If you aren’t familiar with the Ironman competition, prepare to have your mind blown.
It’s essentially a triathlon that would make Superman sweat: a 2.4-mile swim followed by a 112-mile bike ride, with a full marathon for dessert.
The total distance is 140.6 miles (226.3km) and, if it wasn’t already obvious, it’s one of the hardest one-day physical feats you can accomplish.
Organised by the World Triathlon Corporation, it’s a brutal physical test that requires an incredible amount of training, a specialised diet, and more grit than the average paint-by-numbers police drama.
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With great feats come great sponsorship opportunities, and so it proves with Ironman athletes having a lot of scope for decent influencer careers.
One of those hybrid athletes who isn’t shy of cameras is YouTuber Nick Bare, currently training for his second Ironman event.
He completed his first Ironman in 11:28:08 back in 2019, beating the men’s average of 12:38:00 by over an hour. Bare has also completed a standalone marathon in 2:39:20, which is a blistering pace. That’s 3:47/km, by the way. If you can run a 5k at that speed, let alone a full marathon, you’re a pretty special athlete.
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American Bare is set to run the Arizona Marathon in November, because running an Ironman in non-desert conditions would be too easy.
Posting his training journey to YouTube, Bare recently revealed that his diet amounts of 4,643 calories per day. Macros-wise, that’s 123g of fat, 674g of carbohydrates, and 210g of protein.
Hobbyist gym-goers will know that those are pretty mega numbers. For comparison, the average calorie requirement for an adult is around 2,000 per day. If you’ve ever been on a muscle-building bulk, you’ll have discovered that even eating 3,000 calories in one day is no mean feat.
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Despite the massive calorie intake, Bare is maintaining a single-digit body fat percentage whilst completing two training sessions per day. Safe to say, the guy is ridiculously active.
Bare kicks off a day with a 10-mile run fuelled with an energy bar, honey and a carb-loaded drink.
Then, in the late morning, he cycles for two hours on an indoor trainer. It isn’t just a casual spin either, with the session involving intervals at 85-95% of his functional threshold power, making the session intense enough to stress his aerobic system and develop better performance.
Through those sessions he’ll knock back a few carby drinks and energy gels, then after the workout he fills up on a banana, protein powder, dates, oats, honey and almond milk.
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Lunch soon after that consists of beef mince, rice, buffalo sauce and houmous.
Once his training is out of the way, the tail-end of the day sees Bare switch to recovery and the necessary fuelling to get him back in shape for the next day’s onslaught.
Dinner typically involves boneless chicken thighs, potatoes, and an assortment fo vegetables. Last but not least, he polishes off a bowl of cereal and raspberries.
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“I look forward to my late night bowl of cereal every night,” said Bare.
Feeling inspired, or terrified?
Rachael Davis