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The Cost of Zero to Ironman

Had someone told me last June when I was contemplating whether or not to not only sign up for my first sprint triathlon, but also my first Ironman, that the cost of the adventure would be enough to go on an all expense paid two month European vacation or pay off my car loan, I might have chosen the vacation. Now that I’ve accomplished my goal of becoming an Ironman, I don’t regret the sacrifices I made to get there, but I am quite shocked at how much money I forked over to do it. I use Mint.com for my finances and therefore it was fairly easy for me to track my spending on triathlon over the course of the last year. I think it will  be helpful for others considering entering triathlon and/or training for their first Ironman to see what the costs add up to.

Disclaimer: These are the actual costs that I spent for my personal journey to becoming and Ironman and they will vary from person to person depending on your individual needs and preferences. In some areas I spent more than the average person (expensive Garmin, Lululemon running clothes, VO2 Max test, nice bike) and in some I spent less (not that nice of a bike, didn’t buy power for my bike, didn’t get a coach). If talking about money makes you uncomfortable, then don’t read on!

Costs – June – August: Entering the World of Triathlon

When I started triathlon, all I had to my name related to the sport was a pair of running shoes. And even those had to be replaced. Luckily my Dad let me borrow his road bike and Mike bought me some new tires and tubes for it, but I still needed gear to be successful in the sport. At first I tried to buy the bare minimum – I didn’t even buy a cycling jersey for the first three months and instead I wore running tanks on the bike. Despite that, here’s how much I spent on triathlon those first few months:

My Very First Triathlon Purchases!
  • Bathing Suit, Swim Cap and Goggles: $29.99 (Had an Active Schwaggle Deal for TYR – expect to pay more than I did).
  • Tri Suit: $99.65 (I also had a $50 gift certificate so this was less than the actual price)
  • Cycling Helmet, Cycling Shorts, Cleats and Cycling Shoes: $200 (rounded)
  • Triathlon Club Membership: $55
  • XTerra Wetsuit (Long sleeve): $200
  • Supplements & Nutrition (Gu, Cytomax, Recovery): $91.13
  • JCC Master’s Swim Card (10 swims): $20
  • Other (Running shoes, 1 massage, etc): 217.65
  • Total Spent June-August (Excluding Race Fees) for Triathlon Gear: $913.42

Race Entry Fees:

  • USAT Membership – 1 Year: $39
  • Sprint Triathlon: $88
  • Olympic Distance Triathlon: $188.06
  • Surf City Marathon: $112.83
  • Ironman California 70.3: $321.51
  • Ironman Coeur D’Alene: $630
  • Total Race Entry Fees: $1,379.40

Buying a New Bike & Becoming a “Real Cyclist”

Bikes Can Cost As Much as a Car

In the Fall I realized that I needed to stop looking like a “Fred” (Thank you Page for the reference) and should probably buy some real cycling gear instead of sporting running tank tops and designer sunglasses on every ride and wearing the same pair of shorts over and over (Febreeze is my friend). I dropped another $175 at a local female bike shop on cycling jerseys and things like Ho-Ha ride glide. Next up was a spiffy jacket to keep me warm during the winter rides as well as some long cycling pants. Add another $83.38 to that (I had a gift card from Christmas for REI so really this should have been more!). Eventually, I broke down and stopped wearing my designer sunglasses on the bike and swapped them out for a pair of Oakleys, setting me back another $100 (scored a great deal on these too!). Cycling gloves added another $10 (I had a Living Social Deal again!).

As for the bike itself, I was fortunate enough to get a pretty amazing deal on my 2012 Cervelo P2, which is normally $2,800. Cervelo ran a deal around December-January where they offered $1,000 offer per bike if two people purchased bikes together. I worked my magic at our local bike shop to find a random person to split the deal with me and we both walked away with Cervelo’s, mine only costing $1,992.74 (including tax). The P2 is a quality, carbon-fiber bike and is a steal at $2,800, let alone $2k.

Mike actually bought my pedals for me, which were another $100 and then I had to buy myself a woman’s seat since the one that came standard really hurt my hoo-ha. That was another $94.24 (which is inexpensive as far as seats go).

After Oceanside, I bought a new cassette to make hills easier as well as a new chain, adding another $96.63 to the total.

