How many 70.3 races in a season

davidpettigrew

For 2014, I am planning to do a 70.3 on 6/28 and another on 8/17. I am also thinking about on some time in September. I have never raced this distance before, I have done triathlon for two years and did IM Canada last year. The only one I have registered for is the 8/17.
Does it seem reasonable to do three of them? What is a good time interval between them?
Thanks
David

MattAaronson

In 2011 and 2012 I did 3 half-ironman events. The first year was also my first year attempting that distance. I spaced them all very close together: mid-July, mid-August, early September. I was pretty burned out by September so the next year I spaced them differently: early June, mid-July, early September. That worked a lot better for me.

Brenda Ross

I was told by Patrick that 3 is the max he recommends, if we want to race the events.

davidpettigrew

Thanks for your answers. I will bear that in mind now.
David

GMAN 19030

If I had my druthers I would race four 70.3's per year. Two early season and two late.

Coach Rich

You need about 4wks of recovery between races in order to truly race them, and improve at each one. 

In my experience, how many you can do is a function of how much of your HIM-style training is simple part of your lifestyle / just what you do. That is, if riding your bike 2.5-3.5hrs every Saturday and a 1:20-40 long run every week is "is just "what you do" vs part of a training plan, then your default training level (?) is already that of an HIM and it's not a big deal to race many of them -- you're pretty much always in HIM shape so there is very little to no mental cost of ramping up because you're already there.

If your default training and fitness level are Oly-esque then, yes, there is a ramp up that can come at a bit of a mental cost. 

MattAaronson

Posted By Rich Strauss on 20 Nov 2013 08:31 AM

In my experience, how many you can do is a function of how much of your HIM-style training is simple part of your lifestyle / just what you do. That is, if riding your bike 2.5-3.5hrs every Saturday and a 1:20-40 long run every week is "is just "what you do" vs part of a training plan, then your default training level (?) is already that of an HIM and it's not a big deal to race many of them -- you're pretty much always in HIM shape so there is very little to no mental cost of ramping up because you're already there.

Great point.

davidpettigrew

Thanks. So realistically if I were to add a 3rd it should be before 5/31 or after 9/14. I will need to see what races are. I am not aware of any HIM races in May in the NW, so I will likely plan on racing at Leadman 115 on September 20th. It is a slightly different format from 70.3 (longer swim and bike, shorter run), but should be np to adapt to that.