Looks like I will be doing rim to rim to rim over 2 days of the grand canyon. The date picked ended up being 3 weeks before an IM.
What are your thoughts and can I do this in any easier manner to save myself for IM? thx
Just to add this will be my 2nd IM
see hillary biscay’s blog on this, as she did it for training before doing/winning ultraman last month.
peggy
I did Longs Peak in one full day 3 weeks before IM Canada last year. 13 hours on the mountain and I was in great (triathlon) shape and it kicked my butt. PR at IM Canada, had more to do with my training
And less to do with the hike. I say go for it, use it as a training day.
Use it as a training day. In less you have a dream of qualifing for Kona, Ironman should not stop all the other great things in life you can do. In fact I train so I can enjoy things like that in life
Assuming you race IM for fun and not for a Kona slot, then go and enjoy! I’m a 12-hour IM guy typically, so not racing balls out, and I’ve done a 50K trail race 2 weeks before IM the past 3 years. Go for it!
Use it as a training day. In less you have a dream of qualifing for Kona, Ironman should not stop all the other great things in life you can do. In fact I train so I can enjoy things like that in life
x2
I totally agree. As much as I enjoy doing IM’s I think there is a lot more to life that our fitness enables. Take advantage!
I agree with others, use it as a training day, and build your training routine around it wisely: don’t sweat it, enjoy it.
Probably help you, if you take it easy in the taper.
I’m not so sure that it is a great idea. Just last May (7 months ago) me and friends did rim to rim (to rim). Some - the group I was in - did the R2R and another group did R2R2R. The R2R2R group were ultrarunners who have done multiple 100 milers and multi-time IM finishers. They were VERY beat up after doing it for a couple of months. Maybe even 4-5 months really. Granted, we did it in one day so if you spread it out over 2 days it may not be as bad. I can personally tell you that the climb out of the canyon is pretty wicked. It was a fantastic event and I absolutely plan on doing it again but it will definitely leave you beat up for a few weeks. I “only” did the R2R and was more sore than running a marathon (and I’ve done nearly 20 of them).
Just my thoughts. I’d still do both if at all possible, just go in knowing that you will be beat up from the R2R2R.
Hope this helps!
Do you do a bit of downhill hiking? I was in amazing shape (half ironman distance), but never have done much hiking. My wife and I did a down and back 13 mile hike there and our legs were thrashed for three to four days afterwards(like hardly able to walk due to muscle soreness). My legs the next day after a half ironman actually feel much better than how i felt after this hike. It didnt help that it was June day with 90F + at the lower altitude levels and we were low on water, rationing water on the way back up. The hike up was easier due to cycling fitness, like doing a long hill climb, the hike down was the much harder (painful) part, as the steps are pretty sizable in places.
It’s beautiful, though.
Love the canyon. The downhill is brutal on knees, but the uphill the next day should,sort you out. Hydrate like crazy, take a siesta in the shade, remember its not a race. Next time, check out nankoweap creek or the Beamer trail, less donkey shit.
Love the canyon. The downhill is brutal on knees, but the uphill the next day should,sort you out. Hydrate like crazy, take a siesta in the shade, remember its not a race. Next time, check out nankoweap creek or the Beamer trail, less donkey shit.
He’s going down and then back up day one and then reversing on day 2. He’s doing double what you are stating.
I do think the weather can make it much easier, if cooler, or much harder if it’s really hot.
Looks like I will be doing rim to rim to rim over 2 days of the grand canyon. The date picked ended up being 3 weeks before an IM.
What are your thoughts and can I do this in any easier manner to save myself for IM? thx
Just to add this will be my 2nd IM
I didn’t get that from this.
… Grand Canyon National Park seemed like the obvious place to go, and running from RRR (that is, from the South Rim to the North Rim, and back), which is a distance of 41.8 miles with 21,420 feet of vertical change, seemed like the obvious thing to do. At least I thought so.
While perhaps a touch extreme, running Rim-to-Rim-to-Rim (RRR) is not uncommon: within trail running circles, it’s regarded as a classic, a must-do.
Looks like I will be doing rim to rim to rim over 2 days of the grand canyon. The date picked ended up being 3 weeks before an IM.
What are your thoughts and can I do this in any easier manner to save myself for IM? thx
Just to add this will be my 2nd IM
Skimmed the thread, so someone may have already posted a similar anecdote, but my friend’s mom actually just did this back in October. She and her husband hiked the Rim2Rim with my parents and another couple the second week in October, and she raced B2B 2 weeks later.
If you’re properly trained (and don’t get injured hiking) you’ll be fine. The only complaints I heard were about blisters, but even those seemed like minor complaints.
over 2 days it should not be that tough - will you be carrying a backpack ?
If so need to train with the pack on and loaded, doing some hill walking…
If not, plenty of hills in IM training will be good for both IM and the R2R2R…
Anyone have a rough training plan they want to share? From what I understand you should do long runs back to back, just curious how many I need or how far I need to go. Pretty sure I want to focus on steps and hills ( up and down). I would like to hike most of it and run as well, but I’m not focused on a time. Well, truth be told I would like to do it in 18hrs or less. I have a strong endurance back ground with marathons and Ironman. Curious how many weeks did you take to recover from r2r2r
Better if you started a new thread. You will see people replying to comments from 3 years ago instead of answering your question.
As far as training goes, it is all about context. Do you ever run steep trails? How much running are you doing right now? When are you planning on going? I could tell you I covered r2r2r in 10hrs and was mostly recovered in a couple of days but that really isn’t helpful to you… As far as training plans ideally you prepare like you would for a 50 mile mountain run. Get the weekly miles up and do some back to back long runs on the weekends. If you are going when it is hot, make sure you take time to acclimate.
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