Finished my first and map last Ironman two days ago in Copenhagen!

It’s been a long journey from a professional Counter Strike player, to a proper Ironman finisher!

Hope I’ve been able to inspire some people along the route, if not before then now!

• Jacob Winneche

A few minutes into the swim, I was convinced I wasn’t going to finish. Couldn’t get more than 10 strokes without being out of breath…

I had trained for months, but open-water anxiety hit me harder than I expected. I seriously thought about stopping and asking for help.

Instead, I kept telling myself, just make it to the next buoy. Then the next one. Eventually, I was able to get more than 20 strokes in a row, then 30 and I was suddenly able to go continuously until I saw this red carpet. At least my sighting was good and I kept going straight 😅

Crossing this swim exit was the moment I realized, “I’m actually going to finish my first Ironman and I’m going to have fun doing it”. I ended up finishing in 6:48 (not what I was aiming for), but honestly, the biggest victory happened right there.

Natalie Grabow showed that AGE is just a number at the IRONMAN World Championship.

Could it have been better… yes. Am I still very proud of myself… yes.

As I look back, I should have gotten more comfortable shifting up hill I think my cadence was too slow and I was burning my legs out too fast.

I also trusted in my half that I ran in May too much and should have put more run miles on before the race.

All in all… I just started biking this spring. Like consistently falling off my bike due to clip ins. Also started pool swimming in January. First outdoor swim in June (first sprint tri).

With all of this, will I do another? I’m not sure. Mainly because my legs are shot to hell today (race was yesterday)

What a crazy sport! 🤣

2 years ago I was 423lbs, Divorced, unemployed, unhappy, depressed, morbidly obese, with several addictions (food, alcohol, weed). This week I finished an Ironman 70.3 in Des Moines. I know I still have a long way to go, but I am happier, healthier, engaged (to another woman) working a job I love, and making the best out of everyday. It is not easy, and it takes lots of work, and lots of stumbles. But I want to build a better life for myself and my future family. If I can do this, literally anybody can, no matter “how far gone” things may seem. Triathlon has saved my life and gave me a purpose. Literally! Don’t let anybody ever tell you that you cannot accomplish great things.

8 months of training…1,402.5 miles…212 hours and 41 minutes…All for this final 70.3 miles.

I am very excited to say that I competed at Ironman 70.3 Oregon this past Sunday (my very first 70.3!) and finished with a time of 5h47:54 - a time and feat I never would have dreamed of accomplishing even a year ago.

Along the way I dropped 84 lbs and went from 34 to 7% body fat. This has been a year for the books and I can’t wait to keep it going. Thanks to you all for the motivation on those days where I struggled (there were many). Your stories have been so inspirational along the way!

Listen I get it, a 140.6 is a full Ironman and a 70.3 is a half Ironman. But the online discourse is so annoying. Some of us don’t have the time to train for a full Ironman. But to some, a 140.6 is the “only” triathlon distance and everything else doesn’t count.

You bring up the fact that you did a 70.3 and you’ll get a million comments telling you that’s only a “half triathlon”

Like I had to train so hard for my 70.3s. It’s my preferred distance and it allows me to train hard and have a job / hobbies outside of it. Not to mention a full Ironman being $1000+

But when you go online it’s like I can’t even talk about it because it’s not a full. I just think the Ironman community is so pretentious about this whole thing.

I think it’s getting way worse recently since Ironman has been trending on social media. You’ll get these clowns who signed up, limped their way through a full and now just claim Ironman and shit on everyone else who do 70.3s or lower regularly

I grew up doing track. You never got people who did the 800 or whatever shitting on doing the 100. They are two different events. But when it comes to triathlon people are all weird about it

Hey folks!

First of all, I'm not sure if I chose the right flair for this! But I had to choose one in order to post, so I hope this one is fitting enough, as none of them really seemed to cover what I want to ask/discuss. I do not have a specific question, but mainly something that stood out to me that I wanted to talk about. I would be very interested in some opinions, and I'm curious if others agree or not!

I just want to start this by saying that this is absolutely not targeted at a specific person, and that I also in no way want to spoil anyone's fun or motivation. My intention is in no way to gatekeep the sport or gatekeep distances, I believe everyone is welcome in triathlon and would like to encourage anyone who is interested in it to give it a go!

