To marathon or Half ironman this year?

Hullo all,

After not getting through the RW comp thing (thank you to anyone that voted!) I can't decide what to aim for in 2012. Either the Worcester marathon or the cotswold 70.3 (or 111 as I believe its called)

Did my first swim session in 2 months yesterday and it went really well, did a few 400m sets and didn't drown, which considering 25m used to be an effort I was really chuffed with. But I still don't own a wetsuit and I find the thought of open water a bit terrifying.

 Also I probably shouldn't be cycling yet as my hand isn't back to normal BUT I am hoping to get some tri bars and I reckon an hour or so on the turbo shouldn't be too bad.

This year is also final year so I suppose I should do some work at some stage aswell! But I really want to get on and enter as I don't train very well if i have nothing to aim for.

So what do people think? Any advice gratefully recieved

Chris 

1/2 IM are easier than hard run marathons, but probably take more training for,kind of depends on how hard you want to race and how much time you have to train.

Why does not getting a place through the RW competition make any difference - there are loads of alternatives at the same time of year you can enter.

As TR said - they don't preclude each other either. I shall be running a spring marathon then do longer triathlons later in the season, have done it the other way round with an autumn marathon too.

What do you want to do? If your heart isn't in it you'll not keep up the training - especially with the last year of your degree - though I can confidently say that if you get a job when you leave uni you'll never have as much time as you do now.

Marathon Training

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What's wrong with your hand first of all?

Only you can decide what you want to do and if you want your time focussed on running with a bit of cycling and swimming as cross-training or do you want to do more cycling and running with a bit of swimming? You could also sign up for the waitlist for Outlaw and do both. You've got to July

Neuropraxia injury to both hands. The right hand is pretty bad and a lot of the muscles have wasted away from the back of my hand. i still can't cross my fingers but it is coming back slowly.

As for the comp I was waiting to see what happened and haven't entered any races at the mo.

The goal is ironman eventually but don't feel up to it. I did put most of details into the outlaw application but wimped out at the last. My swimming is really bad and don't think i can commit fully to the training required for a full ironman.

However I really need to get my thumb out of my arse and enter 'cos I haven't done anything for ages and training is tailing off to nowt.

I /forum/smilies/big_smile_smiley.gif[/img]ON@T]DON'T BLOOMING KNOW

Okay I'm only speaking from my own experience here but make sure you have the nerve issues sorted out as much as possible. I had some what I thought were straight forward nerve issues, got around a half IM fine (well slow but not in pain) but then the increase in arm usage etc meant I had to pull out of an IM four weeks before d-day and to put it bluntly, things have gone from bad to worse. I've two elbow ops and quite a few post op complications, the last of which caused a pretty scary few weeks. I won't be able to have what I hope to be the final op for at least a month or two and it's making life rather difficult. I'm sure I was just unlucky and the rule of thumb would apply to all injuries but I took the gamble and lost. (Though still enjoyed the training at the time!) 

Ok - understand about the competition reference now.

Was the neuropraxia caused by trauma or has the cause been found and addressed? If your ulna nerve is affected at all then the cycling could be an issue - it's fine on the turbo, no road vibration and it's easy to take the pressure off the hands by spending time on the tri bars or just changing your grip but long road rides could cause you problems.

How bad is your swimming? I was a head up breastroker when I entered my first IM but a couple of 1-1 lessons and lots of pool time fixed that.

The main thing is to decide what you really want to do - what you want to achieve, and why and what would constitute success for you. Committing to train well for a marathon is bad enough but the longer you go the more it takes over the rest of your life.

Blimey Little Ninja - that sounds like a rough time. Hope you're well on the way to recovery now.

Blimey little ninja that sounds pretty full on, fingers crossed it sorts itself out.

I have never had a problem before than did LEJOG with a poorly set up bike and buggered 'em. Had nerve conduction studies and don't need surgery but its just taking ages to recover. Little miss i thought the turbo wouldn't be problem in bursts but getting some tri bars for christmas so will stick them on and see how it goes.

I can sort of do crawl now but it still seems a massive amount of effort for little reward and I get knackered!

Think i would rather have a crack at the tri, just a bit afraid of taking the plunge and doing it

JFDI

Find yourself some swimming lessons - shouldn't take many - then get in the pool twice a week minimum, slow down, go for distance - it will all come together. I was the same when I started, crawl was all done as fast as possible and I'd end up a gasping heaving wreck at the end of each length. Trick is to slow it down and take your time with each stroke.

Tri bars will mean you can spend as long on the turbo as you can cope with boredom wise, do make sure they're fitted correctly for you though - when I first had mine I couldn't stay on them for longer than about a minute without excruciating pain, kept trying to tough it out and just get used to them then had a bike fit which moved them by about 5mm and I rode most of an olympic tri on them the next day.

I agree with LMH - its hard to drown with a wettie on. I got a panic on in a 400m Sprint Tri swim, so thought I should conquer it and have since done about 5 1/2IMs including 2 Swashbuckler swims ! I get a bit of a panic on in most of them but expect it now, and you cant exact stop when you are 1/2 way down a lake so you have to carry on.

grow a pair and sign up to a race !