How many races?

rlh2000

Looking for some insight from the team.  Last year IMWI was my one and only race all season, and in the past I've only done 2-3 races a season mostly due to $$.  I really want some more races on my schedule this year, and have a bit more money to do so.  I am planning Wisconsin Dells 70.3 as a early season A race and then IMChoo as a late Sept A race.  My question is how many other B and C races are ideal.  I'm toying with Door County HIM in July, but would like to add a couple sprint/olympic distance races to the schedule to have some fun.  I know it is still early to be planning, but early registration rates don't last forever! Let me know all your smart people insight! 

Mark Roberts

I think how often to race really depends on how quick you recover and what your goals are for your A race. I'm doing Chattanooga as well -- I like to race, but typically can only race effectively about once or twice a month and I try not to race 2 weekends in a row. I will probably not race during the 12 week build to Chattnooga; but am targeting a May half Iron, as well as some Sprint/Olympic in April/June/ early July. After about July 10, its all business for Chattanooga.

John Withrow

This is totally a personal preference... Some people "like" to race a lot and others "like" to focus on just one race. I personally "like" to race a lot, but like most people here, I have to balance that against the needs of my wife and kids (we have two boys ages 5 and 7). So, it's not so easy to be away from them so much and it's less easy to take our kids to our races... FWIW, here's my tentative schedule for next yr:

Early April, Bike Race(s)
Late April, 3 day Bike Camp
May 4th, local Half-Lite 50 (longer than OLY but shorter than HIM)
May 18, American Zofingen Duathlon (harder than a HIM)
June 29th, 112 mi Bike leg of the Challenge AC race (doing it as a relay team)
July 10-13, EN IMMT training camp
August 17th, IMMT
Then Either IMCHOO on Sept 28th or Kona in October (if a miracle happens at IMMT).

I had a very similar schedule last yr except I also did a HIM 6 weeks before my A-race which was IMLP.

Al Truscott

I like to think of a "fun" part of my year, and a more serious part, focused on one A Ironman race.

I usually bunch my fun stuff, doing 4 events in five weeks or so, with one of them the "B+" race which determines how I train. This year, for example, I did a long course duathlon, St George 70.3, an 80 mile charity bike ride with friends, and American Zofingen, over a four week period, with the 70.3 as the focus race. This fall, I've got IM AZ as my year's A race, and kept myself from racing within the final eight weeks of training. Last year, I did a two day double century ride, an Oly, IM Canada, and a Ragnar relay over a six week period, with Canada as the B+ race.

As John and I point out with our examples, having fun with your fitness doesnt always have to fall into the mold of sprint/oly/HIM tris. Bike trips or running relays with friends, an s/b/r oriented vacation, or oddball races make a great change of pace.

I'll also point out that during the first 5-6 years of my tri career, I simply inhaled races of all varieties, cause I found it so much fun. Now I'm a little more thoughtful in how I plan it out, but I'm glad I was able to (a) get it out of my system and (b) learn what kinds of racing I was best at, like , wand wanted to pursue in depth. So there's something to be said for just trying stuff, but make sure the stkes are low enough so failure doesn't kill your enthusiasm for the sport in general.

The thing NOT to do is mess up your training for a true A race with anything within 8 weeks before to 2 weeks after. Save the "little" races for a time when achieving less than your best is OK from a goals perspective.