Are you eating adequately after each workout?

As small as I am I'm still burning 500 to 600 calories an hour on the bike. So in 4 hours I'd be down 2000 to 2400 (-what I ate training) if I didn't do anything else. Add 100 cals per mile if I ran afterwards. That can put you in the hole if you have a bigger run the next day and make it more difficult to do effectively.

If you are going 5 to 6 hours and are bigger than me your calorie requirements are probably higher.

jaretj

There's a few things that should be paid attention to. The first as mentioned by Jaret is that you should make sure to take in enough during the ride as otherwise you'll leave yourself with too big of a deficit afterwards. Second is that you should make sure you sleep well both before and after the ride. Third you should make sure you maintain an overall lower intensity during the ride as the purpose is an endurance ride and you don't want to have to take two days off afterwards. Make sure you don't do anything too intense the day before and then just go for a light swim and/or run on the following day.

Nice to see another CTF person on here! Is this your first?

Before reading the below, note two things:

1. This is my first IM (did my first oly and 70.3 this year as well - so I'm no expert).
2. I'm what many would consider slow (M30-34 AG; ballpark finish time of 14:30).


Running

My running is not strong at all, and I've slacked quite a bit knowing I will be run/walking mos the marathon. One thing I did for a while was shortern the length of my runs but add an extra day of running (keep the legs fresh, but don't overdo it). My thought here was on total training stress in terms of hours (if I can do more in a week by doing less work on more days, I should continue to build up my fitness).

Biking

As for the long bike ride, how is your nutrition? It took me quite a while and lots of trial and error to figure out what worked for me. Once I did, my recovery was much better as well. Of course, it could always be an issue of riding too hard, or simply needing to scale back for a period of time. I know it may not "fit" with the prescribed training plan, but everyone is different and needs recovery at different time. Point being, listen to your body.

At 40 or so days to race day, my focus has been on: (i) starting to run again and gets the legs "fresh" - prob won't do anything longer than a 15 mile run before race day, (ii) riding 3x week (2x tough 1 hour workouts, 1x long ride), (iii) watch my nutrition to drop a few more lbs if possible, and (iv) realize that while I can still improve my fitness by race day, don't do anything stupid (i.e., injury prevention mode).

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@CycleHeavy

could be a number of factors...my two cents:

- going too hard - long workouts should be done at an ez pace
- already fatigued going into the workout - excess fatigue effects my workouts but not until the end or when I'm done
- poor diet - you are what you eat!
- poor recovery - take recovery seriously, particularly if you are older
- poor training plan - if you are killing yourself each workout you will always feel tired
- older athlete - with age should come wisdom...you don't make gains during the workout, you do so during recovery...take recovery seriously

You're not going to be full of piss and vinegar the day after a huge training day.

All of the above, but add one more that a lot of people forget:
- Proper nutrition and fluids during your long runs.

Try breaking it down into smaller loops (5-6miles) and drink + eat at every turn-around point (so every 2.5 - 3 miles). You will have energy to run the whole run at target pace and you'll receover better. I don't use specific recovery-drinks, just 2 big glasses of cold chocolate milk before I head to the shower. Recovery drinks should be taken within 30min after stopping teh activity, after that the effect is mostly gone and you just dug a hole for yourself to climb out (extra tiredness...). It also allows you to train your nutrition-plan for the race. Keep in mind, what works for 1 person, doesn't necessarily work for another so: don't be afraid to experiment or ask Global Wisdom (Slowtwitch) for advice.

Success and enjoy the training,

S.

As well as all the advice above (nutrition, hydration, sleep, reducing the intensity) 2 other things that I've found really helpful:

1) Ice baths. Particularly if it's hot where you are. The difference for me the next day if I have an ice bath after a long run/ride is quite incredible.
2) Building up your total training load and long run/ride distance gradually. It takes me quite a while, especially as I get older, to adjust to increases in my training load. If I have no energy the day after a workout, and I did everything else right, it's normally a sign that I simply upped the load or distance a bit quickly.