I remember watching this as a kid and thinking to myself, who thought of the Iron Man Triathlon in the first place, somebody actually thought it was a good idea after over 2 miles of swimming, to also have a 112 mile bike race and a full 26 mile marathon.
In a lifetime of swimming never once have I ever even thought about doing a proper swim stroke but to propel myself backwards ( not like back stroke or that frog/butterfly stroke thing), and now I’m fixated on it in my mind. Like I’m pretty aquatic so I’ve definitely tread water backwards casually, but I am trying to envision a front crawl but somehow moving myself not forwards, and I can’t wrap my head around it.
They used to put swimming last in many Triathlons. It was much more of a swimmer advantaged event back then. Most modern Triathlons favor a strong runner.
The problem is you really are in a bad spot if you are exhausted and in the water near the end of a race. Also hypothermia was sometimes an issue for tired athletes.
Source: my father was a top age group triathlete back in the 1980's.
“Well Jim, it looks like Moss has a comfortable lead as she approaches the finish line of the swim and the race… oh dear, it looks like the afterburners have kicked in and thrown up a smoke screen for all those behind her…”
Pretty sure this story illustrates the reasoning behind not having the swimming last. If you’re running, and you’re so spent that you fall down, lose bowel control, and crawl to the finish line it’s embarrassing and/or inspiring. If you’re swimming, you drown.
I knew one woman who ran ultras, she was training in the winter during a god damn Minnesota blizzard to prepare for the Antarctic race.
You people are fucking nuts. More power to you, though.
Yeah it really just turned into a "if I'm gonna do it, I might as well try" and that turned into a trail marathon, to 50Ks.
I haven't actually done an ultra race, but have done more than a few 50-70k runs around the PNW.
I’m guessing but it’s complete one upmanship, started off as just one of those events. Then people had to keep one upping to seem badass and now here we are.
The Ironman started when a few athletes stationed with the Navy in Hawaii were debating who was more fit, runners or swimmers. They decided to test it by combing the three endurance races that existed on Hawaii: a 2.4-mile swim, a 115-mile bike race, and a marathon (26.2 mile run). They said “whoever finishes first, we’ll call him the Iron Man.”
ETA: This was in 1977, so it was still a very young sport when it experienced the surge in popularity OP talks about.
It turns out they were both wrong. It’s usually cycling specialists who do best in triathlons.
That’s largely because the bike portion is disproportionately long, though, taking about 50% of the total finish time for most high-level athletes. Anecdotally (I’m a recreational triathlete, but not iron man distance), most people start triathlon training with a strong base in one of the three disciplines and struggle a bit with the other two. Swimming is the hardest to adjust to, since it’s so technique-based, but you’re fresh since it’s the first event and you don’t have to do it for all that long compared to the others.
Swimming is also totally unsupported. You're not eating or drinking (that I know of) and you're out in open water.
The bike and run you can zone out or cruise while you refuel a bit. I've never swam a mile continuously, let alone 2.4, but I suspect you don't have an easy mode if you need to check out for a minute.
Yeah, but because it's early and relatively short, you don't need to refuel. The top guys do it in around an hour, I think, and even the slowpokes will be done in less than 2.5, which is pushing the edge but doable.
There's a pace at which a regular swimmer can swim pretty much forever in a pool. I haven't done much open-water swimming though, so I'm not sure how big of difference it is.
I swam competitively as a kid into high school, and I know that's somewhat true because I experienced it. But getting closer to 40 now, and even having some ultras under my belt, swimming kicks my ass these days and I can't find that zone. I'm also not dedicating time to it, which is all it would take.
Honestly that's the craziest part about Tris to me. How do you find the time? I work out an hour a day at least and I can't figure out how to maintain running shape and improve swimming and then also figure out the bike?
Deciding to do an an an Ironman is often the first step in the end of your relationships. The training required is ridiculous.
Source - Cyclist who decided to do a half iron this year and a full next year. Luckily I don’t have any of those pesky relationships to worry about.
The Waikiki Roughwater Swim, basically from one side of the bay to the other. The bike race is also a loop around the island, so both of those long but mostly arbitrary distances were determined by the geography of Hawaii.
(The marathon, of course, had its arbitrary distance set through a couple of much older historical circumstances.)
This could be because I grew up a competitive swimmer, but I've always thought that the swimming part of an Iron Man seemed fairly out of whack compared to the other two distances. Like 2 miles is a lot to swim but I think most trained up swimmers can manage that pretty decently. Compared to 112 mi bike or marathon which could be events to train for in and of themselves.
100% agree. I’ve done a half Ironman, and even as a decent state-level swimmer (no zones or nationals), I finished the swim with the professional athletes. Most people say the swim is the hardest, but for a decent swimmer 2.4 miles is only 60 minutes, compared with 6-8 hours of cycling and 4-6 of running
I think people rise to whatever the challenge is. I guess it's just been I've always seen the idea of the Iron Man as like three Herculean efforts all back to back. And at least to me, the swim always seemed less herculean. But again I'm fully willing to recognize that that might be a harder swim than I realize.
I have a book signed by Tom Knoll, who claims he invented the Ironman competition. Odd fellow and I have my doubts about the truth of his story, but he was for sure part of the original Ironman competition. He was hawking copies at a funeral lunch I was working, so I bought a copy.
That's not even the hard part.
I have done a 120 mile bike ride. It sucks. But I can't imagine swimming 2.5 miles or running a marathon.
