Ironman – The Dark Side
By John Crawford (age group athlete, age 54)
I am extremely proud to be a three time Ironman. In my previous articles I have boasted the glory of an Ironman
finish. All that is true. What is also true is the dark side of Ironman. The sacrifices are significant. I feel the need to
explain both sides of the story.
Ironman training can be abusive to your health. It can be a burden on your family and it can compromise your
performance on your job.
I believe the lifestyle of triathlon to be extremely healthy. There is a big difference between normal triathlons
(Sprints, Olympics and Try-a-Tri’s) and the Ironman. The Ironman is the extremist version of triathlon. Ironman is not
the “best” triathlon and it’s defiantly not the “only one that matters” either. In my opinion, the Ironman is a self
inflicted personal crisis. Not just the day of the race, but the many months of training that lead up to the day of the
race. People have their own reasons for making this choice to do an Ironman. It seems to me that about half the
people in each Ironman race only do it once. Only a small portion of people do more than 3 Ironmans. In this article,
we will look at the reasons why.
The potential abuse to you health
I had double bi-pass heart surgery in October 1997. I began steady exercise as a result. I started doing triathlon in
2000, since then I have done over 65 triathlons, 3 of them were Ironmans. In January 2004 I retired from Subaru.
Since I began triathlon, I have not been married and have only been in relationships for brief periods. My children
are all adults and require less of my time, except for Adam who attends all my triathlons with me. So, for the most
part, I have been able to dedicate a lot of my time to triathlon.
I did my 2nd Ironman in August 2005, in Penticton. In the weeks that led up to that event, I was telling everyone that
my 2nd Ironman would be my last ever Ironman. My Doctor (Ron Peddle) and I thought the accumulative abuse of
the training would be too much of a strain on my immune system. However, two days after my Ironman in August
2005, I felt the urge to do another Ironman.
I visited Dr. Ron with my idea. At first he was opposed and opened the discussion with “you can do whatever you
want, I can’t stop you”. We continued the discussion for a while and examined what specifics about Ironman training
made it a health risk. Dr. Ron is a Marathon runner and often run trains with the Ironman athletes. He explained to
me that those athletes spent too much of their time during an Ironman training year in a continuous state of
exhaustion. He went on to say that, he did not see the same exhaustion in me each time he saw me. We discussed
that and determined the reason to be that I was in a position to be able to get enough rest while the others he knew
were not. They still had corporate jobs and families with younger children. That lifestyle often means earlier morning
commutes to work and late nights. They often have to have swims and runs in the very early mornings before work.
After work, they have more workouts to get in plus the other regular family responsibilities. The stresses are
compounded.
I on the other hand am able to get all the sleep I need, even long naps when I need it. My workouts during the
summer are mostly 10 to 14 hours a week. Most workouts are 2 – 5 hours each (some days even longer). All my
workouts over 2 hours long are scheduled so that they are followed by periods of relaxing.
In September 2003 I did my first Half Ironman. At the same time, I was also Vice President of Sales for Subaru. That
job was extremely stressful and I was working 50 to 60 hours a week. I was using the long workout to offset the
extreme stress of the job. Exercise is great that way. Although that job required me to work long hours, it also
provided me times during the day that I could escape and do some other things. I would find an hour during the day
between meetings and go to the pool. Many times, I would take a two hour lunch break and go for my long runs. I
would boldly put my running gear on and depart the office. Subaru had a shower for the warehouse boys and I used
it often. Sometimes during the day I would get very tired, so I would get in the car, drive to a nearby vacant parking
lot and have a 20 minute nap in my car. My corporate responsibilities were not compromised, provided that I
attended the meetings and were also available when they needed me (which often included nights and weekends).
My work required many business trips. When traveling with the Subaru group, at the end of the day the group would
go off for 2 hours of cocktails followed by a 2 ½ hour dinner. I would have a 20 minute nap followed by a 90 minute
run and join them for dinner. Sometimes, they would go play golf. I would do a workout, nap a join them for dinner.
I was able to do it while working at Subaru for one year, but I can’t image doing Ironman training year after year
while working at a job like that. In my experience, every hour of long workouts require an additional hour of special
rest.
Many people do the Ironman with jobs like that and with the burden of young children. I think that’s way too much.
Trying to get the training done, while balancing the other aspects of life, is extremely difficult. In order to do that,
people have to compromise on many things. Ironman mates get shorted. The children get less time. Parents and
friends will be neglected. Jobs get neglected. Personal affairs get neglected. In an attempt to balance it all, rest gets
neglected and over an extended period of time, that can lead to health problems.
In many cases, the athletes probably have big equity in the “emotional bank account”. This means that the athletes
have given so much (made deposits) in prior periods, that families and jobs can tolerate some neglect (withdrawals)
for while. A few like me have been able to arrange their lives so that there is ample room for the Ironman lifestyle
over an extended time. However, the compromises and costs are very high.