Honestly, I wasn't using heart rate at all during the bike leg. I was just trying to maintain between 65% and 70% on the power. Clearly that was a mistake.
From the FTP test, my lactate threshold heart rate is in the low 150's. So zone 137 would be zone 3 - too high for an IronMan, at least with my fitness level. On the long IM ride, I should be high zone 1 to low zone 2 - 105 to 115 bpm.
Lesson learned, pay attention to both power and HR. If HR is too high, reduce the power.
Scott, I dug a little deeper for you on those numbers....why was HR so crazy if power wasnt? Heat is a factor, and coming out of water to ride (more dehydrated), but here's what I saw.
On CDA race day, your power was: Avg 143W first 20 miles, then Avg 119W for miles 23 to 63, then avg 58W for miles 63 to 95.
+ For the Whistler camp your long ride avg was 126, your first hour was hot (159) but rest was 120. Big fade here on this ride…telling me that your power should be close to 130 ish.
+ At CDA 70.3 your first hour was also hot at avg 147, then it dropped down to average 135 for the whole ride. If Half power is avg 135, then IM power should be in the 130s…
Remember, we preach first 30 miles of an IM as JRA pace, just riding along…but your first hour of power in all your rides is typically your BEST power, and the ride fades from there.
So lesson learned:
+ Watch power but use HR as the “warning” sign + Commit to determining best power numbers based of of your long ride experience + Review Four Keys to better execute first 60 to 90 minutes of the bike to set up the rest of your day…
At IM CdA, the battery in my right pedal (power meter) went dead after mile 63, so that is why the number was so low from mile 63 to the end. The real power is probably twice the number in the file, but that is still low compared to the first 20 miles. Thanks for doing all the analysis. Lesson learned!
I am going to do the Black Diamond half on September 10th. That will be a good chance to practice better race execution.
Our annual Hawaii vacation starts next Wednesday - this time is 10 days in Kona. I won't have a bike with me, but I plan to continue the OS run workouts. Should I add another run to make up for the lost bike workouts? Perhaps a short Friday run?
I'm hoping to swim a couple times. I understand they have a morning group swim at the pier - hopefully I can make a couple of those. Any suggestions?
Scott, great to hear from you. I like a mini run challenge for you where you are running something every day...even if it's just 2 miles...so I say:
Travel Days OFF Get in the Wed / Sunday long runs as planned. Other days are 30-40 minute runs...unless you are swimming, in which case it's a short run on Ali'i pre swim then swim it out.
The mini run challenge is going well. I've run 8 days straight and covered just under 48 miles. I believe that's the most consistent block running I've ever done! Well, maybe high school - but that's a long time ago!
I was looking ahead to the plan for next week and realized it is Test Week. I'll be in good shape for the run test but haven't been on a bike for nearly two weeks. Should I delay the bike FTP test by a couple weeks?
Scott, that's epic! Remember you'll need a day or three to recover from all that running! Don't get too carried away.
I say yes to the bike test but don't crush yourself. Use it as a chance to reconcile actual bike fitness with that you think it is...it's more of a mental exercise.
Then we'll have some real goals to focus on as you move forward!
Finished the FTP test this morning. My new FTP is 192W - essentially the same as the week 1 test. Before I left on vacation I was certainly stronger than in week 1. I could tell because both the threshold workouts and the 30/30 VO2max workouts were easier. Hopefully I can quickly bounce back to my pre-vacation power.
I just discovered the "Building Your Perfect Outseason" flow chart. It implies that those of us over 50 (I'm 58) should be doing a Strength Routine on Monday and Friday. Is this in addition to the "Swim Prep" work (planks, push-ups, cords)?
Scott, part of that flat score is all your running!! Don't get down on yourself...I bet your CTL is much higher right now, so I'm excited to see what happens as you absorb that run block. You'll need 3 to 4 sessions to get your legs back but then, look out!
Yes, you should be doing strength, but I'll take the Swim Prep...that's perfect!
I'm one of the unlucky ones that developed the flu in spite of having a flu shot. I'm in day 4 and my fever is finally starting to subside, though I still have a nasty painful cough. I'm trying to decide when to start exercising again. I'm sure there is something in the wiki or forums, but I couldn't find it. Google led me to the Jackson Clinics Physical Therapy recommendations that "You can start exercising again safely when you have been fever-free for at least 24 hours or longer."
My plan is to do some light cycling (on the trainer) tonight or tomorrow morning and see how it goes. I'll work back to full intensity and duration over a few days.