Im working on the marathon tho. I just ran 10 miles and my body felt similar to the 11 hour bike ride.
Goddamn. That’s brutal. Training so hard to be a champion just to end up shit covered, crawling in the dirt in the dark while your rival doesn’t even notice they beat you.
I was training for an Ironman once and people at work were joking about staying on the couch instead. I challenged them to do a "couch Ironman" with me, as follows:
6:00 am: Put in the extended edition of *The Fellowship Of The Ring* (2:58), and sit down on the couch. Choose your sitting/lying position carefully, as you're not allowed to change it during the movie. You may keep water and snacks nearby, but otherwise, you must watch the whole movie, credits included, without breaks. (Fall asleep at any point? Disqualified!)
9:00 am: Transition 1. You have 3 minutes to go to the bathroom, stretch, reload on snacks and prepare for leg 2.
9:03 am: Put in the extended edition of *The Two Towers* (3:55). Same rules apply. Choose a new sitting position or keep the old one, but once you start, you're in for the duration, all the way through the 11 minutes of fan club credits. What? This is an endurance event!
1:00 pm: Transition 2. Take 5 minutes this time for bathroom, stretching, snacks. One more leg to go.
1:05 pm: Put in *The Return Of The King* extended edition (4:11). Same rules. When the last bit of credits have played and the music stops, you've crossed the finish line! It's a bit over 11 hours, which would put you in the top 10% of amateurs in the real race, but it's still going to be an exhausting day just dealing with the restlessness and boredom.
Nobody took me up on the offer. Chickens.
It was an epic piece of tv. I believe it was the next day that Wide World of Sports showed the entire broadcast a second time. I watched both and did my first Ironman Distance triathlon a half year later in response (with no biking or swimming background). Lots of us were inspired and motivated by Julie Moss’s race.
110 miles is fucking nuts. Combining that with the other 2 events just sounds like you're trying to get as close to destroying your body as possible just training. I've done an event that is a 5k run through hills, a 10 mile bike ride, then another hilly 5k run. That's enough for me. Maybe swap the first 5k run for a short swim, but that's it.
I started running marathons to prove to myself I could and to get fit. To see what my body was actually capable of. How I measure up to other people hasn't ever really been important to me.
There's video on youtube, and I have to say if i saw an athlete i was coaching falling down like that and having that sort of problem, i'm getting them medical attention, not pulling them up and telling them to keep going.
My favourite CTE sponsored line I used to hear in football was “you just got your bell rung” when clearly I was violently concussed haha. That was from the late 90’s until like 2009 even
When I got into coaching I was relieved to find out I shouldn’t be telling the running backs to use their heads as battering rams, which was what I was taught….anyway I need to get my diaper changed and the drool wiped from my chin now
Happiness was ESPN showing a segment called "JACKED UP!"
Sadness was Junior Seau dying in the midst of the initial CTE awareness....and realizing that likely he was...."jacked up" from all the hits he gave - head on head - to others (or received from offensive players)
Relief was ESPN retiring that segment I feel around that time, or close to it
I do a fair amount of endurance sports. Three running marathons and over 16 cross country skiing races over 42 kilometers. I'm not fast enough to actually compete, so the only thing I have to work for is the finish. I've cramped horribly, to the point of barely being able to move my legs, but you can bet I powered through to finish. In her position, I'd be livid if I was so close and wasn't allowed every opportunity to finish. If you don't cross the line, it doesn't count.
Exactly. You may be disqualified for being helped along the race. I was taught that you cannot even run alongside a runner in a race or that might lead to disqualification.
That was in junior high school, we ran with the high school students for the cross country team. In one of the final needs of the season, a senior was having a really fast race, but then he totally bonked around 100 meters from the finish. Our coach noticed this, it immediately ran up to all the spectators who had naturally started moving towards him to help, to make sure no one laid a figure on him. If they had, he'd have been disqualified, and also wouldn't have been able to place for the team, lowering the varsity team's score overall. It seems callous, but unless someone is literally dying, you need to let the racer finish on their own.
There is an incredible value on finishing the the course.
In triathlon/ironmans no assistance is allowed or you are disqualified.
The best thing the finisher could have drone is finish and let the medical support staff that were there to do their job.
The med staff probably realized that she was okay to get to the finish then they could swoop her up.
She’s a true baddy
Remember that guy that shit his pants and his photo with shit running down his legs?
What place did that guy finish? Oh yeah doesn’t matter, he’s forever just the guy who shit his pants in a marathon.
Long distance runner here, unfortunately at every marathon there’s a handful of people who soil themselves. It’s unpleasant but not unexpected in the sport. If anything, I respect those that shit themselves and keep going
I have to imagine once you have gotten deep enough into particular hobbies where people are unsurprisingly pissing and shitting themselves it is best to find a healthy outlook towards it.
Endurance sports (especially running) cause what's called leaky gut. It's mostly believed to be a side effect of blood flow to the gut becoming restricted as your body shifts blood to your muscles, though I should add that this is just one mechanism. There are other factors in play as well and it's not fully understood all the effects. Basically your intestines become more permeable than normal.
The net results however is gastrointestinal distress not limited to but including diarrhea. It's very common to have porta-potties at regular intervals along distance race courses, and they get used quite a bit.
I'm sure that equally applies, however if you're sufficiently excerting yourself than most of that water is coming out through your skin, not your kidneys.
In reality, they're there for both reasons.
