Why Do You Do An Ironman?
agent_ti
Posts: 306
in General Chat
I'm not and wont be an Ironman but a Tri-man at the most but would have to say that it seems most people havent got a clue and are unfit.
I remember back in days before I found fitness I asked why!!!
Now people seem to ask why I climb mountains and run stupid races.
I has to be the age old answer "because its there and I can"
I remember back in days before I found fitness I asked why!!!
Now people seem to ask why I climb mountains and run stupid races.
I has to be the age old answer "because its there and I can"
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Comments
Its a triathlon, 3.8k swim..... etc
And they asked, "Why would you do that to yourself??"
Just wondering what everyone would say
Some great points the interview answer would be different to the "real" answer.
What is the "real" answer I have given various answers to this mainly to placate inquisitive mates and to impress folk.
I think the question can only be truthfully answered to another IM and they don't want to nor need to know!?
The question has got me searching, and whilst I'll not give the "real" answer, I'll throw out a few truthisms for me: a new focus, something to do, a sporting consolation for having retired from rowing, to see if I could actually do it, I was inspired, to massage my ego ....I could go on and on - its' really got me thinking ...Why?
Real answer: Because it's bloody good fun and I've run out of Friends box sets to watch.
(Not that I'm doing Ironman, those guys are crazy. I mean why would you do one of those [8D])
N
Thankfully in the kind of training that we do you get lots of time for introspection and self reflective thinking - one of the reasons why I love the sport actually as its a great time to mull over problems and de-stress.
For me the reason is two fold I think i've decided.
1/ Up until the age of about 20 I used to be an 18 st fat git who drank 18 pints of beer about 4 nights a week whilst scoffing my face with every fatty thing I could get my hands on. I part of me still still fights to not be that person (I still think i'm inherently lazy and glutenous!). I've rowed to a high level (but what does that mean to most people?), run marathons (lets be honest, not the hardest thing in the world - a fast time is hard but most people don't have a concept of that), but an Ironman? People pale at the thought of it, its the ultimate statement of fitness and lifestyle.
2/ I was a fit guy 2 years ago when I started doing Triathlons yet I saw the Ironman distance and just thought - not in a million years. There is something inherent in ourselves to want to push your body and mind to the limits, to find out - what will break me? Every new challenge i've done I have always known I would complete. The problem is last year after the 70.3 I started to think, I really wasn't that tired after it and could have gone on. Maybe an Ironman is possible? The problem is, as soon as you think that it becomes an internal challenge to prove to yourself that you can do it.
So unsurprisingly one reason for image and other people, one for internal strength and belief - or something like that. I just hope after I finish it I don't set my eye on anything else too crazy and think, maybe, just maybe I could do that....
I suppose I should really reflect on this one!?
Haven't done an IM, well,not yet. Am doing a half this season and hopefully a full distance next year.
@armstrong_jack; I think the temptation to do something bigger, longer, faster,.... is very present!
(which is actually a good thing for triathletes, but practically impossible for non-active people to understand).
Plus, on self reflection, it's in the nature of endurance sports that you have a lot of time in your head. Time that you don't necessarily use for thinking of anything or doing anything but spend time with yourself in a focussed way. That's a sort of self-reflection. There's no experience I've found to compare to being half way through a long swim set with your head in the water just listening to the sound of me breathing and focusing on body position. It's like I'm totally at home with myself and completely relaxed. That's a really beautiful zone to reach.
That should impress.
Nick FF
[;)][;)]
Challenging self doubt is one of the most powerful things you can do to yourself.
Nobody enters an ironman thinking it will be easy. My first one last year and I put my chances of completion at about 75%.. as appart from phsical problems so many other things can happen in a race that long... an ironman is about 3-4 hours longer than your longest training session! "How is that posible?".
SO why do an ironman.. because I can. Because I will. Because I enjoy people looking at me in disbelief at my accomplishments.... "and then you do a marathon??!!", "hmm yeah!!" ;-)
for me: because this time last year i was 9st (i'm 6ft) unable to walk well after 4 months bed layden chemotherapy to treat leukaemia that i'll have forever...Everyday life just isn't enough.
See all you fellow newbies at eton. o.m.g.
But if it's one we could do?
Marathon de Sables?
wonder how many IMs you have to put together before it becomes ridiculous (having read about the deca ironman in 220 this month!!)