After six days off with a nasty flu, I did an easy hour ride on the trainer this morning. It went OK, but my lungs were not real happy with the heavier breathing. My average heart rate was only 108 bmp, but I'm still exhausted. It may take a while to get back to full intensity/volume. Any suggestions?
You're deftly going to need some time just get back in the groove, so hopefully following the recovery week protocol will give you a sense of how best to do that. In an ideal case, you will be back up to regularly scheduled OS efforts by Saturday if not Sunday. Otherwise plan to follow the Recovery Plan and then we get you back up to speed the following week. But remember -- we still want to be mindful of how you reenter your normal training.
As a preview for what you'll read, the goal here is the just put the time and and not worry about the intensity. you are essentially" clearing out" your aerobic system and getting your body used to working out again.
Hey Coach, I've signed up for a Half Marathon next Saturday (March 4) - my first clean HM in a while. This is the HM race closest to the end of the OS that my schedule would allow. This race will come at the end of week 2 of the Get Faster (Intermediate) plan and I need to adjust my workouts. I'll drop the Friday and Saturday run workouts (both low priority) and take it a little easy on the Thursday long run. Should I shorten the Thursday long run (it is currently scheduled at 80min TRP)?
I'll see how my body feels after the HM, but I suspect I'll have to skip the Saturday bike ride. I should be able to do the Sunday ride at a moderate intensity (Zone 2).
@Coach Patrick, the plan worked well. I felt rested and had a good race this morning! I finished the HM with a new PR of 1:49. My previous fastest HM was 2:21, so that is a huge improvement!
Yes, it's a huge improvement! To be fair, this is the first HM I've run where I wasn't nursing a niggling injury, but I still wasn't expecting to do this well. My VDot said I should be able to maintain 8:17/mile so I decided to just go out and hold that pace as far as I could. The first mile was pretty slow, because of congestion, but after that I stuck pretty close to the goal pace. I even surged a bit at the end, running 7:50/mile for the last 1/4 mile! I was 30th out of 112 in the 50-59 age group.
To be honest, I was pretty sore on Sunday. I'd planned to do the Saturday bike workout, but my quads couldn't handle the threshold and VO2max intervals. Instead I did a 1.5hr TrainerRoad ride with 3x20min at Z3 (85% FTP). My swim went well yesterday and I anticipate my run will be fine today.
It looks like I'm in self-imposed run jail. I fell while running with my dog yesterday (accidental collision) and hurt my ankle. I slide with all my weight on the right foot while the ankle was in hyper-flexion. The top of my right foot is black and blue and swollen.
Running is painful and I don't want to risk further injury. Walking is a little painful. I was able to do my Wednesday bike workout (VO2max intervals) after the accident with little pain, so I think I'm safe to continue cycling. I'll try swimming this evening.
I'm in week 7 of the intermediate Get Faster plan. Assuming I can swim without pain, my plan is to replace my missing runs with an extra day of swimming and an extra bike ride (perhaps sweet spot, not too intense). Any thoughts?
@Scott Imlay - that's a total bummer, but the most important thing is that your pup is okay!!! Sounds like a contusion, so let's rest, elevate and ice the crap out of that thing. You can bike and swim as you like, but not running for a week, ok? Let's see if it can sort itself out.
Yes to the extra bike and swim...sweet spot if you have the mojo (you should).
Let's check back in on Friday!!!
~ Coach P
Just an update on the foot injury. The swelling in my foot is down and the bruising is mostly gone. I'm easing back into running and swimming. Running is going well. My foot doesn't hurt and there is only a slight amount of swelling after running. Swimming isn't going quite so well. The foot really starts to hurt after 45 minutes of the dorsiflexion and both bruising and swelling are substantially worse. Wearing fins is out of the questions. I suspect I pulled a muscle or damaged a tendon on the top of my foot during the initial injury.
My plan is to continue ramping up the run until I get back to the plan distances. I'll keep the swims short and slowly ramp up swim times. If the pain during swimming doesn't improve soon, I'll have it checked out by the doctor.
@Scott Imlay - That's great news on the return to running. Can you just use a pull bouy in the pool to reduce the kicking. You'll likely do some form of dorsiflexion here, but I like the idea of using the buoy as baby steps.
If you want to make pulling harder with a buoy, put a band around your ankles!
@Scott Imlay - Here's your updated Season Plan, as promised. This is where you'll return to post all your "coach" questions as responses; I'll see them and reply. This first post is my best outline of how to proceed with your races, but you can ask any / all questions you want. So post away, know that I reply here usually M/W/F each week.
