Other endurance events?

Harold Buck said:

So, having completed an Ironman this year, and being under strict orders to NOT do one next year,
I'm trying to come up with some interesting endurance events to tackle in the next few years. So
far, I've come up with:

50k Ultramarathon run 5k or 10k swim Inline skate marathon Cross country ski marathon 50k
speedskating marathon

The last two probably don't work for me anymore since I've moved to Indy from Minneapolis, but I'd
still like to do them someday. I'd thought about doing a double century bike ride, but I don't
think I'd enjoy that very much.

Any other fun "long" events people can think of, especially within driving distance of
Indianapolis?

Harold,

You might want to look at the Tour of the Scioto River Valley (TOSRV) which starts in Columbus and
runs to Portsmouth, OH every spring. I haven't done it (yet), but I've heard it's a blast. I know
you said a double century didn't sound like fun - but maybe with 3000 of your closest friends it
would be worthwhile.

<http://www.tosrv.org/03/index.htm>

John

PS Congrats on your ironman finish, I'm trying to get my wife to warm up to the idea again next year
after my training was injury-interrupted this year. I ended up doing a half IM - badly. Give this
tactic a try: I'm trying to win her over with the idea of soliciting $/mile pledges from friends
and family which will go to support her favorite charity. I think it's actually working. ;-)

"Harold Buck" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
"]news:[email hidden]...
| So, having completed an Ironman this year, and being under strict orders to NOT do one next year,
| I'm trying to come up with some interesting endurance events to tackle in the next few years. So
| far, I've come up with:
|
| 50k Ultramarathon run 5k or 10k swim Inline skate marathon Cross country ski marathon 50k
| speedskating marathon
|
| The last two probably don't work for me anymore since I've moved to Indy from Minneapolis, but I'd
| still like to do them someday. I'd thought about doing a double century bike ride, but I don't
| think I'd enjoy that very much.
|
| Any other fun "long" events people can think of, especially within driving distance of
| Indianapolis?
|
| --Harold Buck
|
|
| "I used to rock and roll all night, and party every day. Then it was every other day. . . ."
|
| - Homer J. Simpson

a2a.netcontents.htmlOpen ↗ it will hurt Personally, I can't arrange my schedule at that(this)
time of the year to do
it.Not sure I would do it, if I could get there. ED3

Quoted message said:

Any other fun "long" events people can think of, especially within driving distance of
Indianapolis?

Hi, several years ago I entered the Mohican Trail 100 (mile run) in Ohio. It was a well organized
event, low key, with multiple loops so not too difficult to drop out (as I did for time cut-off)
at 59 miles!

Farther afield from you is the Great Chesapeake Bay Swim which is in June near Annapolis, Maryland
(4.4 miles). Cold water and wetsuits but very well supported by emergency boats and kayaks. I
reached about 2.5 to 3 miles in that one! Registration for that fills up in about the first day of
online registration, sometime in February, and you need a "qualifying swim", which can be a timed
three miles in a pool. My last ironman was a few years ago but I always felt that the event was
tough but enjoyable and ultimately doable. As you can tell from my one sport experiences, I reached
more of my limits in that one sport, although I really liked the attempts. One other event I haven't
attempted but the idea sounded interesting is Survival of the Shawangunks in New York state. This
involves first road bicycling and then alternating running and swimming several times; it just
sounds like a fun, quirky idea. Best of luck with your future events, R

Harold Buck said:

Any other fun "long" events people can think of, especially within driving distance of
Indianapolis?

Ummmm....within driving distance...ummm...5 mile swim off St.Croix or 3 miles of gorgeous reefs at
Bonaire, both run by Randy Nutt. I'm sure the site would pop up if you googled him.

Ruth Kazez

Hi Harold, just out of interest (you can call me nosy, but) why are you under such strict orders ?
The time you spend training ? You have to traing for the other endurance events as well, I think ?

So, what specifically wrong with an IronMan ?