Last, but certainly not least, was a professional bike fitting from a very reputable fitter here in San Diego. I believe everyone should get a good fitting (not a 15 minute one from your local bike shop) and I really regret not getting mine sooner. That set me back $250 but it was well worth it!

Total Bike Expenses: 2,801.99 (not including pedals)

Ironman Training, Travel &  Apparel Costs

Here’s where things get crazy! Here are some of my regular costs associated with Ironman that I would expect anyone to also have:

Workout Fuel and Recovery Costs Add Up Fast

  • Gym Membership ($10/month) for swimming and treadmill running if raining: $120
  • Master’s Swim Classes ($6/class, about 2x a week for 3 months): $114
  • 2 more pairs of running shoes: $196.52
  • 9 Months of Nutrition (Gu, CarboPro, Glutamine, BCAAs, Stinger Waffles, Nuun): $966.41 (~107.38/month)
  • Bike Trainer& Computer for Indoor Riding: $367.74
  • Neoprene Cap and Booties: $86.66
  • Extra food purchases due to increased hunger and calorie burnage: unable to track, but my monthly food allowance did go up about $100-200/month (this isn’t include in the total below, however).
  • Total Necessities: $1,851.33

Here are some of the optional costs that I decided to partake in, that you may or may not want to:

Garmin – Necessity for Some, Luxury for Others
  • Vo2 Max & Heart Rate Zone Testing  (Holiday Special – Regularly $200) $95
  • 1 Video Swim Stroke Analysis & Swim Lesson: $120
  • 5 Massages, including tip (1 post Marathon, 4 during Ironman Training – I got a deal for buying a package):  $348
  • New Garmin Watch: $479.38
  • Lululemon Apparel (ie expensive running clothes): $273.69
  • Total Extras: $1,116.07
Most Ironman Triathlons aren’t in large metropolitan areas. If you are fortunate enough to live very close to your race,  you will be able to forgo some of these travel costs. We were fortunate enough to participate in a very close 70.3 race, and therefore avoided all costs for travel for this race. However, we had to travel to Coeur D’Alene. Since we had to fly, we also had to ship our bikes.
Start Saving for Your Gear NOW!
  • TriBike Transport for Bike Shipping $300
  • Hotel for 6 Nights (6 night minimum stay at nearly all hotels in CdA – this is my half of the room I shared with Mike): $650
  • Flight to/from CdA (For me this was free because I opened a Southwest Credit Card and used points to book a flight. However, since I could have used this flight for another trip, I added it to my cost of Ironman): $300
  • Ironman Apparel: $281.61 (I went pretty crazy at IM CdA  but didn’t buy much at Oceanside 70.3. However I did refrain from buying the Finisher’s Jacket which is I believe $160. I got a finisher’s sweatshirt for $70 instead).
  • FinisherPix Photos: $30 (for one download- expect to pay about $170 if you want all the photos)
  • Total  Ironman Travel/Apparel: $1,561.61
Total 1 Year Cost To Transform From Runner to Triathlete to Ironman: $9,623.82
Price Tag For This Finisher Photo: $10k
I knew that triathlon was expensive but after looking at the actual costs all together, I really can’t believe it. Was it worth it? Yes. I really enjoyed the year I trained for Ironman and most of the time I had fun doing it. I enjoyed learning the sport and spending my mornings, nights and weekends training with my boyfriend, best friend and her boyfriend. We bonded over dissecting our heart rates, improving our base pace in the pool, geeking out of pro-triathletes, analyzing the elevation gain of our rides, and chowing down on seriously large burritos. Crossing the finish line at Ironman CdA was one of the proudest moments of my life and it really proved to me that my body is strong and it can take me places if I push myself.
Do I plan to do another Ironman any time soon? No. Now that I have all the gear, I know that I can race shorter distances which don’t require as much bike maintenance, nutrition, massages, etc. I’ve invested a lot in to this sport and I don’t plan to quit it all together, but I’ve definitely changed my perspective on how I will approach my future in this sport. I know that I have it in me to improve quite a bit in triathlon and possibly could do really well at it which some coaching and focus on technique and a lot more time on the bike.
However, I’m not sure that improving my time in triathlon is all that important to me. It’s certainly not worth another $10k to me. So for now, I plan to focus on running (the cheapest of all three sports) and next year I’ll probably do a Wildflower (a non M-Dot event with cheaper registration that I can also drive to) and a few local sprints and possibly an Olympic. I am not going to spend a lot of money on a coach or pay for more swim lessons or buy a power meter. I love running and I love triathlon but I also want to have a house that my future family can live in, and I need to be saving more money to make that happen. I was able to still save money during my Ironman training but looking back on these costs, I realize I could save a lot more.  For now, I will work with the thousands of dollars worth of gear I already have to get me to the finish line at some local races.
 Do you think Ironman is worth these costs? Do you have any tips for saving money while training for Ironman? 

