Have you considered doing the marathon first? Maybe a May or early June race?

What about a marathon around the first of April? Carmel has one (not sure where you live). That gives you 10 weeks to get ready for IA, and your fitness base would be in good shape.

I haven't seriously considered a spring marathon yet, but it is an option. 4/18 at the Spring Chance BQ.2 Marathon in Geneva, IL would be my pick.

My initial thoughts:

• I will need to do mostly treadmill running (live in Chicago and we already have snow and sub 10 degree temp days)
• I've been off the bike since Steelhead this year (June) ... so I was hoping to hop back and start building up bike fitness.
• Trying to prevent burn out by turning around and hitting another marathon in ~5ish months

All good points. the spring marathon just limits the damage to another event. You could cross train for the marathon with some biking and not hurt your running (I don't think). I don't know your age but for me, I need to swap out some running for biking

I'd want more than 2 weeks after a HIM for an A race marathon.
I understand the burnout also. It will make for a long year.

You haven’t really mentioned your time goals or goals for Traverse City. If it’s a light race, you’ll be ok. But, your treatment of the training to the 70.3 matters as well.

Edit: just read ‘just complete’ the 70.3s

I think heavy cycling and cycling + run bricks are your answer. You probably wouldn’t need to swim train hardly at all.

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Yea, with a fall marathon I'd race Des Moines, and then train for the marathon. I'd like to just complete Traverse with minimal damage, but like others have mentioned two weeks is not much recovery for a 6 hour 'just complete' day.

I think my other option is run an April marathon and then have the rest of the year to train for triathlon. The focus would then be on Traverse and not Des Moines.

Really though, if you ‘just want to complete’ the 70.3, and the marathon is your A race, you don’t even really need to train for the 70.3 that much. You just want to focus on the 70.3 training and 70.3 race positively impacting your marathon performance.

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https://www.strava.com/...tes/zachary_mckinney

If you think you can shave the time off by April, it might be more reasonable. If you miss Des Moines, you could just prioritize to marathon train to make it in the fall 26.2, instead of the triathlon training. Even if you just show up to the 70.3 races, you’ll get race experience.

I think the two week scenario is enough time, but I like high volume. I did New Orleans 70.3 last year then attempted a 50mi Ultra 13 days later. Didn’t feel fatigued, but also got lost in the dark at 47.6mi and had to DNF. I even cycled the day before the trail race. I would take much more taper days if I had to do it again.

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https://www.strava.com/...tes/zachary_mckinney

Oddly enough, I'm targeting somewhat the same thing as the OP. I want to BQ at LA Marathon in March and then turn around and train hard for Traverse City 70.3 where I want to get a Worlds spot.

Considering my run is the weakest discipline: my question is, should I go ALL in on running through LA Marathon with little to no swim/bike with the hopes of finding gains on the run -- or -- try to keep my cycling and swimming at moderate levels to maintain a base?

I think for you it matters how close you will be to that BQ if you can afford tossing in some quality bike. Swimming should be good for running recovery if you can fit it in.

In my situation, its been awhile since I've had any bike fitness, so I'll need to spend time ramping that back up.

LAM is a very hard course and I have yet to deliver a single good marathon; literally my best is 3:23 in an Ironman which I've done twice and 2 others under 3:30.

Half marathon PR of 1:24 which wasn't targeted, I just showed up. 10k PR around 38 (shit, I know).

After this post, and thinking about it a bit more today, I think I landed on the spring marathon.

• Spring Marathon - 4/18 (12/15 - 4/18 = 18 weeks)
• Des Moines 70.3 - 6/21 (9 weeks after Marathon)
• Traverse City 70.3 - 8/30 (10 weeks after Des Moines, 19 weeks after Spring Marathon)

I wont be in A shape for Des Moines, which is fine, and should be able to race Traverse. Take a week or so after each race for recovery.

Thoughts?

Makes sense to me... I'm likely doing IMWI 70.3 as a training race to simply gain fitness towards TC too.

