Three Ironman races in an 11.5 month span. How to keep it fresh???
IMAZ 11/18/2012
IMTX 05/18/2013
IMFL 11/02/2013 (most likely date)
I had originally hoped to do a destination race in early to mid-2013 but if I'm going to go on vacation... let it be a vacation without the hassle and worries of a race mixed in. So IMTX is a no-brainer because it's local for me. Some buddies want to do IMFL next year so I'm going to join them in PCB. I've done both of those races before so I know what to expect.
The McCallum Nation training plan has treated me well this year. Training hours per week averaged about 9 hours for my 70.3 training. It kept me fresh, interested and in the fastest/best shape ever. I plan on doing an almost exact same thing for my IM training but adding a couple hours to my long bike and adding a 1/2 hour to my long run - so maybe 12-13 hours max.
I obviously want to avoid burnout with three Ironman races planned from November-November. My plan is to do 12-week training plans for each IM race and take it real light and easy in between. Each race is nicely spaced out with approx. 6 months between races.
That'll give me two or three months between each training plan to rest and recharge.
Has anyone else done three IM races in a year span? What were your best practices? What would you have done differently?
Comments
From personal experience, I find the risk of mental burnout greater then physical - with 6m between races that I think your plan of an easy month or 2 after each IM will be great to give you time to focus on what went well for you and what you want to improve on for the next round, as well of course to have some down time.
Personally though I love training so much that keeping up fitness is no chore - while I do back off full bore IM training, its easier to maintain a good level of fitness than to let it totally slide and have to start all over again!
I have a great group of people locally that I plug into for a lot of my training too - keeping it social keeps it more fun and also gets your butt out there when it otherwise may be tough so hopefully you have a local group too.
Good luck and enjoy your mega year!
Personally, I don't think you will be able to avoid mental burnout. I've seen it every year across many athletes doing IMFL, much less with people doing 3 races in one year.
Rich, I'm way more worried about the mental burnout than I am the physical. I trained year round when I did IMFL in 2010 and I was fried. That was my first year of going long and I trained for three 70.3 races during the timeframe so I was constantly training. I barely got a break from IMFL and it was right into training for Texas 70.3 and IMTX in 2011. Then I did like five races after IMTX last year. I think I spent about 21 out of the 24 months in 2010-2011 really training for something. It was too much.
My sched has been much easier this year. I did a 12-week build for Texas 70.3 and was going to ride that fitness into NOLA 70.3 but I ended up scrapping that clusterf**k of a race. I then did an 8-week buildup for Syracuse.
I have spaced things out better and have zero plans to race or train long during the summer.
In the past I paid no attention to scheduling and how it would affect me. I'm now more keenly aware of this with the goal of trying to stay fresh. I hope a regimen of three months on, couple of months off will keep the fire stoked.
I'm very similar. When I say that I'm going to take it light and easy I mean I'm going to do something like lift some weights and drop into an EN Get Faster plan and really limit the number of hours I spend training. I'm incapable of going into couch potato mode.
smart or not, I am doing the three, as below, this year. so interested in the thoughts.
last year, three months between St. George and Regensburg worked very well. Really like how the fitness carried over. down to 10:20 at Regensburg.
two next year. texas or july race. then november flat race. I may favor the july race to have a longer mental break between races.
I don't think I've ever seen anyone "enjoy" the experience of training and racing for 3x Ironmans in one year, certainly not anyone with a real job, kids, etc. I'm sure there are exceptions but your posts during your time here don't strike me as someone who would raise their hand for something like this?
I don't recall stating I was going to enjoy it.
As crazy as it may sound, training for three IM races with six months between races is probably easier than what I did in both 2010 and 2011 when I literally trained non-stop from January to November for a ton of different races. Quality not quantity... my new motto.
I'm thinking of the same sort of craziness. IM COZUMEL, IM LOS CABOS and IM SWEDEN between Nov 12 and Aug 13. Los Cabos is the maybe and I won't make that decision until Coz. But the key will be to force myself to take 2 weeks off after Coz aka Coach P. And another 2 wks after Cabos to ensure I don't work myself into a hole. I've just been racing for too many decades to worry about mental burnout ... I probably burned out that particular area of my grey matter long ago.
so the first two are one season (TX & FL) AZ is the next season.
I did AZ in 10 and Louisville & AZ in 11. given that the two AZ events were 366 days apart, that is essentially two separate seasons, even though it was three events in that time frame.
I found the time between AZ10 and KY11 to be no issue. Outseason training, ramping up, etc.. I found the time between KY & AZ11 to be much harder. Kids back from camp, regular routine, blew off too many workouts saying i was in IM shape...see my RR on that http://tinyurl.com/7eohnrh
if you love training, and can keep managing the ride time between the IMs in one season, then you can do it. given that you are "only" doing one IM next "season" in IMAZ, i think you will be fine. I am currently looking at IMMT in 6 weeks, then i have to learn my lessons from last year and increase the high fitness level as i approach Florida this year (season).
Next season i was planning on only doing IMLP and now i am again considering IMAZ for 13. My GF is lobbying to do a Backroads trip a few weeks after LP and i am looking at that as a good big bike week to jump start the AZ training... so why not? we'll see how Florida goes this year, and if good, will sit by the computer in November for AZ again!
The mental aspect of thinking about it as three events in two seasons does make sense but my super math minded self only views it as three Ironman races in 352 days.