Power User Tip: Click the Star icon by the Title of this thread to subscribe, and you'll get email updates when I do reply.
Your Races
07/22/2017 Ellensburg Only (C)
08/12/2017 Lake Meridian Oly (B)
09/09/2017 Black Diamond Half (A)
09/30/2017 Cascade Express Marathon (B)
Season Update
These are your recommended training plans, including the date you should start each one (sometimes you won’t complete a full plan but transition to another one). You can change your plans on the Training Plan page by clicking the Move / Change button. Learn more about each plan on the Training Plan Central Page.
Last updated by Coach on 07/11/2017
On 7/10 Load the Intermediate 2017 EN*Half to end on 9/10/2017
On 9/11 Load the Advanced 2017 EN*Full, Minimalist, 12 Weeks to end on 10/1/2017
Coach Notes
Thank you so much for checking back in, I am glad to hear that your daughter is stillFighting strong! I think your decision about the rest of the season makes total sense… My only concern is about the proximity of the marathon itself. Since it's your first, there's a lot of assumptions are making about your run health and overall run volume. You can absolutely do the marathon, it's more function of making sure your goals aren't alignment with your fitness. We can cross that bridge when get to it.
My recommendation is that you load up the Half Ironman Plan to get you through black diamond. Along the way you're going to modify the plane by overlaying some marathon runs into the program using this resource page here.
Essentially you will be ignoring the runs in the Half Plan, following the guidance in that post above. Please note how the loan funds are prioritized on Saturday which means that you'd be moving your long rides to Sundays if possible.
Here is what the basic week would look like:
Mon - OFF or Marathon Run @ Your Choice of Pace
Tue - Interval Marathon Run (from Wed) (Optional Swim)
So I completed my last half-iron distance race of the season. It went OK, until the run. I clearly don't have a good handle on my nutrition strategy at the 70.3 distance since I ended up with "intestinal distress" and wasted a bunch of time in porta potties. Oh well, I have all winter to figure that out. In any case, I guess I'm faster than last year because I beat last year's effort in spite of the time wasted in porta potties.
I could use your help making some decisions about the proposed marathon at the end of this month.
Background: My combined HIM/Marathon training was going really well - I was hitting all the prescribed training runs based on my needed BQ pace - until the second week of August. Then my legs started to "break down" (for lack of a better term). Each run would start with a lot of pain until I warmed up, but the warm-up was taking longer and longer each run. This was not my normal achy pain, but sharp pain in on on the outside of my right foot or inside of my left knee. When it got to where I was still in pain after three miles I shut down my running for about a week. Starting back I was OK for a couple runs then the pain returned. Since then my run training has been sporadic at best. I avoided running all last week and the run portion of Saturday's 70.3 was free of the sharp pain.
A couple questions: 1) Should I still do the marathon at the end of the month? Negatives: this is not an A-race for me and I really don't want to end up with a significant injury. Positives: I've been looking forward to the race (but not enough to risk a serious injury).
2) If I decide to go forward with the marathon, how would I modify the training plan? The current plan would have me running 40+ miles this week, which is a big jump from the 20-something miles per week I've managed since the first week of August (the last pain-free week).
@Scott Imlay congrats on the speedy time even if it wasn't super fast. If you have the runs then it's likely your pre race foods as you can't eat enough in a half in such a short time to lead you to the Porta potty. But I am happy to break this down worth you is you like.
I really don't think the Maritime is a good idea. The fact that you need to rest to stop the pain does not jive well with the demands of the race to speed up. If they have a half marathon you could probably get it done but not the full.
It doesn't sound like you've been to see a physical therapist or doctor yet, and that might be worthwhile. The fact that you get pain in both legs in different places leads me to believe that there is something significantly altering your gait.
Probably something that a professional would be able to eyeball pretty quickly… Let me know about the half and what you plan on doing regarding diagnosis.
I could use a little guidance on selecting an Ironman.
Background: I've done 5 70.3's (typical finishing times from 6-7 hours), a bunch of Olys, and DNF'd IMCdA 2016 near the end of the bike leg (overheated). The DNF hurt my confidence a bit and I'd like to be sure I can finish my attempt in 2018. My run is not bad for my AG (1:49 HM PR, haven't done a fully marathon). My swim is slow (1h30m for IM) but I'm confident I can finish if I'm not fighting big waves or currents. My bike is weak - the hills of CdA took a lot out of me. Heat is also a problem for me - especially for early season races like CdA.
