More Satisfying/Challenging: IM or BQ?

Wow, this is hard for me to wrap my head around.  The other day I put in a 14-hour day at work.  I remember coming home feeling exhausted and then horrified at thinking that in all reality my first Ironman probably would take as long as that if not more!  A BQ run is harrowing but it is done in approximately 3 hours and 10 mins (for me).  In my mind I would like to think that my ability to run a BQ means I have a better-than-average engine as a potential IM finisher.  I'm going to train and do an IM regardless but it would be a confidence booter to be able to tell myself "If I can BQ I CAN DO THIS, so HTFU!"  My respects to all you veterans of the IM regrdless of, speed or age.  You all may be jaded by now but to a newbie like me your accomplishment is simply awesome.

Yea, no comparison.  I'll never qualify for boston.  And I'm not one to ever say "never" about something.  It's around the same likelihood that i'll jump off my building and fly home.  I can't run a 5k in that pace, let alone a marathon.  However i did complete an IM, without ever really exerting myself in 14:18.  I think a better comparison would be comparing it to qualifying for Kona.

It's official: BQ vs KQ. Someone should make a poll. I'll go with KQ > BQ. Oh but then there's Vegas: VQ ...

Yes, the amount of time is different, but you're going at such a different pace it's hard to compare.  What is easier, running 2 miles at  a 12 min/mile pace for 24 minutes, or running a half mile as hard as you possibly can, which might only take you 3 minutes?  Yea, the 24 is longer, but it's easy.  The 3 is over quick, but you might want to throw up.  Ironman was just a long, leisurely day of exercise(at least for me).  I just wanted to finish, so i took it very easy all day.

I agree.

The huge difference is that the 17 hour IM cutoff applies to everyone.  BQing is age specific.  If M34 and under had to finish an IM under 11 hours in order for them to be an offical finisher...or if BQing was not age specific, and everyone had to run under 3:05 to qualify...then you might have an argument that BQing is harder.

Under the current settings though...I can see how people over 70 years old may think an IM is harder...because their BQ time is easier than a 50 year old...but their IM cutoff is still 17 hours.

I second what JohnnyKay wrote. BQ is way harder than an IM finish. I've done the IM finish, but BQ is out of reach. You laid down a 3hr 10min marathon, that's just impressive. My prediction is that if you do the work, you won't be anywhere near the 17 hour mark.

Given that about 3500 people KQ or VQ (some do both) each year...and about 30,000 people BQ...I would say KQ or VQ is harder. 

Put it this way: you ran a 3:10 to BQ.  Being very conservative, imagine yourself running at a 4 hour pace.  And roughly the same effort level for your swim/bike.  Cruising.  I'm guessing you'd still finish under 13 hours.

17 hours is a long time for someone who runs at your level.

Like the OP I have BQ'd several times by a considerable amount of time and run Boston twice.  However, for me an IM seems like a much more daunting challenge.  To BQ I followed the Pfitz 18/70 plan which topped out at around 11 hours of training in a week, when I read about 15-20 hpw that some of the people on BT put in I cannot imagine how I would get the extra time in to train for an IM.

If you can BQ you can finish an IM in 17 hours.  If you can finish an IM in less than 12 hours you may or may not be able to BQ.  Finishing an IM under the time cutoffs for most people just invovles putting a year or two into training and then having nothing major go wrong on race day.  Not simple but if you put in the time you will be able to do it.  For BQ the bar is much higher as far as actual performance/speedwork goes.  That said you will train more hours for an IM just to finish than to qualify for a BQ marathon. 

I have BQd twice, run it once and done 3 IMs so far. 

It's not even a contest in difficulty.

BQ >>>> IM finisher.

Not to 'dis on IM, but virtually any healthy individual who decides to do an IM and spends a year training reasonably for it with the guidance of a coach, will readily go sub17. Easily, on a flat course. There are many who train hugely for BQ, and never make it. The mens 3:05 standard for M<35 is particularly difficult in my opinion - 7 min miles for 26 is really fast - for most triathletes who don't put in the mileage, it's impossibly fast.

On the other hand,

Kona Qualifier >>> BQ qualifier.

I'm not sure wher KQ compares the NYC marathon qualifier, though! (I would still give it to the KQ by a hair.)

I just BQ'd this past year and I am, for the most part, having a hard time wrapping my head around the idea that finishing an IM would be easier than BQ.  I do understand the time frame and the lighter effort levels that IM would allow to finish the distance but simply the idea of going that far in one day seems staggering to me.

A problem that would impact simply completing an IM for me is that I don't really know how NOT to race and trying to keep my effort levels low enough to make sure I finished is probably where I find the highest amount of difficulty.

Either way, I find it intriguing that most everyone posting finds it easier to finish IM than BQ.  It's encouraging to me because I would like to do an IM in a couple of years.

I am going to voice the dessenting opinion here, I think it depends one what your strengths are.  if you are a really strong runner naturally and can't swim worth crap, I think qualifying for boston would be way easier than finishing an ironman.  For example, I have a friend who trained very easily for a marathon (didn't do any speed work and did a moderate plan with a maximum mileage of 40 miles a week) and she cruised to a 3:30 finish (10 minutes faster than the fastest female standard).  We swam together 2-3 times a week throughout university at lunch time.  in half an hour I would easily cover a mile including a kick set and she would be lucky to complete 1000 m.  I have no doubt that she would be able to finish an IM if she could put the time to train for it, but I think she would find the training way harder than her marathon training.

On the other hand, me, my strengths are 1) swimming, 2) biking (who knew?  I've discovered this about myself in the last year!) and 3) endurance (I'm the energizer bunny, I can go on forever).  For me, qualify for Boston could be a possibility but I would have to 1) lose at least 20 pounds and 2) be able for my body to hold up to a program like phitz's 18/70 plan, which is too much mileage for these legs, I tend to get running overuse injuries, IM training while difficult to manage time wise really suits me at this point in my life.

I would say that it is more physically difficult/challenging to BQ... for most, training to do this requires hard, painful effort in training.  Finishing an IM (simply finishing mind you), only really requires the ability to put in a moderate effort in training, but for a long time.

For me, my 2013 BQ is 3:15... I run marathons at about 3:30 give or take.  I know that if I did nothing but hard focused marathon training for 4-6 months I could get there with some minutes to spare.  But that would be 4-6 months of hard training for say 6-8 hours a week.  I could finish (again simply finish mind you) an IM next weekend if I wanted to.

In the end I'd say that for most people training to BQ is harder, training to finish an IM is more time consuming.

Wow, I'm in the minority. I have not done an IM, planning to do my first next year. But I'm a lifelong runner and while getting a BQ is work, it's only one sport you're training for. I've run a number of marathons and while none of them were easy, it's no longer the challenge it once was.

Finding time do do all three sports and train at a reasonable level for my first HIM this year is a challenge. Especially as a new swimmer. It looks WAY uphill to try and do that for IM. I'm still having trouble wrapping my head around the distances involved.

For someone who is a runner, or has concentrated more heavily on running, don't disregard all the training done to this point. It may be less difficult for someone like this to get to the BQ from where they are now, but it likely will take have taken more work overall to get the BQ when considering all training up to that point.

What can be even more mind blowing to some is that it will likely be even harder to do something like 14:30-15:00 in a 5k.