As I struggle to get to grips with the thought of taking part in an Iron Man distance event - and believe me, you have to get it right in your mind first, I was drawn to a race report on a Tri website as I was browsing one lunch time over my plain chicken and brown rice (I must get some better lunch recipes). This race report appeared to be talking about some people that had just taken on and completed ten iron man distance races (yes TEN)....I must have read that incorrectly....but it turns out I hadn't. I carried on reading and there it was, in black and white. A race that consisted of ten back-to-back IM distance races. Well, when I say 'race' it would seem more like a holiday doing that many IM races one after the other surely.
Imagine the conversation with the wife/partner. You: "I'm just off to this race, you know, the one I entered last year...' wife/partner: 'oh yes, sure...remind me, what time are you due back so I can get dinner ready......You: 'About this time next week....'
I started to contemplate this more and thought, well, other sports have their 'extreme' or ultra versions don't they. There are 'ultra' distance runs (100k runs, London to Brighton etc.) and races across deserts, bike races across whole countries. So I guess it shouldn't come as a surprise that triathlon has developed something similar and gone 'extreme' or 'ultra' as it were. I was still struggling to get my head around it though - I don't get it, what is the point of it all I thought? Further research was required to slate my thirst for more information and to try and make sense of it all.
Why does it bother me so much, I hear you ask (well maybe you don't ask but go with it for the sake of effect...pretend you are interested). Well, it goes like this. I love the history and back-story of some of the 'marquee' endurance events. The Marathon for example, with its length having been based, according to the myth, on the distance the Greek messenger Pheidippides ran to get from Marathon to Athens and of course the name of the event being a nod to the town he left from. I have entered and completed 7 marathons and I always think of it as 'the' distance to make a claim to having completed. And that is where it ends for me, I have no compulsion or interest to take up Ultra distance, or any distance beyond the marathon, it just doesn't appeal to me to go further.
Triathlon is the same, I love the backstory to 'Iron Man' and the 'how and why' behind how it came about. A debate at the Waikiki swimming club awards to figure out who were the fittest athletes, swimmers, runners or cyclists. The idea was sprung that the way to find out would be to combine the Islands three toughest endurance events of the time on the Island (the Waikiki Rough Water Swim (2.4 miles), the Around-Oahu Bike Race (112 miles, originally over two days) and the Honolulu Marathon (26.2 miles)). Whoever finished first would be called the Iron Man. Isn't that just a great story and a fascinating way for an event to unfold. Again, for me, just starting out in Triathlon, this would be the 'marquee' event for me, the one I strive to complete, to be called an Iron Man. But would I want to go beyond that, I'm not sure I would, what would be the point? Nothing else has that history to it, a reason for being.
So, back to that ten consecutive Iron Man race. I'm still fairly new to Triathlon so hadn't yet worked out if this was some sort of once-off race or something more regular, were there less than 10 race formats, more than 10? I was curious to make sense of it so started to use the power of google to see what I could find out.
A few searches later and I arrived at the 'International Ultra Triathlon Association' (http://www.iutasport.com/). I thought triathlon in its 'standard' guises (sprint, Olympic, 70.3, Iron Man) was 'Ultra' enough. It certainly feels that when when I'm training, or racing, even over shorter distances. But no, here was an association that clearly catered to a different level of triathlon event.
I couldn't believe what I was reading. I'm sure you might want to browse the site at your leisure (you can check world records at these distances), but the standout point for me was the race distances, all based on full Iron Man race distance:
Source: International Ultra Triathlon Association (http://www.iutasport.com/)
So the race report I read about the ten iron man race wasn't even the half of it....you can race twice that...the Double Deca. The only double deca (ok, not quite the same but you can see what I did with the play on words there) I am ever likely to complete is the cadbury version...readers of a certain age will know what that is....but here it is if you aren't so sure....
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| The only 'double deca' this writer is likely to partake in |
But of course, that isn't the end of it, once you've had your double deca, you can upgrade to the triple deca if the double deca didn't satisfy your appetite. Just look at the numbers....Swim 114km, Bike 5400km and run 1260km. To get some context on that, I had a fairly busy season last year (2 half iron mans and an Olympic distance) and managed to cover the following in training AND racing:
Swim - 51km
Bike - 1762km
Run - 487km
So what I managed to accumulate in one year of training and racing doesn't come near some of these races ! I really struggled to put that into context - I'd spent a whole year effectively, covering less distance than some people would cover in one race.
And this brings me back to that question I keep asking myself - what is the point? I guess you could say that about any endurance event, why do a Marathon, why do an Iron Man? But, where does the idea come from to do 10, 20, even 30 Iron Man distances back-to-back. Why not 15, or 25, why not more than 30? 40, 50 maybe. Where would it stop and why would it stop at any given number, who would decide? This is the bit I struggle to get.
Don't get me wrong, I'm not taking anything away from anyone who wants to do, or has done a double Iron Man, or even a Triple, or even 30 of them back-to-back. These are super-human feats of endurance for sure and deserve the utmost of respect.
And I get the desire to strive to take on better and bigger challenges. Its how most of us, I guess, get to run half marathons, or marathons for example. We might start with a 5k and then strive to complete a 10k and so on, until we run a marathon, or more. I get that, it makes sense. After you've done the Iron Man, what next....where do you take it. I guess where there is a demand for more ultra and extreme versions, they will be provided. People always want the next challenge.
Having said that, you don't hear of people climbing Everest, coming down, then doing it again....and again...and again. Maybe there are some challenges for which an exponential increase in the amount of times you do it in one go, is just not feasible.
For me, as I mentioned earlier, it is the provenance and history of certain distances or races, their background, how they came about, that attracts me to want to take them on.
I thought doing some reading and research and writing up my thoughts here would help me get it....but I still don't. Why 10, 20, 30? Maybe in the same way that the debate started at the Waikiki swimming club, perhaps a similar debate started after a 10 Iron Man event and the conclusion was that a 20 race combo was the only real way to settle it...and then at the 20 race event someone said, you know, we should really be looking to do 30 Iron Man back to back. Who knows.
So there you have it, my views on the crazy world of ultra triathlon, I take my hat off to those that are involved and take on such feats of endurance, but I'm still not sure I really 'get it'.
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