So, I'm thinking IM Lanzarote! (Just kidding)
Options: 1. IM Canada is within driving range. On the plus side, it isn't typically as hot as CdA. On the minus side, it has lots of hills. I've ridden the full course at a camp but it took me over 8 hours. 2. IM Santa Rosa is a short flight. It is early in the season so it isn't likely to be hot. It does have some hills on the bike course but is net downhill. 3. IM Boulder is a possibility. A major plus is that the EN Team will be there! I also have family in the area. I don't know much about the course. Altitude may be an issue, but could be mitigated if I get there a week early to acclimate. 4. IM AZ. I also have family in the Phoenix area. I'm not sure if I want my A race to be this late in the season but otherwise it seems like a good option. 5. IM ???. What else should I consider?
Comments
Honestly, I wasn't using heart rate at all during the bike leg. I was just trying to maintain between 65% and 70% on the power. Clearly that was a mistake.
From the FTP test, my lactate threshold heart rate is in the low 150's. So zone 137 would be zone 3 - too high for an IronMan, at least with my fitness level. On the long IM ride, I should be high zone 1 to low zone 2 - 105 to 115 bpm.
Lesson learned, pay attention to both power and HR. If HR is too high, reduce the power.
Thanks Coach!
On CDA race day, your power was: Avg 143W first 20 miles, then Avg 119W for miles 23 to 63, then avg 58W for miles 63 to 95.
+ For the Whistler camp your long ride avg was 126, your first hour was hot (159) but rest was 120. Big fade here on this ride…telling me that your power should be close to 130 ish.
+ At CDA 70.3 your first hour was also hot at avg 147, then it dropped down to average 135 for the whole ride. If Half power is avg 135, then IM power should be in the 130s…
Remember, we preach first 30 miles of an IM as JRA pace, just riding along…but your first hour of power in all your rides is typically your BEST power, and the ride fades from there.
So lesson learned:
+ Watch power but use HR as the “warning” sign
+ Commit to determining best power numbers based of of your long ride experience
+ Review Four Keys to better execute first 60 to 90 minutes of the bike to set up the rest of your day…
Thanks Coach!
At IM CdA, the battery in my right pedal (power meter) went dead after mile 63, so that is why the number was so low from mile 63 to the end. The real power is probably twice the number in the file, but that is still low compared to the first 20 miles. Thanks for doing all the analysis. Lesson learned!
I am going to do the Black Diamond half on September 10th. That will be a good chance to practice better race execution.
Ps thanks for explaining the power thing...that had me worried!!!
Hi Coach,
Our annual Hawaii vacation starts next Wednesday - this time is 10 days in Kona. I won't have a bike with me, but I plan to continue the OS run workouts. Should I add another run to make up for the lost bike workouts? Perhaps a short Friday run?
I'm hoping to swim a couple times. I understand they have a morning group swim at the pier - hopefully I can make a couple of those. Any suggestions?
Thanks!
Travel Days OFF
Get in the Wed / Sunday long runs as planned.
Other days are 30-40 minute runs...unless you are swimming, in which case it's a short run on Ali'i pre swim then swim it out.
Pictures please!!!
Jealous in RI,
~ Coach P
Hey Coach,
The mini run challenge is going well. I've run 8 days straight and covered just under 48 miles. I believe that's the most consistent block running I've ever done! Well, maybe high school - but that's a long time ago!
I was looking ahead to the plan for next week and realized it is Test Week. I'll be in good shape for the run test but haven't been on a bike for nearly two weeks. Should I delay the bike FTP test by a couple weeks?
I say yes to the bike test but don't crush yourself. Use it as a chance to reconcile actual bike fitness with that you think it is...it's more of a mental exercise.
Then we'll have some real goals to focus on as you move forward!
~ Coach P
Hi Coach,
Finished the FTP test this morning. My new FTP is 192W - essentially the same as the week 1 test. Before I left on vacation I was certainly stronger than in week 1. I could tell because both the threshold workouts and the 30/30 VO2max workouts were easier. Hopefully I can quickly bounce back to my pre-vacation power.
I just discovered the "Building Your Perfect Outseason" flow chart. It implies that those of us over 50 (I'm 58) should be doing a Strength Routine on Monday and Friday. Is this in addition to the "Swim Prep" work (planks, push-ups, cords)?
Thanks!
Yes, you should be doing strength, but I'll take the Swim Prep...that's perfect!
