You can quit and they wont know but you will

Start back training with the swim and bike for an ironman distance with next year as a goal.  You can do your own 'event'.  Also look for aquabike races (swim/run duathlons) or just open water swim events and bicycle events.

I live near Vegas and they had a bicycle tour last week with distances up to 120 miles.  They have an OWS in a couple of weeks with distances from 1200m to 8000m and possibly combining distances for more.

Not running is no excuse for not training.  Also if you can run 13.1, look at 70.3's.  St. George just shortened it's distance from a full IM to a 70.3.

Something I learned in management training is setting goals, but the important thing is setting ACHIEVABLE goals.  Or perhaps set smaller benchmarks with an ultimate goal at the end.

I'm not sure why an IM is the end all, be all.  Sure, it's a great goal to shoot for in the end.  But as you can see, going for something like that right away just led you to being discuraged and giving up everything.

Good news is, there is always time to turn it around.  Why not shoot for a sprint first?  Or move to bike racing if you have a hard time running?  Just because you can't do an IM, is that any reason to do NOTHING?  If swimming and biking was working, why not stick with it?

Pick a goal you KNOW you can do, knowing it's just a small step in the long journey.  Then you feel great when you hit it, and it motivates you to go for the next one.

Why not find a shorter race or aquabike to do? 

There are a lot of people (myself included) that have a lot of fun and find it extremely challenging to do races shorter than an IM.

Another question is what were you going to do after the IM?  I want to do an IM eventually, but I don't want to stop training/exercising after I accomplish the goal. 

The goal is just a stop along the way, the lifestyle and fitness is the journey.

Hi Thanks for your replys

My main goal was and is to get mentally and physically fit and in peak (loose my beer gut yuk) condition to enjoy my young children and to grow our company IM was part of this but as people say its not the ALL

So news goals to set

Ahahahaha.  Brilliant!

I am currently training for an IM in March - it's hard, it's challenging - some days it's fun but mostly it's just tiring...

I have given myself permission to pull out - I don't want to but if family or I start to suffer beyond what i'm prepared to accept I will.

when I made the decision that I'm allowed to pull out it was like a weight was lifted, I feel much better, I'm enjoying the training.  I am probably going to turn up on the day and try and start having done as much as I can.

If I finish that's AWESOME, if I don't - well done me for trying.

I think to pull out is a very brave act in itself, it's not defeat it's not failure, it is your reality.  Maybe one day you will be an Ironman, in the meantime there is no need not to be as fit and healthy as you can be for yourself and your loved ones.  Get back out there.

Agreed. IM changes peoples lives because they change their lifestyle. It's not a magical spell where they wake up in a new world. Within what you are capable, find a lifestyle that will work. It's not IM or bust. There is plenty of challenge in learning how to do shorter events, and how to do them well.

Good stuff here.

I've only done one tri (an Oly) and while it was fun, the training has been as fun and motivating to me.  If you pin your hopes to one big goal and you don't make it that's bad, but even if you do make it, there'll inevitably be a letdown and a "what's next" feeling when it's done.  I learned this when I was training for a once-every-four-years endurance race in France.  I qualified, I finished, I was happy, but I was a bit down mentally for a few months when it was over.  I just put way, way too much focus on that one thing...trying not to do that anymore.

Better to just have milestones along the way but keep moving forward.

Someone else mentioned the word addict. It wasn't until I faced my own addiction (food, which was clear to everyone else) that I began to put together my history of why I was in the condition I was in. Why I had found willpower and gumption before, but it fizzled. BINARY THINKING kept me frozen for years.

I have no idea what your reality is. I am just telling you what my own was/is. If it sounds familiar, let it be food for thought.

Many, many, many fine answers here, and I'll just add abit more (with someoverlap, too).

It's not so much that you quit, but that you were "advised" and "counseled" -- first by your own body, second by your doctor.  I have been around long enough, and suffered more than enough tough injuries, to know that there are lots of times when the body....just....can't.....do it.  This can surafce in training, or the week or day or two leading up to a race, or during the race itself.  It can lead to the dreaded DNS, and the arguably far-worse DNF.    You chose the wiser option of those two, IMHO.