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Related

July 18, 2012 By fitnessfatale 26 Comments

Filed Under: Triathlons, Uncategorized Tagged With: how much does it cost to do an ironman, ironman expenses, triathlon race fees, triathlons are expensive

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Jocelyn

    July 18, 2012 at 10:28 pm

    I can’t believe you only have to spend $10 a month on gym membership!! That is amazing.

    Also, great post as I am *thinking* about signing up for an Ironman next year….

    Reply
    • FitnessFatale

      July 18, 2012 at 10:30 pm

      My family signed up for a group membership to 24 hour fitness when I was 13 years old! My membership is $3 but I pay $10 for the upgrade to the sport clubs that have pools.

      Reply
  2. Page

    July 19, 2012 at 12:45 am

    I LOVE that you are such a coupon-a-holic!! This scares the crap out of me though and I’m still not sure I should share it with the husband. But thanks for adding this all up, really insightful.

    Reply
    • FitnessFatale

      July 19, 2012 at 1:52 am

      Haha I’m more of a Groupon-a-holic. Mike calls them “anti-money” because although you are getting a deal, you end up spending more money because you have a coupon. Like when you pay $15 for $30 at a restaurant and then end up getting an appetizer, wine and dessert you wouldn’t have gotten because it all seems “free” and then end up with an additional $50 tab on top of your “Free” stuff.

      Reply
  3. See Becca Try to Tri

    July 19, 2012 at 1:04 am

    That is incredible!

    Reply
  4. See Becca Try to Tri

    July 19, 2012 at 1:06 am

    And I did get the jacket (thanks to my BF 🙂 )

    Reply
  5. See Becca Try to Tri

    July 19, 2012 at 1:08 am

    Reblogged this on See Becca Try to Tri and commented:
    Interesting summary of what it costs to do an Ironman (money-wise that is)

    Reply
  6. jnkmiles.org

    July 19, 2012 at 2:42 am

    I do not even want to begin adding up what I spend monthly or yearly…OMG, I really don’t want my husband to ever really figure it out either!! I knew it was a lot, but….WOW! 😉

    Reply
  7. Asia

    July 19, 2012 at 5:28 am

    My guess is that I spent around the same amount! And now I’m doing another one! YIKES! Then maybe I can start saving money? Sigh. The cost to achieve our goals.

    Reply
  8. Rachel

    July 19, 2012 at 8:35 am

    ha, i was just working on a post like this! and ironically, i came in around $10k as well…ridiculous, but so worth it!

    Reply
  9. trinkim

    July 19, 2012 at 10:17 am

    Great re-cap of expenses. I really enjoyed it…makes me wonder how much I have forked out since 2005…but, I am hooked. I try to do the races I love, races that are new and others that are challenging. It’s never been about winning for me…it’s the pride of accomplishment. Kudos to you!

    Reply
  10. swimcyclerun2012

    July 19, 2012 at 6:59 pm

    Wow, I knew triathlon is expensive but I’ve never stopped to think about this in the level of detail you’ve presented it. Amazinbg what you can afford when you want something and incorporate it into your life.

    Reply
  11. KrisLawrence

    July 19, 2012 at 7:26 pm

    omg…that is crazy!! I guess there is no price for a dream though right?! Loved this post because I’ve always wondered how much all the costs would add up to myself. My cheap self is sticking to running 😉

    Reply
  12. Lauren

    July 19, 2012 at 7:34 pm

    AMEN! I added up all of my stuff, and I was around 11k, so right in the same ball park! You and I have similar priorities for sure- I love triathlon but I cant afford to do another Ironman while I am in PT school. I need to use the little money I have for other things.

