genesismachine

At this point, I've lost a ton of weight, and am down to 9% body fat at 165 pounds. I don't have much muscle mass, so I consider myself carte blanche ready to start training.

Running - I've never run more than 2 miles straight in my life. When I was younger, I was very slow. There were kids running 6 or 7 minute miles where I was running 10 minute miles. Yes, 10 minutes. There were people who walked faster than that I don't know how I am now, but being much lighter and stronger, I think I could do better (I hope!)
Swimming - I can barely swim in a straight line. For all intents and purposes, I would qualify myself as 1 or 2 out of 100. I'm pretty much starting from square 1 on technique, strength, endurance, everything.
Biking - I just learned how to bike this month. I am pretty stable, and won't die, but that's about it for the good news. I definitely need to work on technique and strength though, as I am getting tired after very modest distances (4.5 miles at 8 mph average speed with 200 ft elevation gain/fall and 20 stops). The bike is a rusty, crappy beater road bike that weighs 42 pounds.

So all three of these areas have been huge problems for me in my life up until now, which is why the triathlon goal is particularly appealing

If I train for 1 hour a day, every weekday, and then rack it up to 2 hours a day after 3 months, would it be possible to complete an iron man by next year? I know the time won't be fantastic, but is it realistic for me to expect to finish?

sirious94

if you get a really good training program (by the way this is the most important thing), get a better bike, already have an amazing work ethic, you might be able to do it. Also how old are you? if you are 75 or something...NO CHANCE. if you are between 18 and 35 you have a pretty good shot

cjbruin

You can do it if you want to. Your biggest issue will be getting an entry as the Ironman branded races fill up quickly. Find the race you want to do, put it on the calendar, and design a training plan working backwards. Keep us posted.

saxman007

Read the training plans and decide if you have the time/desire to do the training necessary.
As far as getting your events up and going, they'll come rather quickly. I'm not a fast runner -- hoping to do a 25' 5K tomorrow morning (PB is 25:30), bike I'm fairly strong in, swimming I started in March. I've done a 1000 yard set and am no longer the weakest one in my masters group. That improved incredibly quickly for me.
If you're willing to do the work -- and it sounds like you are, then find one and go for it. It'll be interesting to see how quickly some of these events fill up this year

Turnin2

Not sure if I'm going to get in trouble for posting a competing triathlon website but:https://beginnertriathlete.com/

This is a good site with free training plans for all distances, you can post training progress and race times and also ask other members to critique your results.

DrPete 

+1 to BT. An awesome resource, and one I also frequent. Lots of inspiring stories from the members too. All I can say is that if some of those folks can do it, you absolutely can!

Calminian

The only way you'll know is if you try. But I wouldn't sign up for a race, if I were you, until you've reached some goals in training. Depending on your age, I would think a 2 or 3 year plan might be better, and easier on your body. Of course it's possible, but it's also possible you'll shoot too high and get discouraged, or injured. Swing for the fences, but you may need to accept some singles and doubles along the way. The important thing is to get out there and push yourself and don't quite til you acquire your goal. IM in a year possible? Yes. Realistic? Maybe, maybe not. Tough to say.

kakman

Given where you are now, I'd say you're nuts. Let's assume/hope you're not trolling:
You're suggesting around 9 hours a week now and maybe 15 later.

just getting to swimming 3.8k from not being able to swim will be a major achievement - it'll probably take 6 months just to get a reasonable stroke and then you'd need to train lots of squads to be ready. Probably 5 or 6 hours a week.

biking will clearly need work and that requires time on the saddle. Let's say another 5 or 6 hours a week at least.

running - lets say you want to do around a 6 hour marathon - that's around 8.5 minute kilometres. Just to get the strength to complete the 6 hours, even at a very slow pace, will take another 3 or 4 hours a week - and this assumes you start small and work on the 10% increase per week rule.

Then consider injuries, the ability to train through all seasons, motivation, cost, coaching, squads etc.

Sorry, but I think you're kidding yourself (or us)

What's your hurry? Why not do a few enticers, then a year of sprints, then a couple of OD or HIM and then hit IM when you have a few years in the sport. Show it some respect.

K-S2

I missed the part where OP said Ironman. Where you are now you could be ready for a sprint tri at some point in the next couple months; if you are interested in IM, sure you could be ready for like Florida or AZ next year with lots of time to step up via sprint - olympic - half - full.

The first step is believing you can do it.

philcasi

totally possible. i'm tired watching my wife do tri's. i watched her do the captex in austin and decide that i will do the super sprint next year. you and i are in the same boat and we will do it.

philcasi

also my wife just added, "as long as the winter doesn't kill you". shes saying that winter training sucks

caelric

Ginormous difference between a super sprint, and a full ironman. I'd say about ~125 miles difference, in fact.

philcasi

I guess I missed the part where he said full ironman.

genesismachine

Thanks for the response. I really don't know if it's possible or not, so I just wanted people's opinions who actually know what they're talking about. As far as what's the hurry? Well, why walk when you can run? If I can do a full triathlon next year, why not? If it's really not possible, then I will adjust the dates accordingly.