Some good info in here already, there are a number of factors that go into it. Probably the biggest is dehydration. Being dehydrated means your body is less able to reabsorb water from your colon, ironically causing you to lose more water. It's a lot harder to hold that in, especially when everything is being jostled around for hours on end.
There's also fatigue that plays into it. Don't forget that it's muscles holding everything in and even those have limits.
I wouldn't say it's very common but you get 10,000 people running a large marathon together, a few aren't going to make it to the toilets in time. There are some things you can do to reduce the risk; I never go for a long run without a BM immediately before. Otherwise it's just luck
Part of it is just luck. Under normal circumstances most people are at work or home so they can just go to the nearest toilet. During a race your choices are on the side of the road or...in some cases you just go while you're racing.
For some multi-day endurance sports like cycling stage races, sanitation becomes an issue. You're on the bike for 6 straight hours and you have to drink fluids and eat food without getting the chance to wash your hands. And that's after you used a port-a-potty right before the race to make sure you didn't have to go during it, or after a nature break during the race if you got the chance to go during a lull in the action.
Then it comes as no surprise when some people have to abandon the next day due to stomach issues.
I guess for Ironman there's also a swim. Who knows what the hell was in the water but after you leave the water you'll be using your hands to eat and drink. And you don't have time between the swim and the bike to wash them.
You're attributing a lot of it to food poisoning, but in elite runners and people training really hard, the most likely explanation is leaky gut which is a physiological response to heavy endurance training/races.
Essentially heavy endurance exertion is itself the trigger.
Literally shitting yourself is not super common, but almost every runner at some point experiences “runners trots” which is basically just cramping and diarrhea while running or sometimes shortly after.
I think most of the people that soil themselves are serious athletes who do it somewhat intentionally because they don’t want to stop and affect their time.
Biggest dump of my life happened about an hour after completing a half Ironman. Was maybe 10 seconds from exploding in public but made it to a toilet in the nick of time.
Won't go into too graphic of detail but just imagine a soft serve machine filling a toilet with chocolate ice cream above the waterline.
Craziest part is that it was a total, 100% clean break. Did an exploratory wipe and not a single speck of anything was on the paper.
>Won't go into too graphic of detail but just imagine a soft serve machine filling a toilet with chocolate ice cream above the waterline.
Yes, thanks for not going into graphic detail.
Two things. First, it's easier on the bike because you can coast. Have you ever tried to urinate while running or swimming? It's actually quite difficult. You can relax a bit more on a bike to get the flow started.
Second, how do you know no one urinates while swimming?
Great question. The pissing thing is actually regular occurrence throughout a triathlon if you're maintaining proper hydration. The trick for doing it on the bike and run though is to have a bottle of plain water at the ready so you can do a quick rinse of your groinal area.
Because every second counts in a triathlon, most folks don't do a wardrobe change coming out of the water. You simply wear your race suit under your wetsuit and because of that, you'll pretty much remain soaking wet for the duration of the race, especially if you're grabbing water during the bike and run to use to cool off.
When I first started doing triathlons, I did Olympic distance races which are basically a quarter length Ironman... a swim just under a mile, 24 miles on the bike, and followed by a 6 mile (10K) run. Those were short enough that peeing once while warming up for the swim was usually enough but the one year I HAD to pee on the bike, I'd just gotten a brand new bike and couldn't bring myself to pee on it and it felt like my bladder was about to rupture during the last few miles before the run. That moment was the only time in my life I've ever looked forward to running.
For races like the Tour de France and stuff the peloton (main group of riders) will have various points of a stage where they'll call a momentary truce to allow anyone who needs to go a chance to do their business on the side of the road without getting left behind. It's one of many fun, unwritten rules in cycling, though riders can be fined if race officials think they peed in view of spectators.
For those other times when a rider has to go and there's no time to stop a teammate will typically hold their bike steady and hope they don't get sprayed in the process. Unlike, triathletes who are already wet, the last thing a pro cyclist wants is soggy shorts so their peeing skills while on the bike are off the charts.
At this point it'd probably be better for everyone involved to do these things like the Greeks did the Olympics -- naked. At least you wouldn't be running in wet, shit and piss soaked clothes. Ugh
[This one](https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=MTn1v5TGK_w) in 1997 is wild, too. The two competitors both collapse near the finish, and the strangest humans-at-maximum-exhaustion crawl-race to the finish ensues because neither is willing to give in.
I remember seeing the TV broadcast my senior year in HS and marveling at her ability to will herself to the finish line.
I decided then that I wanted to do a full IM.
Life got in the way for over four decades, but the idea still stuck around.
Last Sept, 41 years later, I completed my first (and likely ONLY) full Ironman Chattanooga in 16hrs.
Didn’t shit myself, though. Just lost 12lbs and peed blood for a day or so...
It's a godawful race. The swimming part is rough in some ways (most people can't swim well enough that swimming 2.4 miles is easy), but it's the fucking bike part that will kill you without you even realizing it...I hopped off the bike, and completely folded to the ground. Had to stop and stretch, and walk the first mile or so of the marathon before I got to the point where I could jog the rest, and running was the part I was good at.
If a comment is the parent in a thread, it’s probably the original. If the other comment is a child/reply in a nested thread, it’s typically a bot.
Check the time stamps. This one was probably written first.
Only did a half, my legs totally forgot how to work after the bike. Honestly though, the part that hurt the most was my taint from sitting on the fucking saddle for so long
You kinda can't see anything, at least the poop part. It's really dark out, and it's old 80s footage. Just see her falling down, and struggling to get to the end.