Well, I can't really wait to do another one and thinking about IM New Zealand in March, unless I can
find one which is held in January or February ...

Anyway, let's keep on running, Manfred

Harold Buck said:

So, having completed an Ironman this year, and being under strict orders to NOT do one next year,
I'm trying to come up with some interesting endurance events to tackle in the next few years. So
far, I've come up with:

50k Ultramarathon run 5k or 10k swim Inline skate marathon Cross country ski marathon 50k
speedskating marathon

The last two probably don't work for me anymore since I've moved to Indy from Minneapolis, but I'd
still like to do them someday. I'd thought about doing a double century bike ride, but I don't
think I'd enjoy that very much.

Any other fun "long" events people can think of, especially within driving distance of
Indianapolis?

--Harold Buck

"I used to rock and roll all night, and party every day. Then it was every other day. . . ."

- Homer J. Simpson

Why have you been forbidden from Ironman? Physical, financial,
psychological? An Ultramarathon run of 50 or more miles can be just as hard or harder on your body
than an Ironman. A 50K run is more like a marathon, and if it's run on trails can be even easier
to recover from. Also, it's a race that will help you prepare for your next Ironman--someday,
somewhere--when you return.

No skiing here in Dallas, but I hear it's great for your cycling. You make no mention of
Ultracycling, a great sport with wonderful, freaky people. You might try a 24-hour bike race--very
cool. And it can also help you understand Ironman better, hanging with the ultracyclists. I learned
a lot about nutrition, saddle sores in mega-mileage training, pacing, psychology, etc.

In article said:

You might want to look at the Tour of the Scioto River Valley (TOSRV) which starts in Columbus and
runs to Portsmouth, OH every spring. I haven't done it (yet), but I've heard it's a blast. I know
you said a double century didn't sound like fun - but maybe with 3000 of your closest friends it
would be worthwhile.

<http://www.tosrv.org/03/index.htm>

That actually looks like fun. It might be hard to get a lot of long training in that early in the
season, although the spring might be a lot milder in Indiana than I'm used to from Minnesota.

Quoted message said:

PS Congrats on your ironman finish, I'm trying to get my wife to warm up to the idea again next
year after my training was injury-interrupted this year. I ended up doing a half IM - badly.
Give this tactic a try: I'm trying to win her over with the idea of soliciting $/mile pledges
from friends and family which will go to support her favorite charity. I think it's actually
working. ;-)

I already do a few charity events (Relay for Life, Trek 100) so it might be hard to get pledges for
another event.

--Harold Buck

"I used to rock and roll all night, and party every day. Then it was every other day. . . ."

- Homer J. Simpson

Manfred Dötsch said:

Hi Harold, just out of interest (you can call me nosy, but) why are you under such strict orders ?
The time you spend training ? You have to traing for the other endurance events as well, I think ?

So, what specifically wrong with an IronMan ?

Well, I can't really wait to do another one and thinking about IM New Zealand in March, unless I
can find one which is held in January or February ...

Good point. If time is the issue, he can always save time by training for any one sport instead of
three or by training for shorter multisport events - train less, but at a higher intensity.

If injuries are the issue, then he simply needs to avoid or cut back on the sport that is causing
the problem.

Quoted message said:

Anyway, let's keep on running, Manfred

Manfred Dötsch said:

Hi Harold, just out of interest (you can call me nosy, but) why are you under such strict orders ?

Methinks it is Mrs. Buck who has laid down the law. 🙂 Correct, Harold?

Quoted message said:

The time you spend training ? You have to traing for the other endurance events as well, I think ?

So, what specifically wrong with an IronMan ?

Well, I can't really wait to do another one and thinking about IM New Zealand in March, unless I
can find one which is held in January or February ...

Anyway, let's keep on running, Manfred

--

Cheers,

Walter R. Strapps, Ph.D

"The sheer closeness of our two countries and the intensity of our mutual interaction combined with
the disparity between us in terms of wealth and power--all these things guarantee there will be
problems in U.S.-Canadian relations without anybody having to do anything to deliberately worsen the
situation."