I've done it before, but the 70.3s have to have their own build. In 2017, I did:

• Ottawa Marathon: May 28 - BQ
• Muskoka 70.3: July 9 - Not the greatest race for me
• Atlantic City 70.3 - Sept 28 - PB, great race.

With only 6 weeks between Ottawa and Muskoka, I didn't feel like Muskoka was the greatest race. I prioritized running in the spring to get my BQ, and didn't pay enough attention to the bike for Muskoka. Living in Ottawa, I have similar/worse weather vs Chicago.

The other option is to do the Marathon after the 70.3s. This year I did the NYC marathon about 9 or 10 weeks after Maine 70.3, and I PB'd both races. Though I'm not sure that schedule works for you if you're aiming for a BQ in 2021.

Thanks for the response. This is very similar to my situation.

Any later then a September marathon, would be for the next Boston cycle, which would be April 2022. I'd also be aging up to 35-39 that year (3:05:00 BQ). Its not a horrible option, it just seems so long away, especially with the 2:59:14 from a week ago still on my mind. :)

You have to choose your battles. You need to have a primary goal. It's okay to have secondary goals, but don't let them come at the expense of your primary goal. Otherwise, you just end up mediocre at everything.

While I'm a pretty average cyclist, I've found that I don't really lose much cycling fitness after long breaks, and what I lose comes back pretty fast. Maybe that's because I've never gotten to a high level of fitness on the bike. Swim fitness takes a long time to get back. And run resilience takes even longer.

If you primary goal is to get as run as fast as possible and BQ, then I would start by building a plan that makes you as fast as possible of a runner. I would keep some swimming mixed in your schedule for cross training, as it will give your legs time off, keep your core strong, and you want to preserve your technique. I'd keep biking to a minimum.

Focus on a late spring marathon, course selection is key for a BQ attempt as you likely know. Then after the marathon, shift running into low year (to let the legs recover) and shift the run volume over to cycling. Treat the 70.3s as fun (mindset is key here).

That's what I'd do.

Just go for the BQ now; you already have the training in you.
Find a December marathon and put it in your review mirror heading into 70.3 training.

Thanks! Exactly what I decided on.

Looks like you have your plan, but what is wrong with a winter marathon? I had a full triathlon racing season, so never could fit a marathon in anywhere but winter. Did a few, and set up for a big PR in Jan/Feb one year. Not only was it a great set up for running later in the Tri season, you get to do a cool race and have a ton of time to get ready for spring triathlons too.. Just a thought..

I think the only reason why I didn't consider it was being in Chicago, I'd have to fly somewhere warm.

Also, I was looking for a little break from running (reason why I originally was thinking fall marathon). A few people mentioned it though. Not a bad idea.

They don’t have heated basements there in Chicago?🥶

If I were you, I would aim for a May marathon. Triathlon, bike-focused block during the crappy winter months, now through mid-Feb. Still run but all easy, maybe 1 workout a week. Gives your legs some reprieve from all the marathon miles. Then, start to build run mileage back up, 2 workouts a week and decrease bike for the last 8-10 weeks before marathon. I would say 2 weeks is not a great turn-around for a marathon PB. There's a fast marathon in Erie, PA usually the last weekend to qualify for Boston that you could look at if you're set on that schedule.

I’m primarily a runner but just ran a marathon PR at NYC a week and a half ago off a summer of run-heavy tri training (with two Olympic races and a one-off bike-kayak-run event). Overall I had some of my best running races during this block, and didn’t feel like cycling more made my running worse so long as I was running 40 mpw+.

If you want to do a spring marathon, I think you can bike and swim plenty over the winter, just flip the time proportions from 20/50/30 S/B/R to something like 20/30/50 (or 20/20/60), and make sure you don’t take too much gas out of your legs on bike workouts. Use the trainer and pool to keep indoors on the worst of the winter weather if you hate outdoor running in the cold. Do #ST100in100!