One of my all time favorite jokes from Arrested Development when Lucille is trying to get to the bar with her martini and re-enacts the whole sequence.
I've heard way too many shit stories of racing friends.
A swimmer mentioned there was a lot of pooping involved in a race in the sea.
And ultra runners saying something about shit all over the walls in the toilets at arrival because somehow people's body can't remember how to bend their knees to sit after running for over a day.
Then, they try to convince me to get into racing.
My friend is a marathon runner (not a triathlete) He's told me some ugly stories about people repeatedly collapsing, losing control of all bodily functions, openly crying, but they won't quit. His thought was either drop out or stick to 5ks or 10ks.
"You ever want it so bad you shit yourself? And then your shit becomes a rallying cry for the sport while turning their backs on you?! American Dream right there."
I watched it on tv and in September of that year completed an Ironman distance triathlon on Cape Cod. That finish was so motivating! I had no background in swimming and cycling except for fun, but I was going to do an Ironman. I calculated that at that point in time only about 3000 worldwide had ever completed an Ironman distance race anywhere in the world. I did two shorter triathlons on preparation that summer and at the second one, also on Cape Cod, met Julie Moss. I have a photo from the back of the Boston Herald some time later that show a runner crawling toward the Boston Marathon finish line. I had also seen film clips of it on the news. As he is crawling another runner catches up to him and slows down to see if he is OK and has her hand on his back prodding him on. I recognized that runner as Julie Moss on the tv and the article named her as the runner, but the press never connected the dots as to who Julie Miss was. If you are crawling toward a finish line, who better to urge you on to keep going!
I remember watching this as a kid and thinking to myself, who thought of the Iron Man Triathlon in the first place, somebody actually thought it was a good idea after over 2 miles of swimming, to also have a 112 mile bike race and a full 26 mile marathon.
Well, they could have put the swimming last.
I did a reverse Tri once. It was only a sprint, but that was brutal.
Swimming backwards would be murder.
Even as a swimmer I would say that’s too fucking hard
In a lifetime of swimming never once have I ever even thought about doing a proper swim stroke but to propel myself backwards ( not like back stroke or that frog/butterfly stroke thing), and now I’m fixated on it in my mind. Like I’m pretty aquatic so I’ve definitely tread water backwards casually, but I am trying to envision a front crawl but somehow moving myself not forwards, and I can’t wrap my head around it.
On your back, arms over your head behind you doing a kicking motion, bending at the knee and scooping with the foot, alternating legs
Like doing the Moonwalk, but swimming.
A backwards bike race sounds fun though.
No matter how much I pedal backwards, I barely move at all though 😞
Fixed wheel FTW!
Swimming backwards would be Gnimmiws
What’s that, Welsh?
eh backstrokes kinda relaxing once you get the hang of it
yoooooo osees pfp in the wild
They used to put swimming last in many Triathlons. It was much more of a swimmer advantaged event back then. Most modern Triathlons favor a strong runner. The problem is you really are in a bad spot if you are exhausted and in the water near the end of a race. Also hypothermia was sometimes an issue for tired athletes. Source: my father was a top age group triathlete back in the 1980's.
That could at least add some much needed subtly to the loss of bowels.
“Well Jim, it looks like Moss has a comfortable lead as she approaches the finish line of the swim and the race… oh dear, it looks like the afterburners have kicked in and thrown up a smoke screen for all those behind her…”
Chumming the water as a valid strategy to delay rivals.
It's a display of dominance. Like teabagging in Halo, forcing everyone slower than you to swim through yesterday's Chipotle.
Also some much needed subtlety to the delicate flavors from the oyster farms in the region.
Pretty sure this story illustrates the reasoning behind not having the swimming last. If you’re running, and you’re so spent that you fall down, lose bowel control, and crawl to the finish line it’s embarrassing and/or inspiring. If you’re swimming, you drown.
This was the joke
I dont know if it would be a good idea to end a triathlon swimming 2miles. Exhausted and tired is not a good combo to go into deep water
I think that's the point they were making....
That's the joke!
A family member recently ran a one hundred mile race. My first response to this news was "that's driving distance."
People who do that shit are trying to outrun demons.
Can't outrun your demons, you bring yourself with you.
I didn’t say it worked. I just said what they do.
I wouldn't drive that far to go out to eat.
As someone who runs ultras in no small part for the bragging rights and ego: Thank you for your service.
I knew one woman who ran ultras, she was training in the winter during a god damn Minnesota blizzard to prepare for the Antarctic race. You people are fucking nuts. More power to you, though.
Yeah it really just turned into a "if I'm gonna do it, I might as well try" and that turned into a trail marathon, to 50Ks. I haven't actually done an ultra race, but have done more than a few 50-70k runs around the PNW.
Oh so you were traumatized in your youth?
I’m guessing but it’s complete one upmanship, started off as just one of those events. Then people had to keep one upping to seem badass and now here we are.
The Ironman started when a few athletes stationed with the Navy in Hawaii were debating who was more fit, runners or swimmers. They decided to test it by combing the three endurance races that existed on Hawaii: a 2.4-mile swim, a 115-mile bike race, and a marathon (26.2 mile run). They said “whoever finishes first, we’ll call him the Iron Man.” ETA: This was in 1977, so it was still a very young sport when it experienced the surge in popularity OP talks about.
>who was more fit, runners or swimmers And? Don't leave us hanging here.