Happy holidays,
~ Coach P
Thanks Coach!
Just completed my 5K run test. My VDot increased from 40 to 41.7. I'm very excited!
I'll try to be more consistent with the swim prep strength training. Thanks!
Hey Coach,
I'm one of the unlucky ones that developed the flu in spite of having a flu shot. I'm in day 4 and my fever is finally starting to subside, though I still have a nasty painful cough. I'm trying to decide when to start exercising again. I'm sure there is something in the wiki or forums, but I couldn't find it. Google led me to the Jackson Clinics Physical Therapy recommendations that "You can start exercising again safely when you have been fever-free for at least 24 hours or longer."
My plan is to do some light cycling (on the trainer) tonight or tomorrow morning and see how it goes. I'll work back to full intensity and duration over a few days.
Happy New Year!
Hey Coach,
After six days off with a nasty flu, I did an easy hour ride on the trainer this morning. It went OK, but my lungs were not real happy with the heavier breathing. My average heart rate was only 108 bmp, but I'm still exhausted. It may take a while to get back to full intensity/volume. Any suggestions?
You're deftly going to need some time just get back in the groove, so hopefully following the recovery week protocol will give you a sense of how best to do that. In an ideal case, you will be back up to regularly scheduled OS efforts by Saturday if not Sunday. Otherwise plan to follow the Recovery Plan and then we get you back up to speed the following week. But remember -- we still want to be mindful of how you reenter your normal training.
As a preview for what you'll read, the goal here is the just put the time and and not worry about the intensity. you are essentially" clearing out" your aerobic system and getting your body used to working out again.
Please keep me posted!
~ Coach P
Hey Coach, I've signed up for a Half Marathon next Saturday (March 4) - my first clean HM in a while. This is the HM race closest to the end of the OS that my schedule would allow. This race will come at the end of week 2 of the Get Faster (Intermediate) plan and I need to adjust my workouts. I'll drop the Friday and Saturday run workouts (both low priority) and take it a little easy on the Thursday long run. Should I shorten the Thursday long run (it is currently scheduled at 80min TRP)?
I'll see how my body feels after the HM, but I suspect I'll have to skip the Saturday bike ride. I should be able to do the Sunday ride at a moderate intensity (Zone 2).
Any suggestions?
Here's my suggestion to you:
This gets you plenty of rest...what say you?
~ Coach P
I am so pumped for you...how are you reintegrating?
Yes, it's a huge improvement! To be fair, this is the first HM I've run where I wasn't nursing a niggling injury, but I still wasn't expecting to do this well. My VDot said I should be able to maintain 8:17/mile so I decided to just go out and hold that pace as far as I could. The first mile was pretty slow, because of congestion, but after that I stuck pretty close to the goal pace. I even surged a bit at the end, running 7:50/mile for the last 1/4 mile! I was 30th out of 112 in the 50-59 age group.
To be honest, I was pretty sore on Sunday. I'd planned to do the Saturday bike workout, but my quads couldn't handle the threshold and VO2max intervals. Instead I did a 1.5hr TrainerRoad ride with 3x20min at Z3 (85% FTP). My swim went well yesterday and I anticipate my run will be fine today.
~ Coach P
It looks like I'm in self-imposed run jail. I fell while running with my dog yesterday (accidental collision) and hurt my ankle. I slide with all my weight on the right foot while the ankle was in hyper-flexion. The top of my right foot is black and blue and swollen.
Running is painful and I don't want to risk further injury. Walking is a little painful. I was able to do my Wednesday bike workout (VO2max intervals) after the accident with little pain, so I think I'm safe to continue cycling. I'll try swimming this evening.
I'm in week 7 of the intermediate Get Faster plan. Assuming I can swim without pain, my plan is to replace my missing runs with an extra day of swimming and an extra bike ride (perhaps sweet spot, not too intense). Any thoughts?
Just an update on the foot injury. The swelling in my foot is down and the bruising is mostly gone. I'm easing back into running and swimming. Running is going well. My foot doesn't hurt and there is only a slight amount of swelling after running. Swimming isn't going quite so well. The foot really starts to hurt after 45 minutes of the dorsiflexion and both bruising and swelling are substantially worse. Wearing fins is out of the questions. I suspect I pulled a muscle or damaged a tendon on the top of my foot during the initial injury.
My plan is to continue ramping up the run until I get back to the plan distances. I'll keep the swims short and slowly ramp up swim times. If the pain during swimming doesn't improve soon, I'll have it checked out by the doctor.
