Ford Ironman Arizona 2008
To say that I was impressed by the athletes at the Ford Ironman Arizona, is to grossly understate the desire I felt to have the same level of endurance and strength as these amazing men and women. As I watched each person cross the finish line, exhausted but proud, they had my immediate respect, not only for completing the race, but for the thousands of hours of preparation that preceded that moment.
Meet my friend Scott.
Scott is a friend of mine from Florida. He finished in 12:52:29, 648th out of 2,027 athletes (AWESOME JOB!!!) that converged on Tempe, Arizona on Sunday, April 13th. Scott is a firefighter, which I'm sure is helpful in keeping him in shape. But regardless of your career, the average Ironman trains for 7 months previous to the race.
The race is...get ready for this... a 2.4 mile swim in open water, followed immediately by a 112 mile bike ride, followed finally by a FULL marathon of 26.2 miles. They have between 7am and 12 midnight the same day to finish the race.
I checked out the official Ironman website just for some facts and figures...Because you all know that I always need to know more information.... obnoxious, I know. I promise, I'm not asking you to compare your workouts to these amazing athletes, but here is a typical training schedule for Ironman.
The website also had some funny random trivia about the race day support the athletes require:
Meet my friend Scott.
Scott is a friend of mine from Florida. He finished in 12:52:29, 648th out of 2,027 athletes (AWESOME JOB!!!) that converged on Tempe, Arizona on Sunday, April 13th. Scott is a firefighter, which I'm sure is helpful in keeping him in shape. But regardless of your career, the average Ironman trains for 7 months previous to the race.The race is...get ready for this... a 2.4 mile swim in open water, followed immediately by a 112 mile bike ride, followed finally by a FULL marathon of 26.2 miles. They have between 7am and 12 midnight the same day to finish the race.
I checked out the official Ironman website just for some facts and figures...Because you all know that I always need to know more information.... obnoxious, I know. I promise, I'm not asking you to compare your workouts to these amazing athletes, but here is a typical training schedule for Ironman.
- The average hours per week devoted to Ironman training falls between 18 and 30 plus hours.
- The average training distance per week for swimming is 7 miles.
- The average training distance per week for biking is 225 miles.
- The average training distance per week for running is 48 miles.
The website also had some funny random trivia about the race day support the athletes require:
- Athletes consume enough bananas to feed two monkeys at the Honolulu Zoo for 2 years.
- The combined fluid replacement drink, cola, soup, water and ice could fill three Olympic size swimming pools.
Comments