HIM three weeks before IM
I have just signed up for Challenge Aarhus (1/2) just three weeks before Challenge Roth.....Basically going against all advise (incl. EN), but it is a local race and a good race chance to test everything before the A-race..
I have no ambitions for this race, and I'm perfectly happy to do this at 80% to avoid compromising my A race three weeks later...
Anyone have experience doing this? I'm thinking, that I can swim as I normally would, bike as I normally would, and then just run easy (at say 80%) to keep my body ready for Challenge Roth...
Any thoughts?
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Yep --- good luck!
No experience doing a 1/2 that close to a Full. When you say 'bike as I normally would', do you mean at HIM intensity or IM intensity? If HIM intensity, then you will really need to be careful that you don't punch too big a hole in your workout schedule. That week is supposed to be a Race Rehearsal. If you bike at IM intensity, you are missing out on 3hrs/56miles of time in the saddle to test fit/nutrition/etc... If you bike at HIM intensity, then you lose out on the IM Race Rehearsal.
Are you going to do a 2nd Race Rehearsal the week prior to this race?
I'm thinking 100% of HIM pace for swim and bike and maybe IM pace for run??
@Patrick: I'm perfectly willing to do a complete rest (no or very little training) in the following weeks, if that is what it takes...But are you saying that I can get away with actually RACING the HIM without risking the IM?
Last year, I did a half on a Sunday and then turned up for the Wisconsin Rally whose main riding days ware Friday and Saturday. (the intermediate days were much as Patrick describes) I got through, and it wasn't like it really mattered that my power was notably low (and I learned what I needed to do), but just my n=1 experience would suggest that a RR the following weekend will suffer. As long as you're ok with that, 3 weeks is certainly long enough to recover.
Well my two cents...my experience was not 3 weeks prior I did IM RI onJuly 10th and IM Lou on August 22....I raced the 70.3 and I think you should too...
then you basically rest/taper into your IM...Its like doing your final long run in prep for an open Marathon....I think it works...your body has time to recover and can be a big mental/confideince builder.
I say go for it.
Caveat...that you run within the normal protocol and don't push yourself to injury,
Back in the Day, our final RR was 2wks out from race day vs the 3wks (I think) it is now, so there you go. But:
Finally, doing an HIM this close to your race will only help your IM if you race it and reap the small fitness pop. But it could very well hurt your Ironman for any number of reasons, not the least of which is skipping the final RR. Do. Not. Skip. The. Final. RR.
Last week, Terrenzo Bozzone and Angela Naeth were on the same flights with me to St Croix. I asked Terrenzo whether he would have done St Anthony's the week before a HIM if he wasn't a pro and had financial/sponsor obligations. He said he was hoping for a fitness pop, but that the decision to race a week before really depended on the individual's personal recovery profile. I know I recover from a HIM in 4 days, so an IM RR a week later would not be an issue.
Most athletes will be about 90% recovered by Thursday, close to 100% by Saturday, your scheduled RR.
My larger point is that racing a HIM this close to race has just about zero chance of benefiting your IM and a high potential to have a negative affect. Not sure how high but the chances of hurting your IM are greater than the chances of helping.
But if you want to race, I get that. But if you injure yourself, I'm on a plan to EU to kick your ass, promise.