Audiobook11 hours
You Are an Ironman: How Six Weekend Warriors Chased Their Dream of Finishing the World's Toughest Triathlon
Written by Jacques Steinberg
Narrated by Kirby Heyborne
Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
4/5
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About this audiobook
As he did so masterfully in his New York Times bestseller The Gatekeepers, Jacques Steinberg creates a compelling portrait of people obsessed with reaching a life-defining goal. In this instance, the target is an Ironman triathlon-a 2.4-mile open-water swim followed by a 112-mile bike ride, then finally a 26-mile marathon run, all of which must be completed in no more than seventeen hours.
Steinberg focuses not on the professional who live off the prize money and sponsorships, but on a handful of triathletes who regard the sport as a hobby. Vividly capturing the grueling preparation, the suspense of completing each event of the triathlon, and the spectacular feats of human endurance, Steinberg plumbs the physical and emotional toll as well as the psychological payoff of the participants of the Ford Ironman Arizona 2009. His You Are an Ironman is both a riveting sports narrative and a fascinating, behind-the-scenes study of what makes these athletes keep going.
Steinberg focuses not on the professional who live off the prize money and sponsorships, but on a handful of triathletes who regard the sport as a hobby. Vividly capturing the grueling preparation, the suspense of completing each event of the triathlon, and the spectacular feats of human endurance, Steinberg plumbs the physical and emotional toll as well as the psychological payoff of the participants of the Ford Ironman Arizona 2009. His You Are an Ironman is both a riveting sports narrative and a fascinating, behind-the-scenes study of what makes these athletes keep going.
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Reviews for You Are an Ironman
Rating: 3.95999992 out of 5 stars
4/5
25 ratings3 reviews
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Really enjoyed the accounts and stories. Very inspired and want to sign up for an IM!
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5This is a non-fiction account of six "regular people" who decided to participate in an Ironman: that's 2.4 miles of swimming, followed by 112 miles of biking, and then a marathon, all to be completed within 17 hours. I wanted to read this book as soon as I saw it, because I find it encouraging to read accounts of fairly normal people who manage to do impressive things. For a while, though, I was putting it off because I own another book by this author that I still haven't gotten around to reading: The Gatekeepers, about the college admissions process. It seemed sort of silly to pick up another book when I still had the first one waiting, even though the topics are completely different.Since I had a major endurance event coming up this past weekend, though--my first half marathon, which I finished in 2:30:24, yay!--I thought I could use some inspiration. What I was about to do was pretty insignificant compared to the craziness of the Ironman, and I found that reassuring.The book itself was interesting and fast-paced, and pretty much what you'd expect from this sort of thing. I enjoyed reading the stories of these people, who they were, what had led them to the Ironman, how they faced the ups and downs of training, etc. There were some moments at first when I found it a bit difficult to keep track of who was who, but that didn't actually hinder the reading experience, and I eventually managed to connect the names with the stories: "oh, he's the teacher; he's the heart-attack guy; he's the double-lung-transplant recipient".It was also interesting to find out about the more detailed workings of an Ironman race. For example, I was a bit surprised to hear that in addition to the overall 17-hour cut-off, there are multiple fairly aggressive cut-offs throughout that result in disqualification if they aren't met. Several of the competitors in the book had issues with the swim (goggle problems, or just being very very cold at the end of it) and almost missed the cut-off there, but ended up finishing the overall race with more than an hour to spare, and it made me wonder why the intermediate targets weren't a bit more relaxed. The biking has to be done with 6.5 hours to spare for the marathon, which seems like a very generous time, so that a lot of walking in the marathon isn't a problem--but just getting to the run start in time can be a big challenge. Anyway, it just made me wonder about how they decided these things.In the end, I came away from this book feeling calmer about my own half-marathon, and also a bit inspired: I'd definitely like to try a triathlon at some point (though at a much shorter distance!), but the logistics of it mean that it won't be happening any time soon. Just getting a decent bike would be an issue when I move between three or four different locations in the course of every year, and finding opportunities to swim in open water is non-trivial... not to mention that I'm a terrible swimmer! Still, the seed has been sown....I'd recommend this book to people who like reading about this sort of thing; you know who you are. If you don't generally read about or participate in endurance sports, I'd suggest starting with Born to Run instead, for a very inspirational and potentially life-changing read.
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/52.4 mile open water swim, 112 mile bike ride, and then a marathon; all completed in under 17 hours for the chance to hear Mike Reilly say 4 words: You Are An Ironman. This is the the story of 6 ordinary people who set out to do just that. It was inspiring, funny, and informative - everything a sports book should be.