i’m looking for a long course training race as part of my prep for IMLP in july and have it narrowed down to these 2 races within a few hours drive for me and am looking for feedback from people who have either done them and/ or used them as prep for lake placid.
muskoka: is it long enough to use as prep for IMLP? the bike in particular seems kind of short to me (55k). also, does it leave enough recovery time (about 4.5 weeks)?
little smokies: i don’t know anyone who has ever done this event, so any comments would be appreciated.
I have never done Muskoka, so I wont speculate about the distances, but I did Little Smokies last year. This was the first year that Little Smokies was run, and it was part of an interesting race series put on by HFP Racing called the American Triple T, that was sponsored by DeSoto. In each stop of the series there was something like four races of varying distances that each competitor (as part of a larger team competing against others) had to do over the course of the weekend. I did not take part in this, I just did the regular half IM on Sunday. The race course was the most challenging of all halfs I’ve done, but it was helped a little by the fact that there were 2 laps that comprised each leg. This was cool on the swim and the bike leg as it allowed me to negative split, but it was torture for the fun (1st 3.25 mile all uphill). Kind of a small turnout, and not run all that smoothly, but what do you expect in a 1st year race? Overall, I found it a very enjoyable experience, the area where it is held is beautiful, and that whole region of ohio along the river is interesting to see. It would very likely be a very good prep for IMLP, with all the hills, but I know that I couldnt recover for a IM in 4.5 weeks time. I dont know how your recovery goes though, or even how well you train and prepare for races, so you might be ok. Anyway, I’ve droned on too long, I hope this helps and good luck…
thanks for the info giantracer. what were the roads like out on the bike course? (i mean the actual physical condition of the roads themselves, not hills, traffic etc.)
Muskoka is a great race. The bike course, while it may seem short, will challenge you since it has no flat stretches. The swim is tough (it can be cold and you have to swim the last 600-700m up the mouth of a river) and the run is rolling early on then pretty flat. I think that it is an excellent pre-Placid tune-up since it is long enough to guage your fitness, has the rolling hills on the bike, is very competitive, and will leave you with a lot of time for your recovery for Placid. It is on my race calendar this year as an early season fitness test to see how my Kona prep is going.
My only comment would be that it may be a little short to get a good sense of real IM fitness, but then again there is no race that will give you the absolute sense of what your IM fitness is - that’s part of the challenge/mystery!
Generally, speaking I find, people prepping for IM race do not race enough. For many, the intensity that they go at in an Olympic - 1/2 IM race is just about ideal to really raise the key fitness parameters for the IM distance. Many fall into the training program of all-LSD-all-the-time, which is OK, but in many ways getting out and doing an Olympic distance race is better than grinding out yet another 100 mile LSD bike ride.
I too think that most people prepping for ironman don’t race enough. Last year, I was trying to get ready for IMFL and it was nasty living in Ontario and trying to stay race sharp (I figured that when I got to Florida if it was 6 degrees Celsius and pouring rain that I was going to smoke everyone ) . I find that I need to get in races to get my mind ready to focus and bring out the mental intensity required to really go hard. I started at IMFL without having raced a tri in 2 months which I have never done for my A race. I raced a sprint in Milton, Muskoka Long Course, Peterborough 1/2, Kingston Long course, Orillia sprint and the Ottawa 1/2 last season to prep me. I sucked big time at Milton and Muskoka and then got steadily better throughout the season. For me, more racing ups the intensity of my training (I used most of the races as good hard training days) and keeps me going hard towards the goal that seems far-off. That said, I know a few people (Brian are you reading this?) who race very sporadically and always seem to race like studs.
) . I find that I need to get in races to get my mind ready to focus and bring out the mental intensity required to really go hard. I started at IMFL without having raced a tri in 2 months which I have never done for my A race. I raced a sprint in Milton, Muskoka Long Course, Peterborough 1/2, Kingston Long course, Orillia sprint and the Ottawa 1/2 last season to prep me. I sucked big time at Milton and Muskoka and then got steadily better throughout the season. For me, more racing ups the intensity of my training (I used most of the races as good hard training days) and keeps me going hard towards the goal that seems far-off. That said, I know a few people (Brian are you reading this?) who race very sporadically and always seem to race like studs.