Elvish Legion

Well its about christmas time so I can start asking for clothes and stuff. And I was wondering who prefers what?

cjbruin

Before I vote...what distances are you planning to do? I like my tri suit for sprints and oly's but I think I will go the other way for my 1/2 IM.

Elvish Legion

At first some oly but ultimatly iron man distance (that will be like at least a year)

^*^BATMAN^*^

I like the short/**** combo better then a full suit

cjbruin

Batman...I think you forgot the "r"

voltman

Maybe he meant shorts so he can do the latter if necessary.

zakk

Sprint & Oly: Zoot Trisuit (2004, the 2005's sucked, IMO)

1/2 IM: Tri Shorts and Underarmor tank. The suit can move a bit and chafe, or it did to me when I wore it for my only 1/2 IM. wearing my shorts & tank, I've tackled way longer training bricks easily.

Elvish Legion

Did you use any body glide type things or just bare skin?

zakk

never used bodyglide. it was more of the 5 hours of movement that caused the chafing, along with beng a fat bastard. the trisuit gradually got looser as I lost water weight. it wasn't as tight as it should have been in the first place.

Triguy

If you are JOCP, how old are you?

Iron distances should be saved until after 21, some would argue 25. I guess unless you never want to be uber competitive and just want to do it for the sake of having fun and finishing. Getting into that stuff too early will wear you down.

Triguy

For what it's worth. A short/shirt combo is easier to size as well. Pulling the cervelo suit up my legs is a hassle, but any size bigger would be loose in the upper body and too long.

mathmo

Rubbish, I did one this year at 20. My only regret is that I didn't do it years earlier. It was a piece of cake, and I'll certainly do it again this year.

Although on the other hand it does depend upon the person, I'm never going to be uber competitive (won a few regional titles is the best I've done and the best I'll ever do). But then who is going to be uber competitive after all?? Only a few rare people go on to be pro's. If you just want to do Ironman for the fun of doing it then go ahead no matter what your age is (heck, I now wish I could have done it at 15! Might have been a better idea too, was fitter when I was around that age).

zakk

do you have some studies to back this up, or is this your opinion?

Elvish Legion

How would if wear me down? I would think it would help me improve over time.

And for the record I'll be 18 this june.

mathmo

Imagine doing three hundred miles of running every week for an entire year, what would this do to you? Unless you are an exception for being some kind of rare genetic freak, then this is likely to cause you to become very worn down, injured, sick of the sport, might give the whole thing away, depressed, can slow you down, etc....

Well an Ironman is kind of like that, just not quite so extreme. So just becareful that you don't go overboard, but so long as you take this sensibly then you can do an Ironman or anything else (doing a 320km bike ride myself this weekend) you like just as everybody else does.

Probably the only sepecial word of advise for young people like us don't be too rash. It so easy for us to feel invinsible because we are young, but don't go hard out with things and kill yourself. Listen to your body and how it is feeling. Of course this advise is true for everybody, just perhaps we should take extra note of it. This I believe is the key reason I found Ironman so easy, because I just held myself back during the entire day and cruised through it. However if I'd gone hard out from the gun I'd have been wasted.

Basically I think if you are physical mature (i.e. stopped growing, but even if you are growing I believe the limits on what you should do are way higher than what others think) then you can do the same as anything else that anybody else does so long as you use a bit of common sense like everybody should (i.e. are reasonably mentally mature).

^*^BATMAN^*^

It is probably mostly opinion. Though the guys that I train with that do IM's all over the world, say that you reach you endurance peak in your 30s. So I dont know if that is why they are saying most people under 24 dont do IM. Like in Florida this year, there were 45 people in the M18-24. In the M25-30 there were like 400...in the M40-45 i think there was like 800. So participation shouws that more people do it when they get older.

Now this could be because to many younger kids dont want to dedicate the time into training and racing. You have to give up a full social life do train properly for an IM...most kids my age dont want to do that...I was training for an IM, but I may be going overseas with the CDN Military, so I have toned down my training. All my friends think I am a 40 year old stuck in this body, only beacause instead of goign out drinking every night on the weekend, I will only stay out till like Midnight, cus I have a 6 hour ride in the morning...and I watch what I eat.

I think the reason(IMO) that kids(15-24) dont train/do IM's is that there is a large time commitment to put into it, and there is social pressure to not spend all that time training....

zakk

i agree with the social issues, but it comes down the base. those 40-44 AG's usually have a few DECADES of base in their legs.

The OP saying that is 'bad' is false advertising. Is bike racing bad for youths too?

Elvish Legion

I'm actully an ex marthon (cross country style) runner, I've been racing bikes for 4 years, and I long at least 200 miles of open water swimming a year. I understand the impact on my social life and everything else, but this is what I want to do. I grew tired of road racing and everyone having the attitude of either "Oh you want to be the next LA" or "You won't make it."

