Hey guys,

In 2019 I registered for Ultraman Arizona. This was supposed to happen in 2020. After a couple Covid postponements it is finally happening in March 2023. Will be my biggest challenge to date.

For those of you that don't know it is a 3 day long course triathlon.

Day 1: 6 Mile Swim and 90 Mile Bike
Day 2: 170 Mile bike
Day 3: 52.4 Mile Run

If any of you fellow Aggies would like to join me, registration is now open. They cap it at 50 competitors.

https://www.active.com/phoenix-az/triathlon/races/ultraman-arizona-application-2023?fbclid=IwAR0pKpegjaA6v5malHEoK7XuynJ_O6epXtpXpqAWf2GtV7S3kD8ok2F9uCc

JeremiahJohnson said:

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Day 1: 6 Mile Swim and 90 Mile Bike
Day 2: 170 Mile bike
Day 3: 52.4 Mile Run

If any of you fellow Aggies would like to join me...

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6 mile swim? Like all at once?

not for me. My triathlon days are over (at least for now), but these longer ones always interested me. Just too time intensive to train for, especially with 2 young kids. Takes way more time than training for ultra marathons. My old boss use to do triple and quadruple ironmans, which is insane.

Good luck, and would love to follow your progress, both in training and racing.

Should be a fun challenge. Covid kicked my ass so starting from scratch. Racing Ironman Waco to train for it. Will probably also do the 70.3 Waco to get the feel of multi day racing.

Wife is pregnant and going to grad school while working full time. It's going to be a crazy year!!!

honestly, wife pregnant and a young baby was the easiest time for me to train. Since my wife was pregnant, her training was cut way back and then eventually she has to all but stop, outside of some easy stuff on the peloton. I was able to get in a lot of mile then. After our first was born, wife couldn't train for 6 weeks and then had to start REALLY easy, so all the training time was mine. Plus, the baby sleeps A LOT, so I'd put her in the bassinet and hop on the bike trainer to wear out my legs and then go for a run. Lack of sleep sucked, but that's actually a needed training too with ultra training of any kind. Eventually, when the kid was cleared, i started running with the stroller, which helped my wife out a lot.

That's my hoping. I'll be living on that trainer!

aggiespartan said:

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6 mile swim? Like all at once?

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haha yeah. This year the swim was cancelled due to wind. I have only swam that far once. It felt like an eternity. Disappointed I did not race with Jesse.

https://www.instagram.com/tv/CbAR6Ofl8LB/?igshid=YmMyMTA2M2Y=

Jesse Itzlers Recap for the race.

GL. I am jealous

I've wanted to make the jump to Ultraman for a while. Not worried at all about the swim or bike legs, it's the run that scares the hell out of me, well, that and telling my wife I signed up for something that will require even more time training than Ironman.

i'll preface this with a comment basically saying, "i have no idea what i'm talking about b/c i've never done an ultraman."

I've done 3 IMs and countless ultra marathons. I honestly think that a standard IM training program with a few tweaks would be sufficient to finishing ultraman. At that distance, it becomes mental. You'd already have the fitness to do the distance on an IM training plan, IMO.

Agree. It's split over 3 days. 3 - 8-12 hour days. Biggest thing will be nutrition and recovery

Speaking of, have you started thinking about your plans for recovery and nutrition?

Do people utilize a crew for these events?

AggieOO said:

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i'll preface this with a comment basically saying, "i have no idea what i'm talking about b/c i've never done an ultraman."

I've done 3 IMs and countless ultra marathons. I honestly think that a standard IM training program with a few tweaks would be sufficient to finishing ultraman. At that distance, it becomes mental. You'd already have the fitness to do the distance on an IM training plan, IMO.

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That's good to know and when I really think about it, I think I agree. I've done 4 IM at this point, and I do think the fitness I had in October would have basically had me there, maybe just add in few double long days. I feel like just like IM, how you execute the bike will dictate your success or failure….overdue it, and you have no run legs, but train the bike hard and then race conservatively and keep the fuel tank filled during the bike and you have the legs to run.

We are required to have crew and follow vehicle. I typically use Infinit for Ironman nutrition. I will supplement that with solid meals and Base Salt. Only so much sugar I can take though.

I have done a century rides the day before 70.3s and will hopefully do Ironman Waco and followed by 70.3 Waco the next day to test it out again.

Theragun and Normatechs every night. A nurse friend of mine has expressed interest in joining. So possibly IV fluids

I have some guys in my Ironman group that do some 200 mile rides. I am hoping they do that again this year. It is more the mental aspect of sitting on a bike for 200 miles than the physical part.

But I am currently fat and out of shape, so it will take every bit of this year to get ready. Covid wrecked me

The double century on the bike isn't too bad as long as you have the miles on the saddle to keep your ass from killing you. I did one several years back for S&Gs.

I assume IVs are legal as long as they are post-activity? I'd assume, like pretty much any event, an IV during would be a DQ.

I love the normatec boots. I've been wanting to buy a set of them (or knock-offs) for a while, but just haven't wanted to spend the $$.

The race is fully self supported. Crew can pass on nutrition and fluids. Not like typical races. I almost got kicked out of an Ironman for using my wife's chapstick.

I have the Air Relax I bought a while back. My only gripe is the timer is only 15 minutes at a time. Hour timer would be a lot better. The regular size is too short for me and the long squeeze my balls if I'm not paying attention. I like my coaches normatechs better. Normatechs don't squeeze as hard but the controls are significantly better. I will be buying a new set of normatechs soon.

Alot of ultra marathons are self/crew supported, but IVs are still prohibited. Might double check rules.