Blah…Blah…Shut this guy up!

I do not plan on racing an Ironman distance race in 2007. In fact, I haven’t completed an Ironman since 2003. So, this begs the question, once an Ironman always an Ironman? 

I have to wonder if I really can consider myself an Ironman? I mean it has been a full three years since I last completed one. Sure the 140.6 sticker is still on the bumper of my car, but the IM Moo bumper sticker peeled off long ago. 

The truth is I no longer feel like an Ironman. Let’s take the obvious first. I am about 15 lbs heavier and I swim, bike and run a lot slower and less than I did back then. I don’t have the same invincible feeling I had back then when it came to each event. 

Then there is the not so obvious. Some might say if you are worried about considering yourself an Ironman do another one. Here is the thing, I don’t think I can. It isn’t merely the physcial attributes that I lack. Mentally, I can no longer do it. I am not just talking about race day either, although that is part of it. I am talking about training. I cannot imagine being on my bike for 6 hours every Saturday or running 13-17 miles every Sunday. The mere thought of it is overwhelming. 

I will always be an Ironman finisher, but am I still an Ironman athlete? I guess if one thinks of oneself as one, then you are. What happens when you no longer think that way?

All stories must start somewhere…. 

Many of you just signed up for Ironman Wisconsin. The sign up closed in less than a few hours. Those that had technical problems could not even get registered. Not only did general admission sell out, but the community fund slots also were gone within 10 days. 

This is typical for IMNA events. Lake Placid, Wisconsin, and Florida all sell out in hours. Canada is not even open to general admission. Arizona and CDA sell out at a slower rate, but do fill up once races like LP and Moo are filled. Thus, Ironman North America (IMNA) generates about six million dollars in revenue on just those events. 

Meanwhile, in another office in Florida….. 

The World Triathlon Corp. (WTC) announces Ironman Louisville. This is different in that the race will be run by the WTC and not IMNA. Interesting. Why would the WTC take on its first event other than Kona? Well its first IM anyway. 

Some years ago….. 

A few race production companies, Ultramax and HFP, came up with a great idea. They started the idea of hosting half-IM races throughout the country that culminated with a National Championship. It was easier than IM races. The distance was more manageable for athletes and IMNA and the WTC left a huge void in this area. The success was apparent. Races like Buckeye, Spirit of Racine, half Max, quickly grew in popularity and were convenient for racers all across the country. 

Meanwhile back in a Florida office….. 

The WTC saw the success of these half IM races and decided it was time to try its hand in reproducing its IM business model with half IM’s. The WTC introduces the 70.3 series in an attempt to get its piece of the pie with the popularity of half IM events. Something goes drastically wrong though. Unlike its ability to stamp out the competing IM-distance races, the WTC cannot extinguish the momentum of the popular half-IM’s throughout the country. After all, Ultramax and HFP put on great events that rival and exceed the quality of any IMNA event. Also, the 70.3 races are often at inconvenient place and locations in regards to the events put on by Ultramax and HFP. So, the 70.3 series does not gain the same momentum Ironman races throughout the country enjoy. 

Back to Louisville….. 

Why the departure from the norm? Why not have IMNA host this event? One could easily state that IMNA is too busy between Canada and Wisconsin to host another event. In fact, that is probably the standard reply from both WTC and IMNA. Another theory can also emerge. Maybe the WTC is going to start hosting all IMNA events. This could either mean the demise of IMNA or that the WTC will bring IMNA directly under its control as to make sure it get more of the revenue. 

Taking it a step farther….. 

The 70.3 series cannot be as popular as the WTC had hoped. Even with the offerings of qualifying for IMNA races, these still have not seemed to shake the momentum of the half IM’s put on by local directors. IMNA races are selling out at such unbelievable rates, there is no doubt they are popular and have some guessing there may have to be a lottery system just to get in. Maybe though there is another way… a more profitable way. 

