re: Triathlon/Ironman/Half Iron Man Thread

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The average swim time for an Ironman 70.3 (half-ironman) is generally 39-43 minutes for both male and female age-groupers

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Not sure what you're laughing at? You are proving the point I'm trying to make. People are jumping into the 70.3 and 140.6 distances too quickly in my opinion. 39-43 minutes for 1.2 miles is not a good swimming time.
I hope your event goes well. I really do. But slogging through a 6-7 hour half just doesn't equate to health nor fitness for me.

Goodness, panties in a wad much?
I wish you the best, honestly. It just doesn't sound very fun, nor does it sound healthy nor fit.

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39-43 minutes for 1.2 miles is not a good swimming time.

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Huh? That's around 2 minutes per 100 yards. That's not elite or anything, but it's not bad at all.

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But slogging through a 6-7 hour half just doesn't equate to health nor fitness for me.

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Well this is just ignorant. You should actually go to a 70.3 and watch people you'd never visually think could even finish a half, actually do it well. You only slog through it if you don't train for it. It's about acclimating your body for the distances, not trying to break world records. If you train your body for each event's distance, "fun" is definitely what it should be.

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I'm not sure how my posts are any different from the plethora of posts you've made in the past.

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Simple, yours are retarded

I love to visit with people the day before a race and hear their story on why they are doing this thing. I have met some seriously successful athletes who talk about time goals that seem mythical to me. I just can’t imagine how people can do what they do. They really are just bosses. Their passion and energy (as well as their insights) have been inspiring.

I have also heard some really touching stories from people who had never done a triathlon before. Some were trying to deal with grief. Some were working on their sobriety. Some were trying to overcome a tragedy. They have also been inspiring.

People race for all sorts of reasons that are valid to them. Some of those reasons are truly remarkable, but all are unique. Certainly, I hope everyone will be smart about things in their racing, have a good plan, and listen to their bodies, but mostly I just can’t help but pull for anyone that dares to go for it.

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The swim seems to be a concern for you (very common, it was for me too). You also note that you don’t really have a convenient place to swim near your home. That’s something to figure out. It is impossible to improve the swim without swimming. The good news is, if you give yourself a long enough runway, you can build sufficient swim fitness and technique with as little as two swim sessions a week to cover the 1.2 mile swim and not be toast for the rest of the race. I have seen people go this route and be fine. Obviously, won’t be the swimmer and triathlete you might be, but it’s doable

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I found a place, but I will have to get up early to get laps in. I really don't want to give up soccer, but I might need to for the benefit of my knees.

Does the thermic effect of swimming significantly increase your hunger to a noticeable degree?

I feel you on having to make a choice. Do what you love bud. If soccer is your deal, great! If, however, you want to give swimming a go for a bit, it will certainly give your knees a break. I will confess, I usually enjoy going to the pool, but an early morning swim schedule has always been hard for me to adopt consistently. Some people love knocking their sessions out straight away though so to each their own.

I don’t remember being any more hungry than usual compared to other workouts when I picked up swimming. I do remember how hard fatigue would hit me later in the day when I first started though. I wasn’t much of a nap person back then, but it seemingly became necessary for me to catch a 10 minute cat nap somewhere during the afternoon. That got better after a few weeks. That was just my experience though. Others might respond differently.

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How’d it go little man?

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What are you talking about? Uh oh, retard alert!

Watching Eagleman it's crazy how you have age groupers just finishing the swim getting in the way of pros entering T2 coming off the bike

Great job meeting your goals Mingo! That’s awesome. I hope you had a ball out there today.