Robert L. Stanfield, Oct. 28, 1971

In article <[email hidden]>,

Manfred Dötsch said:

just out of interest (you can call me nosy, but) why are you under such strict orders ? The time
you spend training ? You have to traing for the other endurance events as well, I think ?

So, what specifically wrong with an IronMan ?

My wife thinks there's too much training time involved, and in particular doesn't like the 8-hour
bike rides (followed by me being useless for the rest of the day--save the jokes, because I'm
thinking of them all right now anyway).

I don't think my overall training time will be less, but I won't have as many long days. OTOH, I
intend to compete a lot more than I did last year, when I did only a half-IM and my IM because I
didn't want to worry about doing shorter races when I really needed long workouts.

--Harold Buck

"I used to rock and roll all night, and party every day. Then it was every other day. . . ."

- Homer J. Simpson

In article said:

Harold Buck said:

Any other fun "long" events people can think of, especially within driving distance of
Indianapolis?

Ummmm....within driving distance...ummm...5 mile swim off St.Croix or 3 miles of gorgeous reefs at
Bonaire, both run by Randy Nutt. I'm sure the site would pop up if you googled him.

Those look nice, but the only way I could drive there is if I can pick up a used Navy
amphibious vehicle.

--Harold Buck

"I used to rock and roll all night, and party every day. Then it was every other day. . . ."

- Homer J. Simpson

In article <[email hidden]>, Tom Rodgers

Quoted message said:

Why have you been forbidden from Ironman? Physical, financial,
psychological?

As I said in another post, it's in the "spousal" category.

Quoted message said:

An Ultramarathon run of 50 or more miles can be just as hard or harder on your body than an
Ironman. A 50K run is more like a marathon, and if it's run on trails can be even easier to recover
from. Also, it's a race that will help you prepare for your next Ironman--someday, somewhere--when
you return.

Yeah, the 50k sounds a lot more fun to me than the 50 mile.

Quoted message said:

No skiing here in Dallas, but I hear it's great for your cycling. You make no mention of
Ultracycling, a great sport with wonderful, freaky people. You might try a 24-hour bike race--very
cool. And it can also help you understand Ironman better, hanging with the ultracyclists. I
learned a lot about nutrition, saddle sores in mega-mileage training, pacing, psychology, etc.

I did say I didn't want to do a double century, mostly because I'm too slow and get bored enough
on 8-hour bike rides (for me, that's about 110 miles). I don't think I could do a 24-hour race
without death from boredom. However, the 2-day, 210 mile tour someome mentioned sounded like it
might be fun.

--Harold Buck

"I used to rock and roll all night, and party every day. Then it was every other day. . . ."

- Homer J. Simpson

8 hour rides? What are you doing those for? I've never, ever gone over 7 and even those are few and
far between for IM prep. Tim , Michael, Cam, Ryan almost never go on 8 hour rides and they're top
level pro's. Why are you doing 8 hours? Or are you talking about 8 hour training days...which is
very different.

Curious -Andrew

Harold Buck said:

In article <[email hidden]>,

Manfred Dötsch said:

just out of interest (you can call me nosy, but) why are you under such strict orders ? The time
you spend training ? You have to traing for the other endurance events as well, I think ?

So, what specifically wrong with an IronMan ?

My wife thinks there's too much training time involved, and in particular doesn't like the 8-hour
bike rides (followed by me being useless for the rest of the day--save the jokes, because I'm
thinking of them all right now anyway).

I don't think my overall training time will be less, but I won't have as many long days. OTOH, I
intend to compete a lot more than I did last year, when I did only a half-IM and my IM because I
didn't want to worry about doing shorter races when I really needed long workouts.

--Harold Buck

"I used to rock and roll all night, and party every day. Then it was every other day. . . ."

