I am planning my races for next year, and intend to do my first Ironman at some point that season. My question is this: does it make more sense to do an Ironman early in the season, or wait until the end of the season.
My current schedule calls for at least one, maybe 2 1/2 IM (either World’s Toughest, 1/2 Vineman or Big Kahuna), then four sprint distance races from June to September, 2 International distance races in July and September, and possibly another International in August.
With all of my races in a 4 month period, does it make sense to throw an Ironman in there in August (Vineman), or do it earlier in the year (Californiaman)? I was thinking that it might make sense to do the long race at the beginning of the season where the training will be pretty much all aerobic, then build speed on to that base later in the season.
I would love some input on this from those who have done these things before.
Depends on where you live and whether your main goal is the ironman race or not. I’ve done both IM Canada and IM Europe (Roth). Since I live in Ontario, Canada, I found it much easier to be prepared for the end of August rather than the first of July. I was also able to do more racing prior to the big race which helps me get ready. When I raced in Roth, I only had one tri in beforehand and only did one after since I wasn’t recovering from the effort very well. I think that it is best to get in a few races beforehand to do well so I’d pick the later one (this year I’m racing Florida which may be too late if we get crappy fall weather this year).
we have already had crummy weather this summer…it simply can’t continue into the fall!
But I agree. It depends on where you live weather wise. A couple of friends realized what I meant by that as they slogged through the crappy weather this spring getting ready for LP.
You already planning races for next year? Man that’s commitment! Okay I better shut up cause I already signed up for Lanzarote, but I was just killing time before a business meeting, plus I really love the place and it’s a great vacation anyway.
My humble suggestion is to wait, see how fall and winter training goes and then decide. I wouldn’t wanna be forced to organize my life and training around a race which will be held 10 months from now. I know that in the US you even have to plan sprints and olys months in advance, but that doesn’t seem right to me, it sounds too much like work and family (i.e. real serious stuff).
Why don’t you take into consideration some Euro races? We got all sorts of courses, easy (Austria), hard (Lanzarote), impossible (Embrun); the season starts in May (Lanzarote) and goes on unitl August (Embrunman), and most important races don’t fill as fast as in the US, so you can pretty much make up your mind whenever you feel like and it could be a heck of a vacation too.
Filippo
I’m doing my first IM next year, and I chose it not by early or late, but by the one I was most excited to do. I figure that will be more of a driving factor than timing in the season. Happens to be fairly early - Maz Z’s “easy” Europe IM, Austria. There’s plenty of 1/2 IMs and other races to get you up to speed.
If you live in the northern hemisphere, I would say later is better. Particularly if you live were you get a real winter. I say this because, it’s good to start with a solid break from training and late-fall/winter is the best time to do this. Then build distance gradually through the latter part of the winter/spring and early part of summer. If the Ironman is early, there is a tendancy to rush the training and you may get injured.
Also keep in mind an Ironman requires 3 - 4 weeks of tapering and then 3 - 4 weeks of recovery afterwards. That’s almost 2 months of training that is wiped out. If the Ironman is late, then the 3 - 4 weeks recovery can be your break before starting to build for the following year
