A half in late July 6 weeks out from Wisconsin would be an excellent fitness test and good hard day. I plan on racing a half on Labour Day weekend next September about 5 or 6 weeks out from Hawaii. As for the marathon 4 weeks later, you'll be able to race but not up to your capabilities had you not raced an ironman 4 weeks prior. I took part in a study 10 or 11 years ago that was being run by the kinesiology department at the University of Waterloo. In this study they strapped my leg into a machine and measured how much force I could generate (sort of a leg extension tye of action) prior to running a marathon and then I went back daily until I could generate the same readings as pre-race. It took 13 days to get back to normal strength wise. I raced the age-group worlds in Montreal in 1999 2 weeks after racing IM Canada and my legs shut down on the run. That same year I raced a 10k about 5 weeks later on and ran better but still was a little sluggish. I think that the top pros seem to be able to bounce back faster since they're typically doing so much higher volume and get used to ironman racing and recovery patterns but many pros won't race IM Canada 5 or 6 weeks prior to Kona since they won't be ready to give 100%.

I'm not sure how it will work out but I'm racing the new Florida 1/2 and then IMCdA.. I figure 5 weeks will be plenty to recover and then taper for the other race.. Any comments??

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Speaking from the experience of past mistakes I wouldn't race 3-9 weeks out from the IM. That is generally when you are doing the big miles and quality work, to have to taper and then recover from a race in this period will effect your ironman. I would try for one 12-16 weeks out, have a rest and then start your final build. Running a marathon 4 weeks after will be hard on your body as well, depends on how serious you are, I doubt you will get much satifaction from the marathon as your legs will be too tired to give your best.

As a midwesterner, with a Sept IM,12-16 weeks out pretty much erases the entire summer race schedule? Really?

Qualify what you mean by "race"...when I say "race", I mean enter as a training day, not necessarily make it an "A" priority race...I pretty much look at my pre IM "races" as a long brick workout that I'd probably be doing anyway.

By 'race' I am saying the event will be completed as fast as possible, that will generally leave your legs a bit flat for possibly a couple of weeks afterwards. If you take the week before the event easy as well then that leaves a a bit of a hole in the most crucial training period for your ironman. I've only ever raced a half once 6 weeks out and decided not to do it again, I didn't get much satisfaction out of the race as I was too tired to be near my best and I don't think it helped my IM. If you can trust yourself to do the half at a sensible pace I could see the benefit but I think most people are too competitive for that and they aren't cheap to enter these days, expensive training session.

Thanks for the qualification and very good point...Slower than race pace "racing" is easier said than practiced :)