Surely many of you have heard about this kind of triathlon like Ironman. This is where at first you swim almost 4 km, then you go a little more than 180 km and at the end of all this orgy you also run a full marathon, that is 42 km 195 meters... And all this is done without rest.
I have always dreamed of taking part in it. But so far, it is not included in the immediate goals - it is a painfully expensive undertaking from the point of view of finance. But in the dreams of any long-run athlete, so to speak, there should always be an Ironman. However, when I start talking about this competition to people who are either far from sports, or go in for sports in which endurance is not particularly needed, the first question they ask me is - why do I need this, is it too much of a load for the body?
Swimming
I must say right away that I swim like an ax. Now I started to train swimming, but I can't stand more than 200-300 meters freestyle - my strength is running out. For an Ironman, in whom you have to swim 4 km, this is very sad.
But in fact, 4 km of swimming at a calm pace is not so difficult to train. I often see grandmothers on the beaches, who can swim in the water for hours in any style, except perhaps butterfly. And at the same time they feel great and for them it is not God only knows what kind of load. So you can prepare yourself for swimming without extra effort? And it turns out that the first species, which, by the way, is considered the least important for the final result, will be calmly tolerated by some grandmother-bather who loves to swim? Then I can, and anyone can. There would be a desire.
A bike
I love cycling. You put a kilogram of 25 things on your trunk and drive somewhere 150 kilometers from the city. I slept the night in a tent. And you go back, otherwise you have to work on Monday. And I always take several comrades with me - not athletes at all, just bike riders. We go with small stops. But we can do without them. We make stops more often in order to go to the bushes on "business", and wait for those who are lagging behind, if someone does not keep pace with the leaders. And so it is quite possible to drive 180 km on an empty bike, and even on a road bike. We are used to driving hybrids and cross-country driving. So this stage is not terrible either.
Yes, I agree, after a swim of 4 km 180 km will not be so easy to overcome. But if the grandmother, after 2 hours of swimming, comes out of the water in a cheerful mood, then we, young people, can safely swim the distance so as not to spend all our strength on her. We are not going to break records, but simply to overcome Ironman.
Marathon
And finally, the most "delicious" snack. I don’t know how to run a marathon after swimming and cycling, because running it alone is very difficult. And here you already start with pocketed hips from a bicycle and hands from swimming.
Although, on the other hand, if you run the same marathon at a calm pace, then it is quite possible to withstand, if, of course, you are ready for it. For example, if you run a separate marathon in 3 hours, then after cycling 180 km out of 5 hours, you can somehow crawl out. This is my personal opinion. In fact, who knows how the body will behave.
As a result, I conclude for myself that this Ironman is not so scary. But it beckons to take part in it.
