WHen did you know you were ready for an IM?

1. When you believe you can complete it (not wish - believe!)
   
2. When you are prepared to sacrifice/tradeoff other aspects of your life (social, family, work, whatever) to achieve it
3. When there is sufficient lead in time to get your fitness up to the necessary level 

Nothing else matters, and you can't do it on just 2 of these - you need all 3.

Gerrard

I was ready to start my IM plan once I had time to forget about the pain I was in after my first        HIM (Sept 07) and Mary (March 08).

Seriously, I remember running the last mile of my marathon thinking "Oh God there is no way I can do this after 112 miles on the bike"....two weeks later....."I ran a marathon, and I can ride a bike and swim, I can do them back to back...I feel good now!"

November 1st we will find out?~!

I can tell you how I know that I am NOT yet ready for IM:

Reading some typical IM training plans, I can honestly say that I am not ready to make the commitments and sacrifices necessary to complete such a training plan.

Not to hijack....but....what do you consider a hilly ride: how many feet of climbing.  I did a 100 mile ride this weekend with 5000 feet of climbing, and a guy at the bike shop told me that was not a very hilly ride....my legs say otherwise!

I really don't know what the elevation is. I could look at my garmin forerunner but it's not very accurate. Hilly for me - and I'm doing IM Florida, which is next to no hills 

You will know. It was a goal out there for a long time for me. I was slow and not athletic when I started tri'ing. I had the increase one distance each year plan. I stalled a year as my first Oly was tough for my fitness at the time. Plus I committed then not to push it but to be better prepared for the next step up.

Strange I felt more prepared for my first IM then my first HIM and I think it was easier. I was better trained as I trained smoothly without injury or accident which occurred in my HIM year.

What others say is so true...you need:
1. Commitment to doing the training. Look at training plans and see if you can do the training or want to do the training.
2. Know your reasons you want to do one. When training sucks, you are tired, it is raining and you have a 85 mile ride on tap knowing why you are doing one helps motivate you to get out the door. The reasons better be pretty good.
3.Evaluate your life..does training fit with work, family, social aspects of you.
4. Financially..are you willing to spend more than you think to do an IM?  We have a IM budget line and IMLP driving to it cost $7K without a new bike or much new equipement.
5. Fitness base..how long have you been an endurance athlete? How do you recover from long training? Does it makes sense to do it now? Can you do the math and see you can make the cut offs? Do you want to just make the cut offs? Or do you want to do XXX?

Beyond that it is a leap of faith and a test of what you are made of. The slower you are or the more of a BOPer the big the jump as the cut offs really loom as real possibility of not finishing.

For me my bike crash helped me realize how quickly my ability to do s/b/r could have been taken away from me. I needed to be brave and do something big and took a step of faith that brought me on an incredible journey.  For me it was a huge mental journey as much as a physical one. The training is harder than the race. I was a highlight of my life..something huge I accomplished.

Can I get back to you on June 22 (or maybe 23rd, in case I cannot move 6/22)? 

If you're in a position to spend a ton of $$ and twice as much time and have the motivation/desire to complete it, then sign up. 

We discussed it as a family.  Did I have family support to be unavailable several days a week to pick kids up after their practice?  Would it be OK for me to miss some meets/matches because I have to do a long ride?  Would it be OK for me to slack on some stuff that needs done around the house because I'm training or fatigued from training?  Were we willing to make the financial commitment to pay for the race, get to/from the race, and spend obnoxious dollars on hotels because the race overwhelms the community? 

I'm signed up for IMCdA because we decided I could. 

I'm not sure If I'm ready, even now!  I'm more than half way done with my training plan for a Nov. IM.

I completed a couple HIM's and many Oly length races and wanted to pursue an IM.  I thought about it a lot, talked to my wife about the sacrifices we would have to make, then went for it...

Some days I feel great about it.  Like after a 70 mile ride and I still felt strong - I thought I could do it.  But then another day, I bonked after 10 miles of a long run, and thought this could be tough.

Honestly, not until about 3 weeks before my race. 

Actually for me it was when I finished the swim. From there on I knew I could do it.

I can see the problem that the M-dot races cause.  I had the same problem.  So, do you decide a YEAR in advance if you want to race?  Then drop 400-500 bucks to do it?  Daunting...  As an example, someone I know signed up for a race, dropped the $400, but then jacked up their knee skiing more than 9 months out.  They hadn't even started to train for the IM, and wasn't scheduled to start for another 4 months.  I know injury can happen at any time, but it would have been nice not to have dropped the money on the race so far in advance.

I ended up choosing a local full distance race that is VERY well supported, and has great reviews and turn-out.  I was able to sign up about 4 months prior, after I had a month of IM training under my belt, and I knew I was ready.  Physically, mentally, family, work, timing, etc...

In fact, you can STILL sign up for the race, and it's only 2 months away.

I'm just saying there are some other options to M-dot races that don't require a huge financial commitment so far in advance.

I would like to know too!

Perhaps a better question is when do you know you're ready to go for it?  I don't think you can really get ready for an IronMan distance without doing it on purpose.    For me, when I completed a 1/2IM distance then I knew I was ready to take on the challenge of getting to next distance. 

Even today - although my confidence grows weekly, I'm not sure I'm ready for the IM.  I do believe, however, that I will be ready on November 1.

Here's where I'm spending $$ for IMFL this year.

Fly down to florida the year before, pay for a rental car and hotel, although both were pretty cheap. And I used frequent flier miles. You may not have them though. Register for IMFL 08, $500. I think they're $525 this year. Plus food and gas in florida.

Training - you're doing more of it than you would for even a HIM A race season. So all the money you spend on little things - tubes, gatorade, running shoes, tires, gels, etc., you go thru faster. Then there's little stuff that you buy becuase you'll "need" it for your IM. I bought a forerunner 405. I already had a 305 that I used running and biking, but it wouldn't last for both during the IM. I justified it in my head. You can say you won't do that now, but you will.

I also bought a new tri top and bottoms. My bottoms were ok up to Olympic distance, but they had a seem that ran down the front middle and that would rub on a place you don't want rubbed (like that anyway) and I thought that over 12 hours that would get annoying. $80. Might as well buy a new top. $50. (ish, don't remember exactly.)

Then flights down to Florida again for this years race. Hotel, this time from Tuesday to Monday. Don't need to be there that long, but I want to be. And a car so I can drive the bike course and just generally get around. And you have to get your bike there, biketransport.com or whatever it is - $225. Sure, you can fly with it. Just buy a case, take it apart (and again after you finished your IM, doesn't sound so fun then does it?) and pay the airline $50-100 each way for an oversized item. Plus food while you're down in florida.

And did I mention they have a really sweet Ironman store onsite? And I'm probably going to buy some stuff. And some pictures.

Oh, and you should expect to spend more money on food. Burning 3000-8000 calories a day depending on what's on the training schedule needs, it all needs to go back in there somehow. Expect to want to eat alot. All the time.

That's about it I think. I probably should have done IMLP instead since I live in Massachusetts and can drive there, and probably will for the next one. But that only saves 2 flights and a bike transport.

At least according to Byrn and Friel, "We Don't"

In the end, it is really about having faith in yourself to be able to do whatever it takes to train properly and to deal with whatever happens on race day.

More often than not, it is not our fitness, but how we handle the things that get thrown at us on race day that make the difference between finishing in the Massage Tent or finishing in the Med Tent. (And Sometimes, it is beyond our control and the Med Tent is the best place for us to be)

Sign up, train and hold onto your cuz it's gonna get really interesting