Experience needed for IM

it's personal. a friend of ours did IM Brazil with us in 2006. he had never done a triathlon, ever. he was a 2:50 marathon runner. he did some training but not a lot. his goal was to attempt it and finish, which he did. he struggled a bit throughout the day (threw up on the swim because he swallowed salt water, was a bit tired on the bike, had never biked the long and had to deal with an upset stomach on the run) but conquered the task at hand. so, it's personal. Brazil was also my first IM and I did it after my first tri season in which I did a couple of sprint and olympic distance races. (i had taken several years off from the tri scene)

it depends what your goal is and if you have the time to support that goal with the required training. if you have the burn and desire you can do it. like the motto goes "Anything is Possible"

I started doing some training a year out before my first IM and 2nd tri ever.  I did my first Mary, my first tri which was a 1/2 IM, and my first IM all last year.  I didn't follow a plan but had a buddy who did Kona twice and some good peeps called the Donkeys that helped with some ideas.  I put in between 12 to 18 hours of training a week, and finished in 15 hours 13 min 46 sec at IM Moo '07.

Now, with that in mind and after all that I learned, I would highly recommend following the plan you have, and getting in at least one tri (a 70.3 would be great if you could) to get the experience.

If you feel comfortable with the swimming and running, and have a great base with it, then work your weakness - the biking.  You can modify the plan slightly to accommodate the bike more, like add an additional day in, or switch a run day with a bike day, or modify a run to add a BRICK, etc.

Rest is VERY important, too.

Good luck.

I am also very curious about this. I am shooting for a HIM late summer 2009, and have never done a sprint tri. My reasoning is that when I was a cat3 womens road competitor I hated criteriums(sprint racing), I absolutely hated them. I thrived in the above 40 mile races.

I just imagine that since I hated criteriums, I probably dislike sprint tri's for the same reasons.

I also weighed it against the fact that I have a huge(10+ years) endurance bike base, and I am an okay swimmer, so my main focus is the swim and run.

Hopefully the HIM will go well, since my ultimate goal is an IM in summer 2010 for my 40th birthday  

i had 7 marathons in 8 years, fastest was 3h6mins.  wanted to be more than one dimensional so i borrowed the neighbors bike, and did a sprint tri then comitted.  I did one or two more tris.  One was a HIM.  No BFD.

Did IMLP 2006 in 12h58m just to do it.  i had far too much energy left and was out hiking the next day with amazingly little soreness.

And think of it like this: I had 4 hours to spare.  That is enough time to have taken a nap, had a picnic, and taken another dip in the lake. 

Put your mind to it, and do it just to do it.

Its tough, but should be no sweat all things considered.

CP2K

I am going to be the voice of reason here.....just because it is possible doesn't mean it is necessarily a smart thing to do. I realize that many people get caught up in reading the race reports on here or seeing a friend or family member complete an IM race and think "I can do that", and you can...eventually.

IM training (and even training "just to finish" takes an enormous toll on your body due to the training load that you have to accept. You really need to take a season or two and build a good base and strengthen those connective tissues through gradual training load increase. There are exceptions, some one who has a background in endurance sports (normally cyclists do better than swimmers or runners) may have a faster adaptation than some one who is "off the couch".

Ironman is not going anywhere, the rate that these races are selling out (usually in a matter of hours) ensures that in a couple of years when you are ready then the races will be there waiting for you.

Patience is key, remember endurance sports are an exercise in delayed gratification.

Good luck

I agree with Rocketman...IM will always be there what is the rush?

I'm doing my first IM in July after doing my first sprint in 9/04. I had a plan to go the next longer distance every year. I ended up pushing that back a year just because my body wasn't really ready to move up quite so fast.

In this society it seems we are a I want it now attitude. I want a bigger harder challenge type of attitude as well. Why not build up gradually and see how you like triathlons. Cycling is the key to IM training and racing and that seems to be what you are weakest at.

My 5 year journey to my first IM has been amazing. I probably would have been better off waiting another year or two.  I am so glad I waited and I had lots of folks whispering in my ear come Kathy sign up now you can do it before I was ready. Even this year I have my doubts as to my abilities as it is a huge undertaking of time, energy, sacrifice of other commitments and time with others, money, and more.

About 20-25% of the folks that sign up for IM 365 days before their race end up not starting the race. Shows that through life and injuries it is a difficult undertaking.

Rocketman and KathyG, what do you think is good preparation for an IM, specifically in terms of the number of seasons, HIMs, and marathons?

As far as there being 'no rush', I think that some people want to do one sooner rather than later because they're expecting to have other areas of their lives takes precedence in a few years times (new demanding jobs, starting a family, etc.).  So if they were to delay an IM it wouldn't be for a year or two it might be for five or more and they might not have the opportunity to train as consistently and/or as much (volume) during that time.

Possible <> smart. 

X2 

How much triathlon experience should you have before doing a full IM?

The easy and hard answer to this question is what is your goal?  If you simply want to "do" an Ironman, your fitness level sounds fairly close.  After all, you have 17 hours to go 140.6 miles, and I think this is probably fairly doable from your current base.

The hard answer to this question is what time do you want to do and why?  Training to go 17 hours is violently different from training to go 12 hours.  Think of it this way....swim 2.4 miles in 2 hours, ride 112 miles in 8 hours, walk/run a marathon in 6 hours...that still gives you just under an hour for transitions!

My point here is that many, many people can DO Ironman, but the decision to do so and the success criteria can be very different.  If you are looking for a "quick and dirty" assessment of whether or not you can complete an Ironman in under 17 hours, I would suggest getting the experience of doing each segment completely in a stand alone environment.  That alone will do wonders for your confidence and allow you to mentally feel more comfortable about tackling all three.  Good luck!