I have worked with enough novice athletes over the years to know what a terrible trap it is to have the mindset that you are struggling with --- iron-distance being the gotta-do-now!! goal.  As another poster stated, it is a recipe for disaster, and on so many levels at that.  Your reasons for taking up triathlon were (are!) very laudable, and it would be a tragic disservice to yourself to let it all go, given how far you got.  It may well be that your knees cannot handle iron-training, but it is also possible that, given enough training over a few years, you can learn how to treat them so that will get you through the final 26.2 of those 140.6 miles.

I unearthed a quote a few days ago from Steve Fleck, a highly-experienced and accomplished triathlete from Canada.  He wrote:

"....that for most, it really does take 4-5 years of training to have a really good IM race"

I can't remember to whom that was addressed -- probably solid triathletes who are looking to challenge for a Kona spot -- but to my mind the concept of "really good IM race" can be broadened to include a decent FINISH time, and with minimal body aches during and after the race.   I guess my bottom-line message is that it is a disatnce that mostly demands respect, and much of that respect comes from many years and many races leading up to it.  this is where the cumulative effects of training conme into play, and also all the lessons from racing and pacing and working out sound nutritional plans.

FWIW, I did my first iron as my 26th triathlon, in my 5th season, and with NINE half-irons preceding it.  I can also tell you that I did a second the following year, '05, but from that point on I haven't felt that my body (63.5 years now) can handle iron-training........and I content myself unimaginably well with shorter stuff.  i also never defined myself as an "ironman", but rather just a triathlete who had done two irons as part of the bigger picture.

Finally, with a young family you are way-better served by not going over the top and trasining like a maniac.  There are a couple of huge threads over at Slowtwitch that address iron-training and divorce/family-fracturing, and the spectre of that is very real.  (It's also very real with just "plain-old"  triathlon training, depending on the marital and family dynamics, but there's a world of difference between how most people train for irons vs how they train for sprints and olys.)  Your kids will enjoy your progress as you work to become a functional triathlete -- but only if you are around with them far more often that not.  

Finally-finally, reorder those goals and priorities so that you DO NOT QUIT.  And if the knees are a bigger source of problems than you hope for, follow the advice of another poster who mentione aquabikes as an option.  That'll still work well to get your body aesthetically where you want it to be, AND it will still put you in the upper sub-1% of the population who can swim hard for xxx or xxxx yards, and then bike hard for xx miles.  That'll make you a desirably fiit and accomplished athlete ---- and it doesn't get much better than that!

That should be your motivation, not some arbitrary race. 

It sounds like you have some more basic health and lifestyle issues to resolve before you even think about training for an IM.  The things you need to do may well take more effort and commitment than merely training for one IM race.

Good luck to you.

Mark 

A typical goal for the all-or-nothing, "think big goal" types is to do an Ironman 140.6 in as short a time as possible - then check it off their list and burn out, eventually returning to their pre-triathlon lifestyle.  Like people say, your main goal was to get fit and enjoy your family.  You can do that without doing an Ironman goal. 

Long-course (HIM and IM) triathlons take an incredible amount of time to get properly prepared for.  Sometimes, it really just takes time (especially running/swimming) to get the bone/soft tissue adaptation, muscle and aerobic adaptation to get to the point when one's body can take those distances/volume (not just putting time in for workouts but also just letting the body recover and adapt).

You can get pretty fit just doing short-course races (sprint triathlons so you don't have to run as much), and doing just swimming/biking.  Especially as your business development work will take up time, along with your family - you may not have the 12+ hrs/week of training that IM racing usually requires.

I know that people that want to make a major change want to do it in BIG steps and get immediate gratification. It doesn't work that way.  You likely took decades to get your body (and mind) in the shape it is in today so trying to undo all that and then build up in 11 months just isn't realistic (or more importantly, sustainable).  Make the small changes and see if you can make them stick!  Work out 4-5 days a week, even just 30 minutes at a time (especially doing swim and bike, which isn't too high-impact and stressful, you should be able to workout pretty frequently).  Make the necessary dietary changes to allow you to lose the weight (working out at the levels most AG athletes have to train at won't trump a bad diet so you have to work on that side). Do that and then look at where you are a year from now and I'd bet you'd be right around what you would have been if you were training for an IM.

