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HIM before IM

atasicatasic
in General Training Discussions

Need a few thoughts from all of you. How far out would you race a HIM given that I signed up for 2014 IMCDA.

At one point, the recovery cost, the importance of the hole punched in the prep for IM becomes to great and will affect the outcome of IM prep peak form. 

On the other hand, no way I am going into racing an Ironman without having a half prior. I have done hardly any racing this year and no long course. I do have 11 half ironman races under my belt of which 4 were raced in 2012, all lead to 4th-7th AG finish.

I am in the process of selecting some races for 2014. March looks like the best window as I will take Nov OS, than 12 weeks IM prep, so I have a window to play with mid Feb into Mar 2014 F. As I remember reading around here, no HIM racing is recommended inside 12 weeks. 

Please, give me your thoughts. Thanks.

Comments

  • Joe MatchetteJoe Matchette
    Aleksander - you do not *need* to race a half prior to your IM. Period. [especially since you have extensive experience at the 1/2-iron distance!!]. Rather, I think you should only race a 1/2 next year because it sounds FUN. If you are worried about lack of racing and breaking up your season prior to CDA, then I would look to local races that are convenient and that you would enjoy.

    Remember, no says, "Can I see your 1/2-iron finisher's certificate?" when you go to Registration.....
  • Peter GreaggPeter Greagg
    I do a HIM with 8 weeks of training, then I am 9 weeks away from my A Race, IM Australia.
    It works for me.
    So I do the full 14 weeks OS, then 8 weeks Get Faster, then 8 weeks of HIM, then 8 weeks of IM.
  • cgres123cgres123
    I agree with Peter; the schedule is tight but your race experience trumps the scheduling issue, all be it a few weeks. As long as you don't mind training that high end for a long time, party on.
  • Coach RichCoach Rich
    Here you go, please read:

    http://www.endurancenation.us/blog/training/racing-a-half-ironman-before-a-full-ironman/
  • Al TruscottAl Truscott
    WTC Choices: Oceanside, TX, FL, NOLA, San Juan
    HITS: Ocala, FL, Napa Valley, CA

    IIRC, Big Training Day is 8-9 weeks out from IM date. HIM slots nicely into that day.

    FWIW, I did a marathon 10'weeks out from my upcoming IM,,about the same recovery issues as HIM. Training picked up nicely within a week.
  • atasicatasic

    Thank you all so kindly. I like all the advice, here is the summary, I will likely head for Galveston, the game is on, I am bringing my war face, no lollygagging when racing and I completely understand the irrelevance of IM pacing during HIM, physiology is different and HIM is not long enough. Given that, 70.3 will be all out as I would want that anyway.

    @Joe, I fully agree, however, I am known to need several races in order to get my head straight, also get in a groove of hurting and mental game enhancement. Also, I begin firing on all cylinders after few races. I know no certificates to check at entry.....image I have too many already. image

    @Peter and Dave, got you both, I also like coach's link a lot and 8 weeks puts it in "yellow zone", still want to have a piece of mind and mental state correct by not loosing major long bike/run workouts.

    @Coach, thank you, read it up and down, will use as guidance.

    @Al, you da man, straight for choices, Oceanside sold out but would have been my choice, next one is Galveston, NOLA is one week later.....so TX it is. I did read your marathon RR, one of the most insightful reads I ever encountered in this sport. Huge congrats.

    Thank you all for wonderful advice. 

  • MattAaronsonMattAaronson
    "I am known to need several races in order to get my head straight, also get in a groove of hurting and mental game enhancement. Also, I begin firing on all cylinders after few races."

    ME TOO!! I TRAIN TO RACE!! Aleks, You have done a craptonof training this year with no races. That is no fun at all. But you do have some late season races. The only thing I suggest is that November OS after a race on 10/20 is really using a long course race as a kickoff to OS, no downtime there. With Branson in Sept you will have been all-out for a while. Another option is a bit of downtime, start the OS a bit later and abbreviate it (or modify it to transition into IM plan at the right time). You can still race TX war-face and all, but don't worry about the timing of that relative to your fitness, worry only about the timing of it relative to your IM...you're not peaking for it.
  • Scott AlexanderScott Alexander
    @Aleksandar, Galveston 70.3 is the same weekend as the EN Tucson camp, which was pretty cool last year. If it makes any difference, I'm trying to make the same decision!
  • atasicatasic

    @Matt, you are correct. I have not had a chance to write here how far I have gone stacking EN OS+SC ADV plans on top of my Fall 2012 3 month running base period. I recorded some crazy gains, well unless my Garmins lie as I never translated that in racing. A bad string of race cancellations and wife's inability to take days off, took me out of the racing circuit. And right as I was really punching through my previous FTP and run VDOT ceilings, I did not schedule any racing, so after milking and milking the SC plan, I started loosing the form as my body could not hold on to it. My need was to go back and reconstruct the durability as I was not recovering anymore well from repeated FTP and IP+TP running, it was all on very low miles......so I scrapped the season now and go to HyVee to enjoy with no goals...

    @Scott, that camp is a factor for sure, thanks for bringing that up. I prefer that over racing, for sure, and would love to attend, gonna have to weigh factors seriously, than.

     

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