Friday, December 16, 2011

True Financial Cost Of Doing an Ironman

So people are always asking me how much I trained for Ironman. They want to know how many hours a week I devoted to swimming, biking and running. I spent about 12-15 hours a week training...which is about half of what the majority of Ironman triathletes do. I've shared my training strategy before, so I won't go into it now.

What I want to cover here is what my family sacrificed financially for me to train for and complete an Ironman. So here's quick rundown of my triathlon related expenses from 2011:

Supplements/Fueling
Hammer Nutrition products (mostly gels and Perpetuem)- $270.10
Recover-Ease - $79.98
Athlytes (electrolyte capsules)- $46.96

Gear
Bike Gel Flask & Spare Flask - $ 28.66
Swim Jammers (shorts) - $ 20.94
Tri Shorts - $70.00
MyAthlete Tracking System - $44.95
Scape Sunscreen -$26.98
Goggles - $49.27
KT tape - $43.85
Race Number Belt - $12.76
Foam Roller - $42.95
Spare tubes, CO2 cartridges - $18.57
Indoor Bike Trainer - $289.77

Race Registrations
USAT Membership - $39.00
Shelbyville Sprint - $45.00
Taylorsville Tri - $100.00
Cardinal Tri - $125.00
Ironman Louisville - $603.75
Ohio River Open Water Swim - $35.00
TriFest - $70.00

Miscellaneous
Triathlon Dominator Training Program - $97.00
Swim Coaching - $280.00
Bike Fit - $175.00
Deep Tissue Massages - $150.00

So the grand total ends up being $2,765.49!

Worth every penny!

This list doesn't include my new Argon E-112 bike, which I probably wouldn't have purchased if I wasn't doing Ironman. I needed a true TT/Tri bike anyway, but I most likely would have put it off another year. The bike ended up costing me a little over $2,000.00 - so factor that in if you want.

What I also don't have shown here are all of the things provided to me at no charge by my sponsors. This includes three pair of running shoes, socks, tri jersey and shorts, six PT sessions, and straight cash. So without Swag's, Dr. Rudy Ellis Sports Medicine Clinic and Air Equipment Company, this would have been much worse!

Doing Ironman was a fantastic experience and I loved every almost every minute of the training and racing. I will do one again someday I'm sure...just not in 2012!


2 comments:

  1. That helps me a lot to see the financial hurt of doing an IM. I'm really thinking about doing Louisville next year. If not 2012, then it'll be 2013. Hey, what training plan did you use? Was it something you or a coach made up? Something you found on the internet? How long did you train (months) prior to the race? Anyway, have a great weekend.

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  2. Matt, I used a training plan called Triathlon Dominator. If I do another full IM in the future I will use it again. The program is 36 weeks log, so for IMLOU I had to start it the week after Christmas last year. It's not easy, but it works!

    http://triathlondominator.com/

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