re: Triathlon/Ironman/Half Iron Man Thread

Evening everyone,

I’m planning to begin the journey to running a full Ironman in 2027, and this is my first time to reach out for support and tips. I’ve convinced myself that this is something that I need to do in order to prove myself that I can. I want to prove that to myself that I can set a goal and achieve it doing hard things.

A little background on me. I’m a former athlete that has not been in great shape in probably 10 years. I do workout 2-3x a week, but strictly lift weights in my home gym. I don’t really do cardio, but not all hope is lost. I’m not severely out of shape. Coming in at 5’11 191, there is still a lot of athletic potential in there. Even in my athletic days, I was never fond of running, and I was average at endurance exercises. This is a lot of the reason I’m wanting to do something like this.

My biggest problems are that I drink too much beer on the weekends, and always make excuses that I’ll start preparing after whatever event I have coming up.

I feel like a spring or fall 2027 race gives me plenty of runway to be in the right condition and mindset to get this done. I’ve been wanting to drop about 20lbs over the last couple months, and I’m down about 8lbs just from eating better and lifting. I need to take my fitness to the next level, so I set this goal.

I’m reaching out here because most of my friend group would support me, but probably think I’m a little crazy. I don’t think I’m setting the bar too high, but I really just need some help on beginner>intermediate>experienced training over the next year and half. All help is welcome.

Looking forward to getting started.

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A little background on me. I’m a former athlete that has not been in great shape in probably 10 years. I do workout 2-3x a week, but strictly lift weights in my home gym. I don’t really do cardio, but not all hope is lost. I’m not severely out of shape. Coming in at 5’11 191, there is still a lot of athletic potential in there. Even in my athletic days, I was never fond of running, and I was average at endurance exercises. This is a lot of the reason I’m wanting to do something like this.

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You are pretty similar to me. I played football at TCU from 2007 to 2011 but upon graduating I didn't do jack shite for about 3 or 4 years. I got overweight and in 2016 I lost 60 pounds going from 220 to 160. BUT I never did any cardio, I was 100% weights. I've pretty much maintained my weight between 162 and 166 since.

It wasn't until 2021 that I started to mix in cardio. Did my first maratho in February 2022 and after finishing I signed up for my first Ironman in October 2022 with no swim or bike experience and just that one marathon under my belt, about 10 months of running experience total. Before 2021 I had never ran more than a mile in one run in my life because all we did at TCU was short sprints and agility.

Swimming came along faster than I thought, I was able to do 2100 yards unbroken for the first time in only about 8 weeks. Biking is one of those things that also comes along, and I already knew I could do the marathon distance.

It became pretty evident that I wasn't going to have any trouble finishing the race, it would be a matter of how quickly I finished. Race day came and I was more than ready and it paid off because the weather conditions were brutal and it still holds the all time Ironman record for highest % of non finishers. I finished in 12:44 but had to earn it.

I've now done 9 Ironmans and have podiumed twice at Ironman branded events and am on the precipice of qualifying for Kona (I qualified for Nice 3 times but never accepted). It's become a full time lifestyle but I enjoy it.

If I were you I'd focus on losing about 20-25 more pounds. 191 is overweight for your height (I am 6'1 and felt very overweight at 191). Losing that extra weight will help greatly with joint impact and recovery. I believe the reason I've been able to progress faster than others is because I started this already lean and in shape which has been a blessing for my joints and tendons. Keep lifting weights and mix in some cardio to burn the calories

Once your weight gets down under 170 I think you'll be fine to start upping the mileage, especially for running. I think the way I did it was the right way to go, focusing on running first and getting the marathon distance done. The run is both the hardest and most important leg of an Ironman so learning to fall in love with running first helped tremendously. After completing that first marathon then I'd go with a 24-32 week Ironman training plan and start to incorporate swimming and biking. If you struggle with swimming at first like I did google the 0 to 1650 swimming plan. It's what I used the first 6 weeks or so before actually doing the swim workouts prescribed in my training plan.

As far as nutrition goes I am not the most clean eater. I eat a lot of junk but with my training volume its needed. However its very easy to over eat anyway and gain weight so you still need to be careful. I haven't had alcohol in over 7 years so its never been something I have put in my body during my triathlon career. You will learn pretty quickly what works and what doesn't. I eat a lot of carbs.

Good luck, you won't regret it