Someone asked me today if I was planning to do an IM soon.  I'm about 2.5 years into triathlon (new for all 3 sports) and I told him that maybe after another full season next year, I'll consider it. I train around 9-10 hrs/week on average (most of that time on weekends on long bike ride and long run) and I know that I will need more time than that if I wanted to have a successful IM.  Right now, I want to see how far I can improve on HIM and shorter events within that limited training time.  I finally signed up for my first marathon later this year and I'm quickly finding out that it is requiring me to train more than I really want to do long term (there is more to life than swim/bike/run) so I suspect I won't be doing another one next year.  I think I would be considered in decent shape by most standards (6', 170lbs, <10% BF) and I've never done an IM.

Good luck and hopefully you'll update us in a few months with some good news and with some of your goals in the process of being completed!

On July 1 this year I was a total couch potato and Mt Dew drinks every day.  My goal was to do a 5k, 10k, and sprint tri in December.

I had concerns about my knees and IT band.  So I've taken it pretty slow.  I think the post about achievable goals is right on.  Did my 5k last month and have the 10k at the end of October.  

Start with smaller goals and healthy habits.

Oh and I've lost 23 lbs in the process.  Slow and steady wins this race.

I agree 100% with what everyone else has said here about focusing on health and shorter events, but if you really feel you need an epic goal to help with motivation, then perhaps down the road you might look at the Leadman 250 instead of an IM. If you can work on your fitness in the short term, then eventually this might be a better long distance race for you, since the run is far shorter than an IM.

It will still take time to get there, but the Leadman would still be a huge achievement to shoot for and the run will be easier on you.

Just a thought.

This is well said.

I look back and felt I "rushed it" just a bit.  Did my first HIM about 11 months after starting and it HURT.  Felt miserable after the race.  Did my first IM a year after that.  Brutal course, long time to finish, and a week of misery afterwards trying to recover.  I DID win my division, so some consolation.

It took me 18 months to do another one.  Another long time on another brutal course, but felt MUCH better after.  Not nearly the soreness and feeling beat up.  18 months later?  Did another and cut 3 hours off my time and felt perfect just days afterwards.

So really, I look back and don't feel like my body was "ready" until that second attempt which was just under 3.5 years after starting.  almost 5 before feeling really good at it.  What I have found most interesting, is that I had to take about 6 months off due to thyroid cancer and just started getting ready for IMAZ again.  I'm shocked how quickly it's coming back to me.  Faster than when I originally started.

I'm not saying it can't be DONE within 1-2 years.  I did it.  But I don't feel like my body adapted well enough for at least the 3.5-5 years after starting (with off seasons and the rest of my life to live, of course) AND I'm an old, "big" guy.

Man, I worte something before reading the thread, then deleted it,,,,, then read this, which was what I was trying to get across, but Jim did it better than me.  I also don't get why everyone has to do an IM to turn theor life around.  You know what?  Go do an Olympic distance and race your A$$ off all the way through.   It is HARD.  and an accomplishment.

Sounds like you set yourself up for a big fall

Good luck.

ETA - Ha, looks like nearly everyone also said that.  We're so smart.

Awesome reply! 

I did the whole rush to an IM when I got into the sport.  My first IM was 11 months after my first sprint.   Its a ton of work, and it is completely doable, the problem is you are not mentally or physically capable. 

There's more at work than just watts on the bike, and mile splits on the run.  If you're going from a couch to an IM muscles that haven't been used since High School are going to get stressed and its easy to get injured.   Getting to an IM is probably a 2-3 year cycle to be safe.

I didn't finish that one and I definately felt an inferiority complex when others would comment how they 'pushed through' and finished the Ironman.   I can feel your pain but its best to understand that's their road (with some possible embellishment ) and yours is the only important one.  No one can walk in your shoes.

Mentally, its just not there either.  You need a year to learn how to train and what to do.  Yeah, there are training plans out there but understanding the feeling of dehydration, or fatigue and other factors are really important.

Ironman is a great race but I dont think the smaller courses are any less of an accomplishment.   Work your way up, enjoy the training, and sign up when you are mentally and physically ready.  If you do really want it that bad go for it....if you aren't able there's no shame in that either.