If you want to make pulling harder with a buoy, put a band around your ankles!
For now, let's remain cautiously optimistic!!!
~ Coach P
Power User Tip: Click the Star icon by the Title of this thread to subscribe, and you'll get email updates when I do reply.
Your Races
Season Update
These are your recommended training plans, including the date you should start each one (sometimes you won’t complete a full plan but transition to another one). You can change your plans on the Training Plan page by clicking the Move / Change button. Learn more about each plan on the Training Plan Central Page.
Coach Notes
Thank you so much for checking back in, I am glad to hear that your daughter is stillFighting strong! I think your decision about the rest of the season makes total sense… My only concern is about the proximity of the marathon itself. Since it's your first, there's a lot of assumptions are making about your run health and overall run volume. You can absolutely do the marathon, it's more function of making sure your goals aren't alignment with your fitness. We can cross that bridge when get to it.
My recommendation is that you load up the Half Ironman Plan to get you through black diamond. Along the way you're going to modify the plane by overlaying some marathon runs into the program using this resource page here.
Essentially you will be ignoring the runs in the Half Plan, following the guidance in that post above. Please note how the loan funds are prioritized on Saturday which means that you'd be moving your long rides to Sundays if possible.
Here is what the basic week would look like:
Let's get to work!
~ Coach P
So I completed my last half-iron distance race of the season. It went OK, until the run. I clearly don't have a good handle on my nutrition strategy at the 70.3 distance since I ended up with "intestinal distress" and wasted a bunch of time in porta potties. Oh well, I have all winter to figure that out. In any case, I guess I'm faster than last year because I beat last year's effort in spite of the time wasted in porta potties.
I could use your help making some decisions about the proposed marathon at the end of this month.
Background: My combined HIM/Marathon training was going really well - I was hitting all the prescribed training runs based on my needed BQ pace - until the second week of August. Then my legs started to "break down" (for lack of a better term). Each run would start with a lot of pain until I warmed up, but the warm-up was taking longer and longer each run. This was not my normal achy pain, but sharp pain in on on the outside of my right foot or inside of my left knee. When it got to where I was still in pain after three miles I shut down my running for about a week. Starting back I was OK for a couple runs then the pain returned. Since then my run training has been sporadic at best. I avoided running all last week and the run portion of Saturday's 70.3 was free of the sharp pain.
A couple questions:
1) Should I still do the marathon at the end of the month?
Negatives: this is not an A-race for me and I really don't want to end up with a significant injury.
Positives: I've been looking forward to the race (but not enough to risk a serious injury).
2) If I decide to go forward with the marathon, how would I modify the training plan? The current plan would have me running 40+ miles this week, which is a big jump from the 20-something miles per week I've managed since the first week of August (the last pain-free week).
Thanks!
It doesn't sound like you've been to see a physical therapist or doctor yet, and that might be worthwhile. The fact that you get pain in both legs in different places leads me to believe that there is something significantly altering your gait.
Probably something that a professional would be able to eyeball pretty quickly… Let me know about the half and what you plan on doing regarding diagnosis.
I could use a little guidance on selecting an Ironman.
Background: I've done 5 70.3's (typical finishing times from 6-7 hours), a bunch of Olys, and DNF'd IMCdA 2016 near the end of the bike leg (overheated). The DNF hurt my confidence a bit and I'd like to be sure I can finish my attempt in 2018. My run is not bad for my AG (1:49 HM PR, haven't done a fully marathon). My swim is slow (1h30m for IM) but I'm confident I can finish if I'm not fighting big waves or currents. My bike is weak - the hills of CdA took a lot out of me. Heat is also a problem for me - especially for early season races like CdA.
So, I'm thinking IM Lanzarote! (Just kidding)
Options:
1. IM Canada is within driving range. On the plus side, it isn't typically as hot as CdA. On the minus side, it has lots of hills. I've ridden the full course at a camp but it took me over 8 hours.
2. IM Santa Rosa is a short flight. It is early in the season so it isn't likely to be hot. It does have some hills on the bike course but is net downhill.
3. IM Boulder is a possibility. A major plus is that the EN Team will be there! I also have family in the area. I don't know much about the course. Altitude may be an issue, but could be mitigated if I get there a week early to acclimate.
4. IM AZ. I also have family in the Phoenix area. I'm not sure if I want my A race to be this late in the season but otherwise it seems like a good option.
5. IM ???. What else should I consider?
What do you think?