- Homer J. Simpson

--
Andrew F. Halperin - boulder, co

In article said:

Manfred Dötsch said:

Hi Harold, just out of interest (you can call me nosy, but) why are you under such strict
orders ?

Methinks it is Mrs. Buck who has laid down the law. 🙂 Correct, Harold?

Nope, my Mom doesn't have a problem with it, it's my wife. (She didn't change her last name when we
got married.)

--Harold Buck

"I used to rock and roll all night, and party every day. Then it was every other day. . . ."

- Homer J. Simpson

In article said:

Manfred Dötsch said:

Hi Harold, just out of interest (you can call me nosy, but) why are you under such strict orders
? The time you spend training ? You have to traing for the other endurance events as well, I
think ?

So, what specifically wrong with an IronMan ?

Well, I can't really wait to do another one and thinking about IM New Zealand in March, unless I
can find one which is held in January or February ...

Good point. If time is the issue, he can always save time by training for any one sport instead of
three or by training for shorter multisport events - train less, but at a higher intensity.

One key difference is that I don't have to be able to go a long distance in 3 sports at the same
time like I would with an IM. For example, I could do an Ultramarathon in April, a long bike ride in
June, a long swim in August, etc.

--Harold Buck

"I used to rock and roll all night, and party every day. Then it was every other day. . . ."

- Homer J. Simpson

Harold Buck said:

In article <[email hidden]>, Tom Rodgers

Quoted message said:

Why have you been forbidden from Ironman? Physical, financial,
psychological?

As I said in another post, it's in the "spousal" category.

Quoted message said:

An Ultramarathon run of 50 or more miles can be just as hard or harder on your body than an
Ironman. A 50K run is more like a marathon, and if it's run on trails can be even easier to
recover from. Also, it's a race that will help you prepare for your next Ironman--someday,
somewhere--when you return.

Yeah, the 50k sounds a lot more fun to me than the 50 mile.

Quoted message said:

No skiing here in Dallas, but I hear it's great for your cycling. You make no mention of
Ultracycling, a great sport with wonderful, freaky people. You might try a 24-hour bike race--very
cool. And it can also help you understand Ironman better, hanging with the ultracyclists. I
learned a lot about nutrition, saddle sores in mega-mileage training, pacing, psychology, etc.

I did say I didn't want to do a double century, mostly because I'm too slow and get bored enough
on 8-hour bike rides (for me, that's about 110 miles). I don't think I could do a 24-hour race
without death from boredom. However, the 2-day, 210 mile tour someome mentioned sounded like it
might be fun.

--Harold Buck

"I used to rock and roll all night, and party every day. Then it was every other day. . . ."

- Homer J. Simpson

If you like long tours, the Hellweek Tour in Fredericksburg, Texas (hellweek.com) is next March, up
to 900 miles in eight days through the beautiful Texas hill country. There aer shorter rides for
those who don't want to do centuries every day. I usually take two "easier" days where I run 7-8
miles after the ride, then do the rest at 100-120. I come out of this camp with relatively
"Permanent endurance" and climbing that stays with me through the rest of the season, Ironmans, etc.

In article <[email hidden]>,

Andrew Halperin said:

8 hour rides? What are you doing those for? I've never, ever gone over 7 and even those are few
and far between for IM prep. Tim , Michael, Cam, Ryan almost never go on 8 hour rides and they're
top level pro's. Why are you doing 8 hours? Or are you talking about 8 hour training days...which
is very different.

Nope, 8-hour rides, because I'm slow, mostly. I'd never ridden over 100k before last season, so I
set a goal of doing 4 100-plus mile rides during my Ironman training. The longest, 106 miles on a
hilly course, took me about 8 hours, although about 45 minutes or so was spent stopping for bathroom
breaks and re-filling water bottles and such. My Ironman bike ride took me about 8 hours, and my IM
took me 16:25.

It was important for me to get those long rides in, partly for conditioning and partly for
confidence.

