Humpday Health: PPD Ironman North Carolina Beach to Battleship Triathlon

WILMINGTON, NC (WWAY) — This weekend is the PPD Ironman North Carolina Beach to Battleship Triathlon and thousands of athletes will head to the Cape Fear to compete.

“Well at first I just started running. I started with a simple 5K,” said Ryan Redd. “It sort of progressed to doing a few half marathons and then last year I ran my first full marathon.”

This Saturday she will join the thousands of other competitors when she takes on the half Ironman.

“We start off with a 1.2 mile swim and then we bike 56 miles and get off of the bike and run a half marathon, which is 13.1 miles,” said Redd.

For Redd, even though competing is an individual sport, a team is essential to the training process.

“It’s definitely great to have a team, I’m not going to lie. So having a big support group of people who are doing the same thing is helpful,” Redd said.

She said for her, this weekend is all about celebrating all the hard work athletes competing in both the half and the full Ironman have put in to get to this moment.

“I look forward to seeing the full Ironman people finish. I mean sometimes it takes them up to 12 or 13 hours to finish, maybe even 16. But to see those last finishers come through is so inspirational and just kinda tells you that you can do anything you put your mind to,” Redd said.

For those of you thinking you might want to work up to giving the Ironman a try, this middle school teacher recommends not doing it alone.

“I definitely could not have done this without help from a coach. I was completely ignorant about how to put the training together,” Redd said.

The full length race kicks off Saturday at 7:20 a.m. and the half Ironman starts at 8:30 a.m.