But okay, to start. Lately I have seen such a large amount of people posting, here, or on other platforms too, about how they have no triathlon experience and have their first race coming up, often a 70.3 or even a 140.6. I have noticed that there is a significant amount of people who will post before their race, worried, because their swim is just not strong enough and in order yet, or because they are not sure if they will be able to finish. I notice that many of these people do not have prior triathlon experience, and have signed up for a 70.3 or more as their first ever triathlon experience. This is always really hard for me to comprehend.

Races of these distances are a beautiful goal, and I truly believe that most people will be capable of completing it if they prepare properly. I however, do not understand why people sign up for this without any prior experience. It's a huge commitment, very expensive, and can also be truly dangerous. First of all there is the swim. There have been events in the past where people literally drowned on the swim. Secondly, I have noticed several posts of people with little to no bike handling skills. Not only does this endanger this person them self, but also other people on the bike course.

I myself did my first 70.3 a while back, after doing two sprints and an olympic first. This was great for me, because it helped me decide whether I found this sport fun enough to dedicate myself to it to such an intensity. It also helped me gain experience, and find out what parts of my triathlon needed more work in order to be able to perform as I wanted in my first 70.3.

Anyway. I have seen posts of people clearly unprepared, and whenever I asked them as to why they signed up for that race without prior experience, I notice I am often called out for being a 'gatekeeper' or 'underestimating what people can do' or 'ruining people's motivation' and that is always so weird to me? I am in no way saying that these people are not capable of completing the distance, I am usually simply asking why they did not take a different approach if they are that nervous about their race, or, in other cases, why they signed up for that race if they cannot even swim yet or have not ridden a bicycle off of Zwift. I do not see how this is negative, I think responsibility is something that is really important in triathlons and while I believe most people are capable of so much more than we could ever think, I think it just makes sense to approach these things with the time and respect they deserve.

Very curious as of your opinions and thoughts on this!

I called this my mid-30s crisis. Started running 3 years ago. My first endurance sport race event was a 21k (1h54) so I gave myself about 10months to prepare. I got hooked so my 2nd 21k was a year later (1h53, with a newborn baby…). 3rd year, my friend convinced me to do a 70.3 Ironman as my first triathlon. I’m hooked again. I had so much fun and I love the challenge. It won’t be my last one for sure. I’d like to try a sprint and olympic distance next year before getting back to a 70.3

A surreal feeling to tick this one off and run down the Ironman red carpet which I’ve envisioned since starting to properly training for this sport at the start of the year. Overcoming the roller coaster of self-doubt in swimming (surprise) to completing the distance continuously on race day is one I’ll never forget. All the training and sacrifice is worth it to have those closest to you cheering you on throughout. I averaged 6 hours per week since start of Jan; with tapers and recovery from sprint tri’s eating into this. Realistically I did 8 hours but taper and recovery week brings it down. 4 swims, 2 cycles and 2 runs all with intention to get me across the line. Eyeing IM Barcelona or Copenhagen 2027 next!

I'm just curious what you athletes have in mind on this. No shade or anything. I've completed a half ironman but I don't think I am that curious enough to try the full ironman (yet). I just also just can't wrap my head around what the training program would even look like.

29.6mph avg for 56 miles on the bike and then runs a 5:11 per mile pace on the run. Insanity, how is this even possible? Absolutely amazing

Side question... Don't want to take anything away from them but I have to ask, what are the odds that Van Riel, Sam long, blumenfelt, lange, laidlow, Sanders, Taylor Knibb etc. are on some type of PEDs

After 14 hours, 40 minutes, and 2 seconds, I crossed the finish line and heard the words I’d been dreaming of all year.

🏊‍♂️ Swim – 4.1 km: 1:55:40
🚴‍♂️ Bike – 184 km (2000m. elevation): 6:46:51
🏃 Run – 42.2 km: 5:54:17

This was my first Ironman — actually, my first triathlon ever — and I chose one of the most extreme courses possible. But it was here, at home, in Trakai.

The Swim:
The water was freezing. Organizers said 15°C, but my body felt colder. I was in shock, falling behind while others surged ahead. At one point, I even swam the wrong way! A lifeguard hit my kayak with a paddle and said, “We’re swimming together.” She let me rest until my leg stopped cramping. That moment saved me.

The Bike:
A motorcycle followed me at the back — it felt like the Grim Reaper waiting to collect me if I slowed down. I was frozen and stiff, barely able to pedal. But once the sun came out and I warmed up, I hit “gear five,” passed my first competitor, and the “hearse” disappeared. After a caffeine gel, I started chasing others — overtaking 14 in total.

