{"id":4368,"date":"2016-04-07T09:00:00","date_gmt":"2016-04-07T13:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/elbowglitter.com\/blog\/?p=4368"},"modified":"2016-04-07T11:36:49","modified_gmt":"2016-04-07T15:36:49","slug":"why-i-will-never-do-an-ironman","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/elbowglitter.com\/blog\/2016\/04\/07\/why-i-will-never-do-an-ironman\/","title":{"rendered":"Why I Will Never Do An IRONMAN"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"ironman\"<\/a>I will never do an IRONMAN.\u00a0 No, this isn’t a bash on the corporation.\u00a0 I will never do a 140.6 either.\u00a0 It’s not going to happen.<\/p>\n

Now, I know what you’re thinking.\u00a0 “Never say never.”<\/p>\n

But I think this is one case where I can safely say never.<\/p>\n

Why?<\/p>\n

Well, I have a few reasons.\u00a0 First off, do you know how long an IRONMAN is?\u00a0 2.4 mile swim, 112 mile bike, 26.2 mile run.\u00a0 That is a long freaking time.<\/p>\n

I have run two marathons.\u00a0 I loved the sense of accomplishment, but I didn’t love the training.\u00a0 In fact, I hated the training.\u00a0 I’m a slow runner with little hope of getting a whole lot faster thanks to my heart rate issues.\u00a0 So that means that long runs take hours upon hours.\u00a0 I didn’t really love the racing either.\u00a0 I’m glad I did it, but I am a retired marathoner at this point.<\/p>\n

Now let’s take that and add on the other two elements of the IRONMAN distance.<\/p>\n

A 2.4 mile swim.\u00a0 Okay, that doesn’t sound horrifying.\u00a0 I could probably survive that.\u00a0 Not quickly, but it could get done with training.<\/p>\n

112 mile bike.\u00a0 I’m sure over the years, I will do some century rides.\u00a0 Not super fast (see previously mentioned heart rate issues), but I could do it with training.<\/p>\n

But did you see the key there?\u00a0 Training.\u00a0 An IRONMAN requires a ridiculous amount of training and as a slower athlete, that’s an even more significant amount of time.<\/p>\n

Could I do it?\u00a0 I mean, probably.\u00a0 But the big key?\u00a0 I don’t want to do it.\u00a0 Not at all.\u00a0 Sure, I watch those IRONMAN finish videos and think about how awesome they are.\u00a0 But I don’t have any desire to put my body through that.\u00a0 And I also know that I don’t have the dedication to put in that many hours of training along with long days at work.\u00a0 I would burn out so quickly.<\/p>\n

The point I’m making is that I know myself.\u00a0 I know my body, I know my limits, and this is one point where I’m setting a limit.\u00a0 And that’s okay.\u00a0 I don’t have to do an IRONMAN and you don’t either.\u00a0 No triathlete does.\u00a0 It isn’t the end-all-be-all of triathlons.\u00a0 If you want to do one, awesome!\u00a0 I will support you on your way and cheer you on to the finish.\u00a0 But if you don’t want to do one, you don’t have to.<\/p>\n

I’ve talked about this before.\u00a0 People think that doing a bigger, longer race is just a natural part of your progression in a sport.\u00a0 But that’s not true at all.\u00a0 It’s about finding what works best for you.\u00a0 Think about it – there are plenty of sprinters who don’t run marathons.\u00a0 Because they’ve found what they are the best at and love the best and they stick to it.<\/p>\n

And yes, I’m saying this as a person who is tackling a longer race distance this year.\u00a0 But it’s something that I want and more importantly, something I feel ready for.\u00a0 Do I dread some of the training, sure.\u00a0 But I know what I’m in for and I’m ready.<\/p>\n

Don’t feel like you have to jump to the next race level before you’re ready.\u00a0 Just because someone else is doing a marathon or a half marathon or a 140.6 or a 70.3 doesn’t mean that you have to as well.\u00a0 And if you want to do it, make sure you know what you’re signing up for.\u00a0 Yes, it can be worth it, but nothing worth achieving comes without hard work.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I will never do an IRONMAN.\u00a0 No, this isn’t a bash on the corporation.\u00a0 I will never do a 140.6 either.\u00a0 It’s not going to happen. Now, I know what you’re thinking.\u00a0 “Never say never.” But I think this is one case where I can safely say never. Why? Well, I have a few reasons.\u00a0 […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false,"jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false}}},"categories":[115],"tags":[],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"yoast_head":"\nWhy I Will Never Do An IRONMAN - Elbowglitter<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"I will never do an IRONMAN. No 140.6 either. 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