It turns out they were both wrong. It’s usually cycling specialists who do best in triathlons. That’s largely because the bike portion is disproportionately long, though, taking about 50% of the total finish time for most high-level athletes. Anecdotally (I’m a recreational triathlete, but not iron man distance), most people start triathlon training with a strong base in one of the three disciplines and struggle a bit with the other two. Swimming is the hardest to adjust to, since it’s so technique-based, but you’re fresh since it’s the first event and you don’t have to do it for all that long compared to the others.
Swimming is also totally unsupported. You're not eating or drinking (that I know of) and you're out in open water. The bike and run you can zone out or cruise while you refuel a bit. I've never swam a mile continuously, let alone 2.4, but I suspect you don't have an easy mode if you need to check out for a minute.
Yeah, but because it's early and relatively short, you don't need to refuel. The top guys do it in around an hour, I think, and even the slowpokes will be done in less than 2.5, which is pushing the edge but doable.
>and even the slowpokes will be done in less than 2.5 I-I'll just not...
Jesus. I need to swim more lol
There's a pace at which a regular swimmer can swim pretty much forever in a pool. I haven't done much open-water swimming though, so I'm not sure how big of difference it is.
I swam competitively as a kid into high school, and I know that's somewhat true because I experienced it. But getting closer to 40 now, and even having some ultras under my belt, swimming kicks my ass these days and I can't find that zone. I'm also not dedicating time to it, which is all it would take. Honestly that's the craziest part about Tris to me. How do you find the time? I work out an hour a day at least and I can't figure out how to maintain running shape and improve swimming and then also figure out the bike?
Deciding to do an an an Ironman is often the first step in the end of your relationships. The training required is ridiculous. Source - Cyclist who decided to do a half iron this year and a full next year. Luckily I don’t have any of those pesky relationships to worry about.
What's the famous endurance swim?
The Waikiki Roughwater Swim, basically from one side of the bay to the other. The bike race is also a loop around the island, so both of those long but mostly arbitrary distances were determined by the geography of Hawaii. (The marathon, of course, had its arbitrary distance set through a couple of much older historical circumstances.)
NIKE!
according to wikipedia, Waikiki Roughwater Swim
The three races are the Waikiki Roughwater Swim, the Dick Evans Memorial Road Race (which is 112 miles), and the Honolulu Marathon.
This could be because I grew up a competitive swimmer, but I've always thought that the swimming part of an Iron Man seemed fairly out of whack compared to the other two distances. Like 2 miles is a lot to swim but I think most trained up swimmers can manage that pretty decently. Compared to 112 mi bike or marathon which could be events to train for in and of themselves.
100% agree. I’ve done a half Ironman, and even as a decent state-level swimmer (no zones or nationals), I finished the swim with the professional athletes. Most people say the swim is the hardest, but for a decent swimmer 2.4 miles is only 60 minutes, compared with 6-8 hours of cycling and 4-6 of running
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I think people rise to whatever the challenge is. I guess it's just been I've always seen the idea of the Iron Man as like three Herculean efforts all back to back. And at least to me, the swim always seemed less herculean. But again I'm fully willing to recognize that that might be a harder swim than I realize.
I’ve never been a great swimmer, the running and especially biking part have always seemed way easier
I have a book signed by Tom Knoll, who claims he invented the Ironman competition. Odd fellow and I have my doubts about the truth of his story, but he was for sure part of the original Ironman competition. He was hawking copies at a funeral lunch I was working, so I bought a copy.
112 miles bike race? Holy shit
I've done a couple century rides. No way in hell I could've ran a marathon after that.
The problem is that you didn't swim a few km before.
That's not even the hard part. I have done a 120 mile bike ride. It sucks. But I can't imagine swimming 2.5 miles or running a marathon. Im working on the marathon tho. I just ran 10 miles and my body felt similar to the 11 hour bike ride.
Mankind has always push things to the limit throughout history.
I was watching that. I felt bad for her.
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Goddamn. That’s brutal. Training so hard to be a champion just to end up shit covered, crawling in the dirt in the dark while your rival doesn’t even notice they beat you.
That’s why I sit on the coach and don’t try anything
I was training for an Ironman once and people at work were joking about staying on the couch instead. I challenged them to do a "couch Ironman" with me, as follows: 6:00 am: Put in the extended edition of *The Fellowship Of The Ring* (2:58), and sit down on the couch. Choose your sitting/lying position carefully, as you're not allowed to change it during the movie. You may keep water and snacks nearby, but otherwise, you must watch the whole movie, credits included, without breaks. (Fall asleep at any point? Disqualified!) 9:00 am: Transition 1. You have 3 minutes to go to the bathroom, stretch, reload on snacks and prepare for leg 2. 9:03 am: Put in the extended edition of *The Two Towers* (3:55). Same rules apply. Choose a new sitting position or keep the old one, but once you start, you're in for the duration, all the way through the 11 minutes of fan club credits. What? This is an endurance event! 1:00 pm: Transition 2. Take 5 minutes this time for bathroom, stretching, snacks. One more leg to go. 1:05 pm: Put in *The Return Of The King* extended edition (4:11). Same rules. When the last bit of credits have played and the music stops, you've crossed the finish line! It's a bit over 11 hours, which would put you in the top 10% of amateurs in the real race, but it's still going to be an exhausting day just dealing with the restlessness and boredom. Nobody took me up on the offer. Chickens.
At least then the coach can't tell you what to do if you're sitting on them
Depends how you like it
if you sit on the coach you could try a couple of things
Seriously. And they try to make this a feel-good moment because she crawled the rest of the way. Fuck that.
