Why Ironman vs other distances?

Friends that had completed an Ironman got me interested.  Since I was a stay-at-home dad (and I am again now) I really had nothing to do.  I also had just begun getting back into shape.

I liked the shorter distance but felt that the longer distance was more of a challenge.  I haven't been living near shorter distance alternatives so I do think I'll try my hand at the shorter faster stuff later. 

However, there is something about "going long" that I love.  Knowing that it's going to take everything I've got for 11+ hours, the highs and lows of the day, executing a plan, not executing a plan -revising said plan and still being strong enough to push through, everything about it is just awesome.  I just didn't feel those things with the few shorter races.

It's a long day out there and you pay for your mistakes for a long time, I like that too. 

I am not fast.  I could get a bit faster but really, other than in a local race, I am not going to get a podium.  There is just too much of a difference.  That's not to say I don't enjoy a sprint or Oly because I do.  So far though HIM is my preferred distance.  Not sure about IM until this November at IMFL.

So I do like the shorter distances but if I am going to put the time in, I want the longer distance.  I don't want to train my butt off  to race for a little over 1 hour.

enjoy,

Duane 

Some people are content with shorter distances, some are not.  Some people like blue, some prefer red.

Also, it's necessary to build up to the longer distance, so it's more of an end goal after you've already done the shorter distances.  That makes it seem like more of a challenge.  Endpoint vs midpoint.

Marketing.  WTC has done a good job promoting the Ironman brand.  There is no comparable marketing of the shorter distances.

Personally, I prefer the longer races because I enjoy the less intense training.  I like to go out easyish and hold on rather than go out and hammer from the start.  IM also has specific challenges that I don't find in shorter races.  Nutrition is a BIG DEAL in IM.  Also, most of us cannot train the full distance at once, so it's a bit of a puzzle to properly build up the pieces you need and then fit them together on raceday.  There's also a camaraderie aspect to IM training.  Training with other IMers is probably my favorite aspect of going long.

I would echo a lot of what other posters have said about enjoying the longer workouts and not going as fast, but for me now I just like being able to do the IM distance.  It makes me feel strong and not as beat-up as going faster in a shorter race.  And, as DH mentioned, it helps me eat good food and still fit into my clothes.  ; )

I did not think I would ever do an IM distance race until DH started training for B2B, but as he did his long workouts, he made them look do-able.  So then I thought, well, maybe I can do that. . .  and now I really like that I can do that.

personally, I wouldn't say ironman is the "pinnacle" of the sport, just the most widely accepted long distance.  Same as the marathon for running, etc.

as many others have said, i choose to race (and train) long because i like the lower intensity (i.e. I dislike the high intensity) and I enjoy the sense of accomplishment of going long.

Just seemed like something I could do after racing the shorter distances.

Since I'm not a big fan of cycling (at least compared to running and OW swimming), IM isn't a distance I'll do more than maybe once more (and once more only because I feel like I've got a much better performance in me than injury has allowed for in my first two).  In general, I'm more interested in getting faster at shorter distances (including HIM).

This is a really great question. I am not sure why I get more from conquering longer distances than I do from trying to go faster at shorter distances. I think it's probably due to a complex set of factors including "I dunno; it's just the way I am."

I have always been someone who was slow but could go forever even back when I was a chubby kid who did no sports at all. I still remember going to a pool with friends when I was in college and swimming laps for an hour when I hadn't swum in over a year and hadn't done any "working out" while in school except taking PE classes. They were impressed that I could go for so long (especially with my crappy technique), but it's just something I have always been able to do. OTOH, I have never had explosive power or done well in fast-twitch sports. I can't just turn on the speed - I can gradually dial it up, but sprinting is not my strong point at all.

So the longer the distance, the more it plays to my strengths.

Also, I like training for the longer distances. I love to plot out long routes and get on my bike on Sat. morning and just bike all day to places I've never been before. I love to go to a body of water and swim 2-3 miles. I love to go out my door and run for a couple of hours.

This is not to say I don't also like to do shorter workouts. I like short intense stuff too. But I find the longer stuff more meditative and centering.

Another incentive for me is that HIM and IM are distances that I really do have to train for. I can slough off on my training and still do Sprints and Olympic distance races so I need to sign up for longer stuff to push me to really do the training.

Obviously, this wasn't true when I started when it took me 2:22 to finish my first Sprint tri! (Okay, the run was 4 miles, not 3.1 and it was 90 degrees out. But still...) I can do a sprint tri in about 1:15-1:30 now so, sure, I could work my butt off and maybe knock another 5-15 min. off my time, but the amount of work it will take is the same as the amount of work to move up from IM distance to doing an UltraMan or riding a double century. Those longer distances seem more immediate to me and my progress is more obvious in a way that knocking 2 minutes off my swim time is not.

I guess I just find the challenge of going longer more fulfilling than the challenge of going faster. Plus, it's not like I'm not working at going faster too. It's just not my primary focus.

Because it's there.

only because it doesn't go far enough...

Great question.  Mostly for me its to say that I have done one, and then I will have done every distance that is offered.

I want to look back and say Ive done an Ionrman, not just 4 HIM.  This coming from someone who is far better at short course.  I just want to know that I have what it takes....

At first it was about showing the world simply that I can.

2 weeks past my first Ironman, I started training again to see what I can. 

Because it was watching IM on  Wide World of Sports in the 80's that got it into my head that I wanted to do that before I turned 40.

Now as other people said, after I build up and did it, I like the lower intensity of longer stuff.  For me I really think the HIM is a nice distance - doesn't require the big training times IM does, minimizes the swim compared to olympic and keeps the long runs reasonable.