there - not because I had any talent or potential but because I was persisant and enthusastic. He mentored me, thought me alot and I thought the sun shone out of his ar$e. These days I am no in that club anymore and myself and this lad hate each other with a vengance. One of the things he drilled into people in the club was "long distance is not the ultimate goal, in fact if you are any good at the sport we will try to stop you going long". I think the lad is a little loopy and most of the stuff he says is cr@p but this still rings true. Longer is not better. Anyone can go longer. Its easier to go longer. Its much much harder to go faster.

Now I do see the irony in someone saying long distance isn't the ultimate goal being focused on long distance stuff. Read into that what you will however I believe it.

A great story comes to mind. A club mate was in a long distance race. He was past by a girl we all know, the present female IM record holder. As she passed him she turned to him and said "At this stage its all about the mental game". She dropped him and put huge amounts of time into him.

I digress.

I believe longer is not harder, nor better. I believe that the ultimate goal should not be to go as long as possible. I believe the ultimate goal should be to pick a distance and do you very very best at that distance. Release your genetic potential at that distance taking into account your work/life restrictions. Work hard and long and be the best you can be. Then go longer, or shorter, and repeat. Its very easy to woddle, or plod around, an event and say "right, well thats that distance done, onto longer". But why not try and go as fast as you can at that distance?

As for the charity aspect? Seriously what has that got to do with anything? Why say "Have you raised money for charity if not shut up?" What has charity got to do with distance racing? Why does doing something for charity make that venture uncriticisable? Why can someone not comment on something done for charity?

There is an overwhelming perception that "longer is harder". That is what I am challenging.

As an aside I prefer the original Deca format.

Clum · 10-06-2011 12:36pm

I was gonna stay out of this thread because I know Gerry and anything I say will probably seem biased but just to put the 'plodding' part in to context:

(I don't have exact, down to the minute and second figures to hand, but from memory)

Gerry's finished a few Ironman races in previous years somewhere around the 11.30 / 11.45 mark. He's a sub 3 marathoner and has completed a few Olympic Tris in around the 2.15 mark. He's by no means a slow athlete.

He has a very big interest in endurance sports and knows what it takes to complete multiple long distance events in a row. Now nobody would try to run 32 sub 3 hour marathons in 32 days. Gerry didn't, but he did most of them at a pace which he which he would personally be happy with, and knowing Gerry he's not happy with a slow pace (I think he averaged most of them in the 4.xx mark but one or two were pretty quick - 3.20 or something being the fastest).

Similarly, nobody is going to try and do 10 Ironman distance triathlons in a row in their Personal Best time. Even a sub 9 hour finisher would slow their times to about 11 hours each day for an event like this. His times this week might seem slow when compared to single Ironman races but I can assure you he's not going so slow that it's taking nothing out of him. He's performing at a level that hopefully ensures he'll avoid injury and finish with the best possible time he can get.

shotgunmcos · 10-06-2011 12:41pm

Perspective

Tunney you were once fat and thought a sprint triathlon was a feat...

Perspective

My long PMP run would be Enduro's warm up

IMO

10 IMs in 10 days is epic

I prefer the continuous deca format too, as in where a guy felt like he had to learn to walk again after 3 days non stop cycling.. but still, 10 IMs in a week and a half is still super impressive!

Longer, harder, faster, stronger... is all "er so its all still 'more'. We all like more even if we have already eaten the whole cake

ThePiedPiper · 10-06-2011 1:00pm

I suppose Tunney considers Tony Mangan's run around the world as a slow plod as well? Or are you just being controversial to wind people up a bit? If you really want to take that point of view, how fantastic is a 2.59 marathon anyway? The top East Africans are running 2.04 so we're all completely rubbish in relation to them. Maybe you're a 2.05 marathoner Tunney?

In any case, Gerry is a really decent guy who along with Ken last year managed to raise a bit over half a million for charity. And as another poster says, he's no slouch on the road on one-off shorter distance races.

TFBubendorfer · 10-06-2011 1:09pm

RunForestRun wrote: »

Or are you just being controversial to wind people up a bit?

Tunney? Never!

zico10 · 10-06-2011 1:13pm

RunForestRun wrote: »

The top East Africans are running 2.04 so we're all completely rubbish in relation to them.

I don't know if rubbish is the correct word, but to me yes. I don't see any shame in it though.

tunney · 10-06-2011 1:15pm

TFBubendorfer wrote: »

Tunney? Never!

I'm actually not trying to be contraversial.

Longer is not necessarily harder nor more of an achievement is the essence oft posts.

I tried to use Google translate on my longer post but I can't find the English->Capper option.

The Rook · 10-06-2011 1:24pm

Not going to comment on the "which is better blah blah blah " nature of this thread but I have to say I love this

tunney wrote: »

I tried to use Google translate on my longer post but I can't find the English->Capper option.

Consider that phrase robbed Tunney!!

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?

253567_10150212021181338_172625856337_7477062_3376187_n.jpg

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

254568_10150211742356338_172625856337_7474462_5767642_n.jpg

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...

10 Ironman's in 10 days

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