I'll admit there have been times when I've gotten discouraged over the running, or the swimming or gotten down when my friends are going out and I have to go train, but its what I decided would be best for me, I've managed to maintain a serious realtionship along side trainning for the past 15-16 months, and not a bad social life (I take like 2 days off during the week to rest as per old cross country style)

I know when to call it quits if I'm over my head, and I'm not afraid to get a DNF if it means spareing my self an injury (when I kick boxed after each round there was a chance to quit if you felt unable to continue, if that was my case I did quit, better to live to fight another day)

All and all I must say I think I maybe WAY over my head trying to do an iron man next year, I can do the bike easily, but the run is just daunting after wards, my legs break down to fast, I need to work on my brick trainning (the swim while long isn't too bad if I go slow)

All I can say is, I won't be gunning to win, just to finish.

Jonathon

mathmo

A lot of people use "the peak" arguement as to why not to do ultra endurance events as a teenager, but if you should only do something when you are at your peak then nobody should run a marathon when they are 50. Because you are waaaaaaaaaaay past your peak.

Participation means nothing too, just because mostly old people play bowls doesn't mean it is dangerous for me to play bowls too (well maybe... if I get beaten up by the school bullies for doing that!! lol).

mathmo

After reading that I just have to say go for it! (but then I was already saying that.... but with conditions, and you pass with flying colours!)

You seem to be having a mature and sensible attitude towards it, and you are waaaaaay fitter than I was when I did Ironman this (and doing waaaay more training). If I did it, you should find it even easier!


You can't possibly state that as the reason can you?!?! Then are many 40 year olds out there who have done Ironman after only a few years of training (a rare exception or two with only a single year!), yet a young guy like me did his first triathlon at the age of 12 and has been into endurance sports ever since. Who do you think has more experience and "miles in their legs"?

zakk

and when your 40, then what? All that does is prove the point.

people get past the drunken 20's and figure out they need to get in shape. a decade or so of that then they get fast.

Few are gifted enough to be fast without the training.

Triguy

International Marathon Medical Directors Association did a study showing that there are various effects of running a marathon too early, and they concluded that triathlon competition should stay in the same respects, shorter with age.

The effects of marathon training too early include...

Higher likelyhood of osteoarthritis in the hip

Higher likely hood of foot injuries including plantar fascitis

Less consistency in future competition

Higher likelyhood of burnout

Not too mention Peak Performance throws around the idea that a person may only get 8 good extreme distance races.

Triguy

My whole point is I believe IMMDA set out an age of 19 for beginning training. I would imagine 1 to 2 years training is good from there. However, they also suggest if you're not fully developed throughout(some men don't until after 18) to hold off.

I've trained at high levels in running, about 100 miles a week and it took 3 months to get where I was when I was doing 80 because my body got so worn down. It never felt like too much until it was too late. I was 20 and had spent 3 years working form 70 to that 100. I've known guys to do around only 70 miles that end up with injuries that needed surgery(knee problems), not to mention lost months to shin splints.

However, maybe you are not like me, I'm waiting until I'm 23 and I feel by then I'll be read to take on 10 hours, it'll be worth the $400, it'll be fun to be competitive and it's definately a driving factor for me.

racergirl

There is no reason a 20-something doesn't have the mental strength to dig in for the proper training to do long distances. NCAA athletes train 20hrs/week. Even as an undergrad I dragged myself out of bed for 6am workouts on a regular basis.

Physically, things are a little different. While most skeletal growth plates are closed by age 18-21 (later for men than women), some remain open until 25. Ideally, your bones would be fully formed before you started really pounding them. An 18 yo male may very well not be skeletally mature. I can't find the source in the hundreds of pages of crap we were tested on in monday's anatomy/embryoloy test so you will have to take my lowly med student word for it.

I'm only 25 and have just started to break into longer distances. I raced for a couple years before doing a 1/2IM at 23 and a 3/4IM this past summer. Even on a very low mileage plan, my first attempt at doing a marathon (at age 21) ended in disaster because I lacked the base. After 15 months battling 6 stress fractures, I finally had to go on crutches and Fosomax (yep, osteoporosis drugs). With my swimming background it really took several years to get my legs used to the pounding and I fought off injuries for several years. I would recomend that younger athletes, especially swimmers, build a solid base before going to longer distances.

I admit, though, that I am NOT just out there to finish. I set extremely high goals and put everything into meeting them. I didn't want to do longer distances until I could put in the training it took to show up prepared to race fast.

sweetharriet

i'm only 25, i'm heading into my third year, and bam, I still CAN'T AFFORD IT. i work out with tons of moneybags dudes whose performance is average, and who got into it in a large part as an age crisis must-have-cool-gear hobby. of course, they stayed, because it's awesome.

i think economics affects the age group theory more than pure physical what have you. end story.