A full distance triathlon, an iron distance triathlon.
Whoever finishes first, We'll call him the Ironman
During an awards banquet for the Waikiki Swim Club, John Collins, a Naval Officer stationed in Hawai`i, and his wife Judy, began playing with the idea of combining the three toughest endurance races on the island into one race. They decided to issue a challenge to see who the toughest athletes were: swimmers, bikers, or runners. On February 18, 1978, 15 competitors, including Collins, came to the shores of Waikiki to take on the first-ever IRONMAN challenge.
Originally from: http://www.ironman.com/triathlon/history.aspx#ixzz3h7YEgzXJI have completed the distance 4 times now, but have never finished first, and unless I am the only entrant never will.
When I first competed at the distance at Outlaw 2012, I thought completing would make me an ironman, but no! Apparently not. On the finish line I was announced to be an Outlaw and other atheletes informed me that to be an ironman I would have to compete in an Ironman branded event.
I completed Outlaw in 2013 and 2014, I decided to do Ironman Wales in September 2014. People would compare Ironman with Outlaw, claiming Ironman to be tougher. The swim was a sea swim and unfortunately I was not strong enough to swim against a rough sea and withdrew after 1.4 miles of swimming.
I then competed at Ironman UK in Bolton on 19 July 2015. I was nervous remembering that Ironman is said to be tougher than Outlaw, It was a 2 lap swim in Pennington Flash, A 2 lap bike ride with 2 big hills on each lap and a 3 lap run.
I was nervous about being lapped and dunked in the swim, it was a rolling start and almost 20 minutes passed before I could get in the reservoir, I swam wide to stay out of trouble and was pleased to survive the 2 laps without even being touched, even though at times it was impossible to sight due to the rain being so heavy and bouncing off the surface as well as my head and back, strange.
So I was now ahead of Wales and further into my ironman journey than in September. It was pouring down and really windy, I left my glasses off to improve my vision and slip slides through the muddy tyre tracks to the mount up point. Yey! I was out on the bike. I now had to pedal for my life to make the cut offs, The wind was horrific, giving side swipes as I went past gaps, similar conditions to Outlaw 2012. I trained on hills as I had researched the course, so the hills were hard but not too bad, again the issue was the wind, mind you the hills were definitely tougher second time round. At least the rain stopped before the run.
The run was a 6/7 mile run out to the main loop then a long loop 3 times. The loop was basically half a long incline up, and half back down to town, with a short steep section near town. It was tough, psychologically not collecting a band till about 11 miles and being able to see miles up the road without seeing the turn points.
So to compare in my opinion
Cost. Outlaw £265. Ironman £400.+ 6%
Swim Outlaw 1 lap, lake, less turns, no chance of being lapped Ironman UK lake, Wales Sea both 2 laps with Australian exit. (Short run between laps)
Bike Outlaw 3 laps 1 hill, sounds great but you have to pedal constantly or your speed drops, course can be windy. Ironman UK and Wales are both very undulating courses,
Run Outlaw 2 long loops and 2 short loops around the lake. Flat. Ironman UK and Wales both undulating runs.
Support, similar support stations on run and bike routes, All ran by fantastic volunteers.
Crowd support good on all events but Ironman Wales run route possibly has the best crowd support.
Finish Line amazing, music, crowds, hype, announcers You are an Outlaw/Ironman
So that's it, Yes my Ironman race was a bit tougher than Outlaw but not much, I did my homework and trained to the terrain, no one can control the weather.
Outlaw 2012 weather strong winds and pouring rain
Outlaw 2013 weather temperatures in the high 30s deg C with no shelter
Outlaw 2014 Weather temperatures in the Lehigh 20s deg C and windy
Ironman UK 2015 pouring rain for swim and early on in the bike, strong winds throughout.
So I am an Outlaw and an Ironman too now, but to ordinary folk, who don't do long distance triathlon,
A 2.4 mile swim, a 112 mile cycle and a 26.2 mile run equal an ironman.
Ironman, Outlaw, Wasdale, Immortal, City to Summit, same distance, different terrain, different costs. Pick one, train for it's course, enjoy it and call yourself what you will, but in the words of John Collins;
"Swim 2.4 miles! Bike 112 miles! Run 26.2 miles! Brag for the rest of your life".
What I really am is a middle aged granny, enjoying life and using that to raise funds and awareness for various charities.
If you don't push your limits, how do you know where your limits are?
Lena, you're one hell of a middle aged granny! That was some performance you cranked out at Bolton.
ReplyDeleteJust been reading 'The Grace To Race' - Sister Madonna Buder's book. She's another amazing triathlete who raced well into her twilight years. Think it's a bit too late for me though....thank God!