With IMNA events being popular, and the WTC now trying its hand in races other than Kona, how can they capitalize and maximize their profit? Maybe a qualifying system? Maybe you will no longer be able to just sign up for an IMNA event. Maybe every slot will have to be earned by going to a 70.3 series race first. Then if you finish high enough (I don’t see this as being as competitive as Kona slots, but you never know), you will be awarded the opportunity to buy a slot to an IMNA event. Depending on the structure, it could either be for one this year or next year. This would just depend on how the WTC wants to handle it. So, no longer can you just fork out your $450 for an IM. First you will have to fork out another $250 to participate in a 70.3 series event. 

You may be skeptical, but think about it. Don’t think it is worth their time? Let’s say there are 2400 spots in each IMNA event. Let’s say they decide 2000 of those have to be qualified for by competing in the 70.3 series (200 for lottery, 100 for pros, 100 for community fund which would go up in price to like $2000). 2000 spots x $250 x 7 races (Canada, LP, Moo, CDA, Arizona, Louisville and Florida). That equals another $3.5 million dollars and that doesn’t even include the entrants in these races that don’t qualify. In essence, your cost to get into an IM goes from $450 to $700 as you have to qualify first and this doesn’t even include the profit they can make from merchandising at these races, nor the additional travel expenses to you. 

Just think about it… is this how the story will end? Only time will tell.

I think most of us think a six-percent improvement is not too much to ask. After all, if you can run an eight-minute mile, you are only improving to 7:30. If you can do a 1:10, 40k TT, you are only trying to improve to about 1:06. These things all seem doable. 

What happens if six percent is all you need to qualify for Kona? Is it easy? After all, if you are six percent away from qualifying you are already pretty fast. As you get faster, improvements are harder to come by. Especially a six-percent improvement. After all, the Tour de France is usually decided by less than 1 percent. 

Well, our very own Mike Biarnesen finds himself in this situation. Based on Moo 2006 he was about six percent away from going to Kona. It is a hard number for me to fathom as I am not even six percent away from being in the top 50 percent. The question is at such a high level, can he do it? I think he can. 

First, Mike doesn’t make excuses for his day (nor anything else). He takes it for what it is. He knows that having a perfect day at Ironman is rare, so you just have to deal with the day. He could easily point to the fact he got sea sick on the swim and it caused him to have dry heaves in the water… but he doesn’t. He could easily point to the fact the sickness caused him to have an unusually long T1, but he doesn’t. He could also point to the fact that his stomach bothered him for the rest of the day… but he doesn’t. Instead, he takes his time for what it is. He doesn’t live in the “what ifs” realm as he knows every athlete, even those ahead of him, can say the same thing. 

Second, Mike is a competitior and in great shape right now and still focused on IM. I highly doubt he will have a relaxed off-season on the things that matter. Sure, he may not work out as much as he did in training for IM (he really will cut back unless he is crazy), but I am sure he is aware that keeping weight off, staying fit, ect is even more important now than it was before. I expect his off-season will be focused on IM, but also knowing he needs to balance life. 

Third, he has the fever. It is rare that a person comes off of one IM thinking about another one within a week. Mike has caught the fever. He has a twinkle in his eye talking about Moo 2006 and the possibility of another IM in the future. 

So, I think Mike will be focused and continue to improve. Can he improve by the six percent needed? Of course he can. I have confidence that he will as a matter of fact. Hopefully, his competition isn’t thinking the same thing. 

I do know that Mike will give it his best shot in the off-season, training and his next Ironman. Hopefully next time around “the day” brings him a Kona slot.

Sitting around having some pizza at Jesse Oaks, Marc Grove made the comment, “I am confident that any of us right now could go out and finish an Ironman.” Of course, he was sitting with 4 Ironman finishers (including himself), one other triathlete and another person training for his first Ironman. 