For what it's worth, I'm a pretty fast learner, and read a lot, so I think I will not struggle as much with technique as with power.

Calminian

Possible, yes. Realistic. I don't like telling people they can't do things, but to be honest, I'd say no. I don't even think a HIM is realistic for a beginner, unless they are great natural athletes to begin with.

But there's nothing wrong with trying. Go for it, and if you fall short, settle for a shorter distance.

bmcginn

IM in a year....not sure. Sprints and OD for sure. HIM with a solid training schedule and commitment, I'd say yes.

It's all up to you. its about commitment, both time and money. Definitely invest in a solid bike, one you'd be comfortable training and competing on, a pair or two of running shoes that have been fitted to your feet and stride, as well as some good swimming equipment.

Go for it man

brian669

unless you don't even know how to swim you could feasibly do a sprint in 6-8 weeks. an ironman, that will take some effort. i saw somebody suggest beginner triathlete, it's a great site. so is trifuel. i would also check out the books 'total immersion' and 'training plans for multiposrt athletes'. both are essential to getting into tri's imo. total immersion will completely revamp your swim technique durring the first 3 of 12 drills. you will double if not triple your distance and speed almost immediately.

as for increasing your endurance, do some research into heart rate training. short of that a proper training routine will take care of that. for example with the run, say you run 3x a week. make one a heart rate zone run, one an interval run or sprints, and one hill intervals. throw in a long run every other week. if you aren't up to that yet, a good way to increase endurance kind of quickly is to run 2x a week with 2 days rest in between. day one would be 10:00, day 2 would be 15:00. if you were able to complete the 15:00 run on day 2 you would repeat it on day 3 and increase it to 20:00 on day 4 and so on. if not you start over at 10:00. when you hit 30:00 you should be ready to begin increasing your speed and moving on to more specific training. do the runs in your aerobic zone or at a moderate pace (10:00-12:00/mile). by the end of week 2 i pomise you will be going faster with less effort.

edit... btw, power sometimes does not mean too much in this sport. endurance, aerodynamics, and swim technique will outweigh sheer power. i wouldn't worry so much about your strength. hit a gym 2-3x a week and do circuits and you will be just fine.

bigskyTi

Please don't.

I have seen far too many people go right out of the gate to Ironman and I can't tell you how many bad experiences they have.

here is a little secret about Ironman. Anyone of reasonable fitness that can actually survive a 2.4 mile open water swim can finish in 17hrs. It's really not that difficult a physical feat -again for someone with reasonable fitness. you will, however, suffer like crazy. Ironman is no joke and getting to ironman is the hard part. now people are different, and ther are lots of people who go out and do huge endurance events to prove they can, and do just fine, but if you want to do it right it shoudl take years. especially if you just learned how to swim and how to ride a bike.

I'm not trying to be condecending, or anything like that, but I feel that if you are going to do an Ironman you shoudl have a reasonable expectiation that you will be competing in a race, not just aiming to finish, and that can take a while.

In my experience people who do Ironman or marathons coming from no experience and aiming to finish do exactly that, they are finished with the sport once they cross that line never to swim bike or run again.

FWIW I raced for two years slowly building my distances before I signed up for my first IM. Sadly I had a bad accident about 14wks out and required a two year layoff. Now I'm looking at another year or two racing before I get set to sign up a year before my next attempt.

Could you do it in a year? sure. Is it a good idea? I think no.

IRONHEAD1

I would have to agree with the statement above mine. I have been training very hard now for 6 solid months, I am about to only attempt my first sprint tri in about 3 weeks. i know I can finish it and probably not be in last place. I am looking ahead but realistically I would expect that maybe next year with the same level of training and progression that i might be ready maybe for an olympic distance tri, providing my body holds up. i would imagine to get to a level of full ironman would take several years to really get there and that is providing you even have that much potential. there are some people i can't imagine ever being able to get to that level just due to the fact they might not have it in them to go that deep with training. i would just aim for doing a sprint first and see how it goes. thats what i am doing.

msu2001la

Only you know if you can do it or not. People you've never met on the internet have no idea if you have the dedication, drive and desire to complete something like this.

To be sure, completing an Ironman usually requires more than 1-2 hours of training, 5 days a week even for people that can already swim, bike and run.

Think more like 2-4 hours of training, 6 days a week, for around 6 months.

I'd suggest looking into some training plans first, and also spend some time learning how to swim.