Four weeks out should be fine, and a 5hr effort should fit well into your training.

It’s a great opportunity to practice your race nutrition, etc.

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If you want to take 1.5 to 2 weeks away from the most important training before an IM, sure it's a good idea.

Can you do it? Sure you can.
Do you have enough discipline to not take away from your IM? Only you can answer that.

personally, I wouldn't. you wont learn anything there that will help you. that weekend would be arguably one of your biggest weekends in the plan so i'd avoid it. from a race rehearsal perspective, again, you're not doing your first race. you're better off just doing your training plan.

If you have the discipline to do the race at IM pace, it is a great training and testing (pace, gear, nutrition, etc.) opportunity. You will not need a lot of recovery and it could fit in very nicely within your IM training. Many people do "race simulation" before the race.
However, if you can't control yourself and will hammer out HIM pace, it is a bad idea as recovery will take away a lot from your IM training

I quote from this thread Is it a bad idea to do Savageman 80.0 twelve days before Maryland 140.6?


I basically live my life now based on that guy's advice.

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I don’t think it’s too close - 4 weeks is a long time.

I think you should go heavy on cycling up to and after the 70.3 to be comfortable sitting in the saddle for so long in the 140.6.

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

I agree with the poster that it is too soon ahead of your full ironman. That should be one of your largest volume weekends ahead of the ironman. That is unless you do not do any tapering ahead of the half or take any recovery days after along with an extra couple hour ride or run right after the half.

Was that going to be your only other race or triathlon this year aside from the full?

Saturday or Sunday race?

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4 weeks is fine. You’d likely have a long training weekend anyway, so why not make it a fully supported SBR and treat it like a rehearsal? If you’re fit enough to do a full, you’re fit enough to do a 1/2 4 weeks before. If you’re not fit enough to do a 1/2 a month before...then that’s the least of your concerns...

Only if you use the race as training, you recovery is fairly fast and the logistic of getting there and back is not too bad for you.

4 weeks before an IM you should be doing big days back to back... and it's probably the worse time to worse time to take 1-2 weeks off the training schedule

If you want to do it then do it.

Don't do any taper for it and have fun which is what it is all about.

Yeah, I think it would be reasonable for him to do an IM paced 70.3 then a recovery ride to failure. That would be a good way to keep the volume going.

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

I'm going to keep my reply fairly simple:

No, don't do it. It's too close. 8 weeks before would be perfect. 6 weeks minimum.

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Pink? Maybe. Maybe not. You decide.

Are people saying no because of the lost chance to do some other quality workout that weekend or because the race itself will require too much recovery?

Mostly the lost chance to do some other quality workout that is more specific to their big race.

I'd do it. I enjoy doing triathlons, and I'm sure I'd have a fun time doing Palm Springs if I lived close by.

I wouldn't get too wrapped up in the "4 Weeks Out Here Are the Workouts You Ought to Be Doing for An Ironman". Have fun at Palm Springs (doing it at your IM pace should make it a fun day and you can check your nutrition and some other things). Oct 24th is a Saturday, so you can probably still get in some sort of training on Sunday if you'd like (assuming you don't go all out on Saturday). Four weeks is plenty of time to recover for IMAZ.

Again, I'd do it just because it would be fun.

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Who said anything about a recovery ride to failure? It was not me. At that point in an ironman training cycle a set of workouts at full ironman pace for half the distance plus another couple of hour bike ride should not take a person to failure.

If the OP is doing the half and/or the full simply as a completion exercise, then by all means go for both. However they should not expect the best of themselves at both events due to the proximity from a time standpoint.

I did the same thing - 70.3 four weeks out from an IM - and was able to KQ for the first time this past year. That said, it was my 10th year doing triathlon, so I had lots of experience and knew my body well. Over the years, I've needed less and less time to recover after races, so I was back to 'normal' training and intensity within a few days after the 70.3, and able to have two more big weeks of training leading into the IM. I also only did a 2-3 day taper into the 70.3 - did IM training through the Wednesday of 70.3 race week, then a few harder, but shorter than usual efforts on the days before the 70.3. I still did a two hour ride the day prior to the 70.3 as well, as I knew the IM a month later was the main focus.

I think a lot depends on how well you recover from a race. If you will not be back to normal IM training for a week or more it may be a bad idea. However, if you aren't necessarily worried about a certain time in the IM it probably would be ok - you'll definitely finish.

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I meant recovery ride to light failure - the type of failure on the bike where you feel the productive training effect going down.

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

I did my first HIM in Traverse City last August, and my first full IM in Chattanooga almost a month later to the day.

TC was a fairly easy race, although the bike was tough...lots of hills, and my bike was geared for mostly flat riding (I never realized there were hills in Michigan, lol). Choo was oppressive heat, easy bike, but a hard run. IMO, it's plenty of time to recover, although I wouldn't recommend going super hard during the half if you want to push yourself during the full. Look at it as a training race and don't overdo it.