The Ironman Triathlon is widely considered to be one of the toughest single-day sporting events in the world. You warm up with a 3.86 km swim, take a 180 km cycle then wash it all down with a full marathon (42.2km). While there is usually a 17 hour time limit for competitors, the best of the best complete this race in 8-9 hours. It’s a big day at the office, raced by some of the world’s best endurance athletes.
Now we’re all for setting the bar high in terms of personal goals. Having the Ironman Triathlon as your goal certainly qualifies as a lofty goal. But big goals require big sacrifices. Daniela Ryfthe 2016 women’s world champ at the iconic Kona Ironman World Championships completed the course 25 minutes faster than her closest rival,running a mind boggling 2:56 marathon to take the win. Do you think that she holds a full time job, juggles her kids’ sport,and runs a busy house-hold? A typical week would see Ryf training for 25-30 hours a week with up to three hard training sessions a day. She has a support crew, sponsors, and has a well-designed recovery regime in place. In short, training and competing is her full time job.
Not everyone who wants to do an Ironman wants to compete at the level of Daniela Ryf, but the point I’m making is that you need to live like an athlete, not just train and compete. If you want to do an Ironman are you, your career, and your family prepared to sacrifice what it takes? You can’t hope to complete an event like Ironman without devoting a significant part of your life to training. But a key point is that it’s not just about the training. Spending this much energy on training requires some serious investments in your health. You can’t withdraw too much “from your health bank” without making regular deposits before you go broke. Late night parties, French fries, boozing and working long hours don’t make for bodies that can start, let alone finish an event like Ironman. You need to optimize your sleep, diet, recovery work,and muscle balance to get to the start line.
If you’ve got a big physical goal treat it with respect and take a lifestyle approach to get yourself there. We’re lucky enough to guide a range of triathletes from beginners to World Championship competitors. Please give us a call and tell us about your big goals. We’d love to help you get there the best way possible.
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