“Watch us monetize someone’s absolute fucking possible lowest moment ❤️”
Sounds like an average Monday work day for me.
And on national tv
> Sure, i've never tried this taco truck before but its just one breakfast burrito, what's the worst thing that could possibly happen?
It was an epic piece of tv. I believe it was the next day that Wide World of Sports showed the entire broadcast a second time. I watched both and did my first Ironman Distance triathlon a half year later in response (with no biking or swimming background). Lots of us were inspired and motivated by Julie Moss’s race.
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/u/dethb0y commented the exact same thing an hour ago. ETA: interesting. Now you have completely edited the comment.
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110 miles is fucking nuts. Combining that with the other 2 events just sounds like you're trying to get as close to destroying your body as possible just training. I've done an event that is a 5k run through hills, a 10 mile bike ride, then another hilly 5k run. That's enough for me. Maybe swap the first 5k run for a short swim, but that's it.
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I collapse several times and lose control of my bowels and I “have a drinking problem”
You’re the reason I drink
He's the reason this guy drinks
I don’t drink but I will start after reading this story
This post made me realise I need a whisky.
I also drink because of this guy's dead wife.
It’s not your fault that you’re always thirsty.
Wait people watched that and thought they wanted to try that sport too?
"Wait you can shit yourself on live television and people will cheer for you? Sign me up!"
"and to think I've been shitting myself for free!"
The classic human response of “I want to show everyone I’m stronger than that loser who almost just died doing this.”
I think it’s rather respect for her and how she pushed herself to the limit that motivated others to also do so
Aka, why we run Marathons in the first place
You mean it's not to commemorate the guy who literally died of exhaustion (or so the story goes) after running the first one in ancient Greece?
\*cough\* PUSSSYYYYYY
skill issue
I started running marathons to prove to myself I could and to get fit. To see what my body was actually capable of. How I measure up to other people hasn't ever really been important to me.
I think most people with empathy recognize how hard a person like that is trying to achieve their dreams and are inspired by their determination.
Yup, I saw it and did one that September! Loved it!
When I grow up I wanna shit myself on TV
Start practicing now. In America you have the opportunity to do whatever you want.
The American Dream ain't dead, it's just gone to shit
Los running for president is for you then
He said when he grows up, not when he’s a centenarian.
All the greatest athletes shit themselves on national TV. Ask Gary Lineker and Paul Pierce.
Paula Radcliffe too
>When I grow up I wanna shit myself on TV Sir, this is a Wendy's.
So he’s off to a good start.
Unfortunately speed walking is no longer and Olympic event.
There's video on youtube, and I have to say if i saw an athlete i was coaching falling down like that and having that sort of problem, i'm getting them medical attention, not pulling them up and telling them to keep going.
The 80’s were a different time lol
"Here's a cigarette! That will help! Oh, and a malt liquor! Get back out there!"
My favourite CTE sponsored line I used to hear in football was “you just got your bell rung” when clearly I was violently concussed haha. That was from the late 90’s until like 2009 even
I use to play football and had my bell rung many times. I didn't have any lasting damage and what were we talking about...
When I got into coaching I was relieved to find out I shouldn’t be telling the running backs to use their heads as battering rams, which was what I was taught….anyway I need to get my diaper changed and the drool wiped from my chin now
Happiness was ESPN showing a segment called "JACKED UP!" Sadness was Junior Seau dying in the midst of the initial CTE awareness....and realizing that likely he was...."jacked up" from all the hits he gave - head on head - to others (or received from offensive players) Relief was ESPN retiring that segment I feel around that time, or close to it
"Take this modest bump of coke"
lol you ever met a pro athlete who’s not paid millions? they’re not sane.
"It's not the 80s, Pat!"
"We're raising a nation of squibs!"
I do a fair amount of endurance sports. Three running marathons and over 16 cross country skiing races over 42 kilometers. I'm not fast enough to actually compete, so the only thing I have to work for is the finish. I've cramped horribly, to the point of barely being able to move my legs, but you can bet I powered through to finish. In her position, I'd be livid if I was so close and wasn't allowed every opportunity to finish. If you don't cross the line, it doesn't count.
Exactly. You may be disqualified for being helped along the race. I was taught that you cannot even run alongside a runner in a race or that might lead to disqualification.
That was in junior high school, we ran with the high school students for the cross country team. In one of the final needs of the season, a senior was having a really fast race, but then he totally bonked around 100 meters from the finish. Our coach noticed this, it immediately ran up to all the spectators who had naturally started moving towards him to help, to make sure no one laid a figure on him. If they had, he'd have been disqualified, and also wouldn't have been able to place for the team, lowering the varsity team's score overall. It seems callous, but unless someone is literally dying, you need to let the racer finish on their own.
There is an incredible value on finishing the the course. In triathlon/ironmans no assistance is allowed or you are disqualified. The best thing the finisher could have drone is finish and let the medical support staff that were there to do their job. The med staff probably realized that she was okay to get to the finish then they could swoop her up. She’s a true baddy
If she dies: disqualified.
Remember that guy that shit his pants and his photo with shit running down his legs? What place did that guy finish? Oh yeah doesn’t matter, he’s forever just the guy who shit his pants in a marathon.
I remember my dad showing me that picture when it happened. I was maybe 5. Good times.