The statement begs the question though, what makes an Ironman a special achievement? All of us that have done one would like to think it was some huge accomplishment and makes us special. In fact, some of us get tattoos to show the world our accomplishment. I love giving my friends a hard time about the tattoo. My theory has always been you don’t get the tattoo unless you qualified for and finished Kona. 

Is it the physical fitness that it takes? I am not sure about that. I have seen some pretty average to fat people coming across the line at an Ironman. In fact, I am willing to bet that a signficant amount of IM finishers could actually be considered overweight. Also, I have always contended that you can take your cyclist that rides 50-60 miles on a Saturday or the marathoner and turn him or her into an Ironman finisher in 26 weeks. So, what makes it special? 

Is it the dedication necessary to do the training? Not really. It isn’t surprising that most of the Ironman finishers I know are middle-aged, professionals. After all, it fits right into their personality type. Most IM finishers I know are college-educated professionals. Ironman isn’t the first time in their life they have set a long-term goal and achieved it. In fact, it is probably one of many “projects” they have finished in a life time. 

These people set the 4-5 year goal of getting a college degree and they did it. Some passed CPA’s, bar exams, medical boards or are engineers involved in long-term projects or reseach. In fact, I would argue that doing an Ironman takes less dedication than getting a college degree. In fact, I think you would have more IM finishers if finishing a single IM would help people make, on average, $20,000 a year more. 

So, what makes it special? I mean not everyone has done one, yet most people have the “ability” to do one. 

I could only narrow it down to one thing… inspiration. Einstein once said, “Genius is 1 percent inspiration and 99 percent perspiration.” I never liked that quote. Why? It doesn’t take into account the fact that the 1 percent of inspiration is much harder to come by than the 99 percent perspiration. In fact, if you can get that 1 percent of inspiration, the 99 percent comes easily as you see the “goal” or “vision” at the end. 

In fact, I will state that the one thing that stopped me from finishing my 3rd IM was lack of inspiration. I had done the training, I just didn’t have the inspriation I needed to finish. 

So, don’t worry IMers… you are special for your achievement. Many have the ability to do it. Many have the dedication necessary to focus on a goal like Ironman. Few people in a lifetime will have the inspiration it took to come across the finish line. That is what makes your accomplishment special.

I have a few blogs I want to write, but this is the shortest, so I will start with this one. 

I took my brother-in-law out for a bike ride this Sunday. I had just finished my cycling camp up in Platteville, WI (North Branch is awesome). My brother-in-law is the same age as my wife, 28-years-old. He is a big guy at 6′5″ and weighs about 300lbs. He is aware that he needs to do something, so we bought him a hybrid bike this year. That was about 5 weeks ago and it has been sitting in his garage. 

So, I wanted to bike with Ethan on Sunday so the three of us went out together. I learned something on this ride, fitness is earned. We pulled out from his house and headed toward the forest preserve which is about 2 miles away. 

To get to the forest preserve, you cross under Arlington Heights road and emerge on a crushed gravel path. It was a slight uphill, but sandy, so while pulling Ethan I had to get out of the saddle to maintan control. I get to the top and look back and he is walking his bike. 

I was giving him a hard time as he is a pretty competitive guy. So, it was a good chance to rib him. So, we got to the top, desended down another “hill” and he was falling behind. Now, remember, I am just cruising along and have my son in tow. I took him on the whole path which cannot be more than 3 miles. Despite there being no hills per se, he was toasted and asking when it would flatten out. I smiled and he reminded me that I have done Ironman’s and ride my bike all the time and he hadn’t ridden in 12-14 years. 

That is when once again came to the self realization that fitness is something we have to earn every day. It goes away if we neglect it and we can lose it at any age, no matter what our past is. So, is it hard work? I guess, but an 88-mile ride through the hills of the Platteville area is actually fun. Riding is just fun. Running is fun (when you are doing it). 

So, I am going to enjoy my fitness. I am lucky to have it. I also intend on getting my brother-in-law out there more so he can gain some fitness and enjoy it too.