    Granted the next ironman will be less expensive since we wont have to buy bikes and all that jazz…but its still a lot of money!

    Reply
  13. Melissa

    July 20, 2012 at 1:13 am

    For 2011 I tagged all of my expenses in Mint for running: shoes, clothes, travel, etc.and holy crap – eye opening. Certainly not 10k, but good lord I spent a lot of money!! I guess some of it probably wasn’t necessary (3 pairs of Brooks Adrenalines in different colors?) but spread out over the year it was ridiculous. This year I reigned in the spending quite a bit.

    Reply
  14. Kelly @ My love affair with running

    July 20, 2012 at 12:52 pm

    Who would have thought fitness would be so expensive??!?!
    I just got a Garmin as well, LOVE it! Definitely a great luxury 😉

    Reply
  15. katie

    July 20, 2012 at 6:55 pm

    UGH. I started keeping a spreadsheet after I signed up but ditched it last fall. UGH.

    Reply
  16. Kristina

    July 23, 2012 at 7:41 am

    That’s pretty amazing. I’m just doing a half-IM in August, and got into tri’s last year. So I thought that this year would be relatively (key word) economical, but that’s a laugh!

    Reply
  17. Amanda

    February 25, 2013 at 11:48 pm

    Wow. I’ve always wanted to do an ironman but after seeing the cost I might have to rethink it. Definitely wont be happening anytime soon

    Reply
    • FitnessFatale

      February 26, 2013 at 12:03 am

      That’s coming from literally NOTHING – if you already have gear (a bike especially) you can shave $3-4k off.

      Reply
  18. Seb

    August 16, 2013 at 2:41 pm

    In Europe (France in particular), it is quite a lot cheaper to race triathlons (even if 1€ is worth more than a $ these days!).

    Fees are around 30€ for a sprint/OD, and even if M-dot races are as expensive as in the US, you can find many (MANY!) 226 or 113 races for reasonable fees (less than 100€ for half-distance, less than 150 € for full-D). Plus, we can drive to most of the races since distances are shorter round here =)

    A bike (and all the gear associated with it) is the most expensive to buy, but since you already own one (and a good one!), you only have to buy tyres and tubes for it: 150€ per year max.
    You can also chose to buy a second-hand bike – I bargained an almost new (less than 2k miles rode on it by its previous owner) S-Works Transition for 3k€ last year…

    Glad to see you’re back on the saddle and racing triathlons again since it looks like you’re a gifted young lady!

    Keep up the good work!

    Reply

Trackbacks

  1. The path to COOL–Triathlons | Joy in the Moments says:
    July 23, 2012 at 3:04 pm

    […] The Cost of Zero to Ironman (fitnessfatale.com) […]

    Reply
  2. Trisuits Buying Guide| Fitness Saver | Saver Store says:
    September 11, 2012 at 11:20 pm

    […] The Cost of Zero to Ironman […]

    Reply
  3. The Price to Race | Fitness Fatale says:
    February 25, 2013 at 11:37 pm

    […] To put it perspective, I plan to run 3 half marathons, a 15k, and a marathon this year. I may throw in a 10k Turkey Trot. At $90/half, $110/full, $65/15k and $40 for the 10k, that’s $485 in race registrations before including processing fees. Although, now that I added that up, it seems like nothing in comparison to the $600 Ironman entry fee that about 25% of people lose by getting injured or changing plans before the race (most races do not offer refunds and Ironman is one of them). Last year’s races cost me over $1300 (full marathon, two half marathons, half Ironman, Full Ironman). And of course, there are way more costs associated with racing than just the entry fee (see my post on how much it cost me to train for a full Ironman here). […]

    Reply
  4. Back on with Triathlon | Fitness Fatale says:
    June 13, 2014 at 3:33 am

    […] an additional countless number of hours were spent training on my own. It was a long, exhausting (and expensive!) year, but it was all worth it when I crossed the finish line at Ironman Couer D’Alene in June […]

    Reply
  5. Community | Fitness Fatale says:
    July 26, 2014 at 6:28 pm

    […] in the summers in order to try to relive some of the feelings I felt in 2011-2012 as I went from Zero to Ironman.  I’ve struggled to find motivation to swim any more than I need simply to finish and to bike […]

    Reply

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