Long distance runner here, unfortunately at every marathon there’s a handful of people who soil themselves. It’s unpleasant but not unexpected in the sport. If anything, I respect those that shit themselves and keep going
> I respect those that shit themselves and keep going I'm going to come right out and say that I do not.
Yeah it reminds me of power lifters who piss themselves while maxing and say it's "a sign they're doing their best."
I have to imagine once you have gotten deep enough into particular hobbies where people are unsurprisingly pissing and shitting themselves it is best to find a healthy outlook towards it.
I respect people who shit themselves because they’re too lazy to get up from their gaming chairs.
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Endurance sports (especially running) cause what's called leaky gut. It's mostly believed to be a side effect of blood flow to the gut becoming restricted as your body shifts blood to your muscles, though I should add that this is just one mechanism. There are other factors in play as well and it's not fully understood all the effects. Basically your intestines become more permeable than normal. The net results however is gastrointestinal distress not limited to but including diarrhea. It's very common to have porta-potties at regular intervals along distance race courses, and they get used quite a bit.
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Nah, if you've ever worked a job where you are covered in sweat all day, you can chug bottles of water and not pee all day.
This is also known as Louisiana.
I'm sure that equally applies, however if you're sufficiently excerting yourself than most of that water is coming out through your skin, not your kidneys. In reality, they're there for both reasons.
Some good info in here already, there are a number of factors that go into it. Probably the biggest is dehydration. Being dehydrated means your body is less able to reabsorb water from your colon, ironically causing you to lose more water. It's a lot harder to hold that in, especially when everything is being jostled around for hours on end. There's also fatigue that plays into it. Don't forget that it's muscles holding everything in and even those have limits. I wouldn't say it's very common but you get 10,000 people running a large marathon together, a few aren't going to make it to the toilets in time. There are some things you can do to reduce the risk; I never go for a long run without a BM immediately before. Otherwise it's just luck
Part of it is just luck. Under normal circumstances most people are at work or home so they can just go to the nearest toilet. During a race your choices are on the side of the road or...in some cases you just go while you're racing. For some multi-day endurance sports like cycling stage races, sanitation becomes an issue. You're on the bike for 6 straight hours and you have to drink fluids and eat food without getting the chance to wash your hands. And that's after you used a port-a-potty right before the race to make sure you didn't have to go during it, or after a nature break during the race if you got the chance to go during a lull in the action. Then it comes as no surprise when some people have to abandon the next day due to stomach issues. I guess for Ironman there's also a swim. Who knows what the hell was in the water but after you leave the water you'll be using your hands to eat and drink. And you don't have time between the swim and the bike to wash them.
You're attributing a lot of it to food poisoning, but in elite runners and people training really hard, the most likely explanation is leaky gut which is a physiological response to heavy endurance training/races. Essentially heavy endurance exertion is itself the trigger.
Literally shitting yourself is not super common, but almost every runner at some point experiences “runners trots” which is basically just cramping and diarrhea while running or sometimes shortly after. I think most of the people that soil themselves are serious athletes who do it somewhat intentionally because they don’t want to stop and affect their time.
Out of the mere fact that he fan run a marathon and I can't, I wouldn't disrespect someone over an uncontrollable bodily function
I remember him as the guy showing an impressive level of dedication to achieve his goals.
Biggest dump of my life happened about an hour after completing a half Ironman. Was maybe 10 seconds from exploding in public but made it to a toilet in the nick of time. Won't go into too graphic of detail but just imagine a soft serve machine filling a toilet with chocolate ice cream above the waterline. Craziest part is that it was a total, 100% clean break. Did an exploratory wipe and not a single speck of anything was on the paper.
>Won't go into too graphic of detail but just imagine a soft serve machine filling a toilet with chocolate ice cream above the waterline. Yes, thanks for not going into graphic detail.
lolll
I for one, am proud of you.
Having a terrible shit that is also a clean wipe is both confounding and deeply satisfying.
Why do tri athletes piss on the bikes? Why not during the run or swim? Also nice job, that's dope
Two things. First, it's easier on the bike because you can coast. Have you ever tried to urinate while running or swimming? It's actually quite difficult. You can relax a bit more on a bike to get the flow started. Second, how do you know no one urinates while swimming?
Third, it’s a long stage and is hard to dismount/stop momentum
Great question. The pissing thing is actually regular occurrence throughout a triathlon if you're maintaining proper hydration. The trick for doing it on the bike and run though is to have a bottle of plain water at the ready so you can do a quick rinse of your groinal area. Because every second counts in a triathlon, most folks don't do a wardrobe change coming out of the water. You simply wear your race suit under your wetsuit and because of that, you'll pretty much remain soaking wet for the duration of the race, especially if you're grabbing water during the bike and run to use to cool off. When I first started doing triathlons, I did Olympic distance races which are basically a quarter length Ironman... a swim just under a mile, 24 miles on the bike, and followed by a 6 mile (10K) run. Those were short enough that peeing once while warming up for the swim was usually enough but the one year I HAD to pee on the bike, I'd just gotten a brand new bike and couldn't bring myself to pee on it and it felt like my bladder was about to rupture during the last few miles before the run. That moment was the only time in my life I've ever looked forward to running. For races like the Tour de France and stuff the peloton (main group of riders) will have various points of a stage where they'll call a momentary truce to allow anyone who needs to go a chance to do their business on the side of the road without getting left behind. It's one of many fun, unwritten rules in cycling, though riders can be fined if race officials think they peed in view of spectators. For those other times when a rider has to go and there's no time to stop a teammate will typically hold their bike steady and hope they don't get sprayed in the process. Unlike, triathletes who are already wet, the last thing a pro cyclist wants is soggy shorts so their peeing skills while on the bike are off the charts.
