Anyone done or considered an Ultraman?

Gabe Peterson

I've recently started reading Rich Roll's Finding Ultra (who I got to run with on Saturday with the Iron Cowboy!).  It chronicles his transformation from being overweight and addicted to cheese burgers to competing in the Ultraman race in Hawaii in 6 months.  He was a champion swimmer at Stanford, so he had a solid but dormant athletic background to build off.  But still an impressive accomplishment.

The Ultraman is a triathlon stages over three days:

1. 6.2mi swim followed by a 90mi bike ride
2. 171mi bike ride
3. Double marathon (52.4mi)

I am intrigued and wonder if this is a challenge I might tackle in a few years.  Every year I do a birthday challenge.  Two years ago, it was my first half Ironman.  Last year, it was my first Ironman.  This year, it will be my first ultra 50k.  Next year, I'm thinking it will be my first ultra 50 miler or R2R2R at the Grand Canyon (or both).  

It's a war of escalation, so the events will have to keep getting crazier.

Anyone in da haus done or considered an Ultraman?

John Withrow

I think it would be fun... And I think you could probably do it with mostly normal IM training as long as you paced it properly...

Peter Noyes

Our local friend did the one in Canada. Here is his 3 part report:

http://barrymantriathlon.blogspot.com/2014/08/ultraman-canada-day-1-race-report.html
http://barrymantriathlon.blogspot.com/2014/08/ultraman-canada-day-2-race-report.html
http://barrymantriathlon.blogspot.com/2014/08/ultraman-canada-2014-day-3-race-report.html

Coach Rich

Yep, Barry is a good friend. I coached him for several years, he was an EN member for a while, had dinner at his place on Saturday and he kicked my ass at the Bowl on Sunday. Pretty sure he just missed setting the UM swim record when he did the event last summer. 

90mi bike after a 10k isn't that big a deal

Riding 171mi isn't a big deal, assuming you pace and fuel correctly. Uncomfortable, sure, but with good endurance you can ride a bike for a very, very long time.

Running 52mi...that's tough no matter what you do before it and imagine that 90% of the athletes end up walking most of the marathon anyway. 

Anyway, reach out to Barry, I'm sure he'd be happy to answer any questions you have. 

tim cronk

Simon Surey is in for UMFL 2016 and I'm on the wait list.

Gabe Peterson

@John, that was what I was thinking. Perhaps do an Ironman and a 50k/50 mile ultra as warm up events.

@Peter, thanks for the race reports! I did a quick read through -- great info. I was wondering about how to swim 6 miles without nutrition. Simple solution: have someone in a boat following you so you can stop to fuel up.

@Rich, Barry sounds like a beast. Even he struggled on day 3 according to the race report. It sounds like days 1 and 2 soften you up for a beat down on the run. A 12 hour double marathon to beat the cutoff is tough, even before all the swimming and biking.



@Tim, rock on! I'd love to see what you can do in an Ultraman. Then I can learn from you how to train for and execute the race.



I'll keep this in mind for my birthday challenge in 2017. Next year I want to do my second IM (probably Boulder) and a 50 miler (probably North Face Challenge Park City). I'd also like to take a stab at a Grand Canyon R2R2R run.

Paul Hough

Tim would be perfect for Ultraman. I've considered it but agree with Rich that the run would be gawdawful. I'm not sure I have that in me. In the panthalon of stupid events, Swissman Xtreme triathlon is the one that keeps calling to me. On the other hand, it would be a lot cheaper to drive over for UMFL.

robin sarner

let's get a group together to do the swissman.       maybe 2017?

Gabe Peterson

@Robin, interesting.  I was thinking Ultraman Canada since it's drive-able for me from Utah.  

I've progressed on Finding Ultra and a couple of interesting points about training and racing an Ultraman:

• He did 45 mile training runs in addition to 100+ mile bike rides for training.  This is surprising since most of the ultra running plans, even the 100 milers, usually peak at 20-30 miles for the long run.  He must have run them stoopid easy to recover and continue training.  I'd probably line up a 50k or 50 miler leading up to an Ultraman.
• For the run on the third and final stage, his coach had him run 4 miles and walk 1 mile.  He started out at the back, but finished 11th.  Of course, Rich Roll had never done an Ironman and only had 6 months of training before attempting an Ultraman..  I'm guessing his coach knew he didn't have the run durability to run the entire course. 

tim cronk

@Robin- No thank you to the Swissman.... The Norseman just shortened its swim due to cold water 50.9 degrees!

Keith Wick

come on Tim, you just proved that you do better in hilly races!!!

Paul Hough

@ Tim - Norseman and Celtman both have extremely cold water. Swissman water would be low 60s so no issue. However, the climbing at Swissman is easily greater than the other two.

@ Robin - I age up in 2017 so I have other plans that year. But I intend to apply for the 2018 lottery and again in 2019 if not successful. Apart from the elite selection committee, entry to any of the 3 Xtreme tri's is by lottery only. All 3 have a 250 person field limit so getting in is purely by luck. Only 4 from the US made it to Swissman last year. Some folks apply to all 3 hoping to get just one of them.

tim cronk

@Keith hahaha... I been to Norway 3 times in Summer , was cold and rainy 95% of the time , on all three occasions! A man's got to know his limitations... and .... I know better....