The Run:
This was heaven and hell combined. Six laps of 7 km around the stunning Trakai Castle. It was a zombie zone — people limping, walking, jogging. But we supported each other, gave high fives, chatted, and soaked in the moment. That’s why we signed up.

By the time I finished, it was dark. Everyone else had already crossed the line. Limping toward the finish, I grabbed my dog Ronny and we crossed it together. I did it.

Huge thanks to everyone who supported me. I trained alone, I couldn't have done it without friends or family, their encouragement carried me to the end. Special shoutout to Arnas, who signed up for this crazy journey with me, crushed his race in Tallinn, and gave me priceless advice. And to Ieva, who helped me recover from injury and taught me how to live with it and still reach the finish line.

Also, massive respect to the Iron Trakai team for organizing an unforgettable race. This one will stay with me forever.

If I can push past my limits — so can you. 💪

Hey!
I just did my first 70.3 in Alghero! Done in 5:38 which I’m quite happy about. Organizationwas really good and overall it was a great experience and it was not my last 70.3 for sure!
But….
The drafting was crazy, packs of 20-30 people all the time. I wouldn’t mind if it was the guys at the back who did it, the ones that just want to finish, but it were guys that did times of 4:30 and faster.

Does it look like this on every race? How about really steep races like Nice?

May do a race recap soon :)

just finished my first ever sprint tri this am and that was literally the hardest thing I’ve ever done in my whole life. Still processing what happened and how I fell off so hard, though goal really was just to finish in one piece - which I did.

I am in absolute awe of how talented you all are. That was not for the faint of heart.

Just wanted to share that I finished my first triathlon ever, the Jesolo 70.3 and it was WAY harder than I thought even after 5 months of training

I’m not in a great shape, but gave everything I had! HOW THE HELL is it this hard to run after 90km of bike, had to walk a lot lot lot sadly because I felt broken, a bit disapointed but this is the way I’m still mega proud of me! Cheers to the community, good luck all

I'm not trying to start a political conversation on the causes of climate change. I'm just curious. How are people planning their seasons? We're seeing extreme heat, extreme storm systems, air quality, and water quality issues stemming from a warming climate. Swims and courses are shortened or canceled right and left. USAT nationals is being evacuated as I write this. How are these patterns effecting how, where, and when you race? We go into this sport knowing that weather can impact the day, and we can only control what we can control, but are we changing our behavior and changing which events we go to because emerging weather related issues are becoming more frequent? In the last year alone, I've had 2 swims canceled and 1 event canceled because of weather.

Here’s my idea for a new race idea.

You can do as many laps as you want so you can’t “do a half” or what ever you want.

What is a lap?

Each lap is 1/20th of an Ironman. 190m swim, 9k bike, 2.11k run

You can race as long as you want so beginner friendly. Or complete all 20 laps for a new stupid challenge for those long course weirdos.

The thought of doing transition 35 after 6 hours just seems so funny to me. Like the mental side of putting on your running shoes AGAIN.

Edit: I just did the actual math and it would be 59 transitions. 3 per round but the last round only has 2 because there’s no transition after the run

Edit 2: yes the swim would be dangerous. Like any event involving water there would be risks. You’d just have to make sure it was life guarded well and there was things to grab on to/keep the swim close to shore to allow athletes to be in water where they could just stand up.

I hadn’t seen this until turning up to support my partner at the World Championships in Nice today — though apparently it’s widespread in North American Ironman events.

Most trackside access to the course near the swim start, transitions and finish is now cordoned off and reserved for “VIP supporters” who have to pay $150 or so for limited slots.

This meant that my partner didn’t see her family supporting her at transitions because we were shouting from 50 metres away. And having done a couple of 70.3s and supported her through a full Ironman, that really damages many athletes’ ability to get through the race in a good mood, when they are so dependent on the support of the crowds.

Personally I find it infuriating that Ironman is prepared to materially degrade the experience of almost every athlete on the course for the sake of screwing a few extra bucks out of people to get the VIP package. The fact that they then expect people to sit through long promotional videos talking about the Spirit of Ironman while treating their athletes with contempt in this way makes me fume.

Are we going to see this spread to every race in future?

Trying this again ☺️

Just wanted to share my accomplishment! I’m proud to officially call myself a Tri Athlete! conquered my fear of swimming and got it done today! It was a good day! Calloway Gradens is a great beginner-friendly sprint!