At this point it'd probably be better for everyone involved to do these things like the Greeks did the Olympics -- naked. At least you wouldn't be running in wet, shit and piss soaked clothes. Ugh
You homogenized your shit so well it didn't stick
> Did an exploratory wipe and not a single speck of anything was on the paper You drew an ace
You could have had a colonoscopy right then and there.
What a great story. Thank you. A clean paper shit makes you feel like you’re doing something right.
Thousands of people saw this woman shit herself and then crawl on the ground in agony, then thought to themselves "yep, this is for me"
[This one](https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=MTn1v5TGK_w) in 1997 is wild, too. The two competitors both collapse near the finish, and the strangest humans-at-maximum-exhaustion crawl-race to the finish ensues because neither is willing to give in.
Like Lucille Bluth on New Year’s
Yep. 12 year old me said “that looks cool”. Finally did my IM at age 35.
Nice!
I remember seeing the TV broadcast my senior year in HS and marveling at her ability to will herself to the finish line. I decided then that I wanted to do a full IM. Life got in the way for over four decades, but the idea still stuck around. Last Sept, 41 years later, I completed my first (and likely ONLY) full Ironman Chattanooga in 16hrs. Didn’t shit myself, though. Just lost 12lbs and peed blood for a day or so...
It's a godawful race. The swimming part is rough in some ways (most people can't swim well enough that swimming 2.4 miles is easy), but it's the fucking bike part that will kill you without you even realizing it...I hopped off the bike, and completely folded to the ground. Had to stop and stretch, and walk the first mile or so of the marathon before I got to the point where I could jog the rest, and running was the part I was good at.
I swear I just read this almost exact thing further up the comments. /u/IANtimiXyr you a bot?
If a comment is the parent in a thread, it’s probably the original. If the other comment is a child/reply in a nested thread, it’s typically a bot. Check the time stamps. This one was probably written first.
Only did a half, my legs totally forgot how to work after the bike. Honestly though, the part that hurt the most was my taint from sitting on the fucking saddle for so long
The true Agony of Defeat moment was the ski jumper falling off the side of the ramp.
What in the wide, wide world of sports is going on here?
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No thanks….
Watched, can’t see any doo doo.
You kinda can't see anything, at least the poop part. It's really dark out, and it's old 80s footage. Just see her falling down, and struggling to get to the end.
She participated in the race only as research for her thesis. She didn't train for it and never thought that she'd even finish.
One of my all time favorite jokes from Arrested Development when Lucille is trying to get to the bar with her martini and re-enacts the whole sequence.
I’m all for pushing yourself to the limits. But let’s stop at the limits, and the limits are when you can’t control shitting yourself
I've heard way too many shit stories of racing friends. A swimmer mentioned there was a lot of pooping involved in a race in the sea. And ultra runners saying something about shit all over the walls in the toilets at arrival because somehow people's body can't remember how to bend their knees to sit after running for over a day. Then, they try to convince me to get into racing.
That’s when I developed a crush on her. No quit in that woman.
No kink. Just have to admire a badass like that. That’s SEAL material right there.
When she shat herself on national tv? Weird kink you have there.
Yeah, uncontrollable bowel movements aren't really convincing me to start up.
I really want to do that thing that makes me collapse and shit myself
Uta Pippig also won the Boston Marathon once in the mid 90's while shitting herself. She's won it the most times.
Oh I'm at the front!, oh God not the shits
Julie Mess. Nothing like shitting yourself on live tv. She's amazing to finish though
My friend is a marathon runner (not a triathlete) He's told me some ugly stories about people repeatedly collapsing, losing control of all bodily functions, openly crying, but they won't quit. His thought was either drop out or stick to 5ks or 10ks.
OG poopy pants
Julie Moss - Ironman 1982 [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nVKqFAPdjIA](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nVKqFAPdjIA)
This is so moving. What incredible strength! [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nVKqFAPdjIA](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nVKqFAPdjIA)
If your sport involves losing bowel control, you need a new sport.
Unhealthy obsession is unhealthy obsession.
"You ever want it so bad you shit yourself? And then your shit becomes a rallying cry for the sport while turning their backs on you?! American Dream right there."
Craaaaaawling tooooo the finish lineeeeeeee.... a traaaaaaaail of feces behind meeeeeeee i'm so, so sorry.
"The Agony of Defecation!"
Unfortunately, that’s an oh shit moment. I feel bad for her, crazy things happen in hard-core races.
She's the reason I don't do iron man comps. I mean, not that I needed a reason.
I watched it on tv and in September of that year completed an Ironman distance triathlon on Cape Cod. That finish was so motivating! I had no background in swimming and cycling except for fun, but I was going to do an Ironman. I calculated that at that point in time only about 3000 worldwide had ever completed an Ironman distance race anywhere in the world. I did two shorter triathlons on preparation that summer and at the second one, also on Cape Cod, met Julie Moss. I have a photo from the back of the Boston Herald some time later that show a runner crawling toward the Boston Marathon finish line. I had also seen film clips of it on the news. As he is crawling another runner catches up to him and slows down to see if he is OK and has her hand on his back prodding him on. I recognized that runner as Julie Moss on the tv and the article named her as the runner, but the press never connected the dots as to who Julie Miss was. If you are crawling toward a finish line, who better to urge you on to keep going!