--Harold Buck

"I used to rock and roll all night, and party every day. Then it was every other day. . . ."

- Homer J. Simpson

Harold Buck said:

In article said:

Manfred Dötsch said:

Hi Harold, just out of interest (you can call me nosy, but) why are you under such strict orders
? The time you spend training ? You have to traing for the other endurance events as well, I
think ?

So, what specifically wrong with an IronMan ?

Well, I can't really wait to do another one and thinking about IM New Zealand in March, unless I
can find one which is held in January or February ...

Good point. If time is the issue, he can always save time by training for any one sport instead
of three or by training for shorter multisport events - train less, but at a higher intensity.

One key difference is that I don't have to be able to go a long distance in 3 sports at the same
time like I would with an IM. For example, I could do an Ultramarathon in April, a long bike ride
in June, a long swim in August, etc.

But the downside of that approach is that you're still essentially training like a triathlete, but
competing as a single-sport athlete. If you do all these things, but don't specifically train for
them until the last 8 weeks, your performance will suffer terribly for it, particularly when you get
to the swimming part. If you wanted to do well at all three events, you'd have to overlap your
training periods.

From my experience, time is the biggest cost of being a triathlete. I have often spent 8 - 10
hours a week training just for the sprint distance events. If I were to devote that same amount of
time to a single sport, I could be training for a marathon or swimming 4 - 5 days a week in the
master's program.

Andrew Halperin said:

8 hour rides? What are you doing those for? I've never, ever gone over 7 and even those are few
and far between for IM prep. Tim , Michael, Cam, Ryan almost never go on 8 hour rides and they're
top level pro's. Why are you doing 8 hours? Or are you talking about 8 hour training days...which
is very different.

Curious -Andrew

Harold Buck said:

In article <[email hidden]>,

Manfred Dötsch said:

just out of interest (you can call me nosy, but) why are you under such strict orders ? The time
you spend training ? You have to traing for the other endurance events as well, I think ?

So, what specifically wrong with an IronMan ?

My wife thinks there's too much training time involved, and in particular doesn't like the 8-hour
bike rides (followed by me being useless for the rest of the day--save the jokes, because I'm
thinking of them all right now anyway).

I don't think my overall training time will be less, but I won't have as many long days. OTOH, I
intend to compete a lot more than I did last year, when I did only a half-IM and my IM because I
didn't want to worry about doing shorter races when I really needed long workouts.

--Harold Buck

"I used to rock and roll all night, and party every day. Then it was every other day. . . ."

- Homer J. Simpson

I beg to differ about 8-hour rides. When you say that "Tim , Michael, Cam, Ryan almost never go on 8
hour rides" what does that mean? That they don't do it every week or month. I think you'll find they
do indeed do there share of 7-8 hour rides, and if we go by miles, they are going farther in seven
then most of will go in eight. Other top pros go 8-10 ocassionally--I even did with a 22-year-old
age-group client a few weekends ago, and he will probably win his age group at IM Florida.

An 8-10 hour ride is about the only way you can experience the entire aerobic endurance of an
Ironman and still recover. Even if you just throw in one 7-8 hour ride every month with the more
common 5-6 hour Ironman rides within a brick, you will notice a big difference. People that do the
big bike mileage do not necessarily get that much faster on the bike, but they DO turn in much
better marathon times off the bike, especially on courses like Kona. The real reason folks don't do
the longer rides is they don't have the time within their work/family schedule, to blow a whole
Saturday every weekend, and that's a legitimate reason. But unlike running or swimming, raw mileage
does count of for something on the bike. The road cyclists training for TDF do very long, slow rides
in the early base period as well.

What you should NOT do is simply long rides all the time without ever addressing speed. You still
need to do the shorter intervals during the week, such as 6-12 minutes at lactate threshold, or get
in some peleton time. For me, doing two hours alone, three hours in a hard peleton, then another 2-3
hours alone is very good for Ironman or Ultraman racing.

Try it and see.