You only need to find out how to combine these ambitions with many responsibilities and everyday chores of a modern person, how to make all and not to lose everything. Probably many of you heard about “ironmen”. The book you read will give you a clear picture on the “iron distance”, provide you with the
motivation and skills to complete the course in order to become an “ironman”.
There are plenty of books, articles and videos on this topic, you can easily find them on the Internet. But the more you know, the more questions and doubts you have, just like I did. True understanding came only with experience as I tested the obtained information on myself through trial and error. I want to share my knowledge and prove with my experience that a person that never did sports can still become an “ironman”.
WHAT IS IRONMAN?
Many people know what Olympic triathlon is. In order to complete it, you must swim 1.5 km, ride 40 km on bicycle and, finally, run 10 km, with no breaks between these three stages.
The “iron distance” of Ironman is based on same principle. It starts with swimming in open water for about 4 km. As athletes complete the swimming stage and change clothes in the transition area, they start the cycling stage of 180 km. Upon its completion and after passing another transition area, they enter the running stage of 42 km, in other words, full-fledged Olympic marathon. All mentioned stages are a single race course that must be completed with no breaks in between.
Participants are given 16-17 hours to complete the course (time varies with different organizers, so read the rules of each competition thoroughly). If a participant runs out of time and fails to complete the course, he gets disqualified.
There are also time limits within the course: max 2 hours for the swimming, and no more than 10 hours for the swimming and cycling stages combined.
There’s also a so-called Half Ironman, or Ironman 70.3. This distance includes an open water swim of about 2 km, a 90 km cycling race and a half-marathon run of 21 kilometers. The time limit for Half Ironman is between 7 and 8 hours.
The slogan “the most important thing is not to win, but to take part” characterizes Ironman very accurately. The main thing is not to show the result better than the others, but to reach the finish line and meet the time limit.