Hey,
I need some help deciding if I should try and possibly DNF or cancel the race.
I’ve been signed up for CdA 70.3 since last fall.
Training was going well until at the end of February I strained my calf. Couldn’t run for a month. Then, starting up again in early April and I end up needing an emergency gall bladder surgery!!!
No activity for 2 weeks, no swimming for 4 weeks.
I just got cleared to run and bike, another week and a half till I can swim or lift any weight.
At this point, I’m WAY off in training and the race is 8 weeks away.
Would you/should I plug away and try- worst case, I’ll DNF for the first time. The alternative is to just cancel.
It’s a drive and I can cancel my hotel, so no loss there. The race… Eh, I can get a $75 refund, so it’s not so much a financial decision.
I’m basically running 3 miles now, after 2 months of injury. I can make the bike no prob.
Swim- I’ve been out of the water for a while, but know I can ramp that up.
Dump it. Maybe you can skip it a year.
If you just doin it for fun and don’t care about the time, do it, but if that would be the case you wouldn’t have asked.
Just go for it but pace it easy. I broke a bone in a foot and needed surgery 12 weeks prior to a 70.3 in Mallorca. Did not train for 4 weeks then slowly swimming and cycling and no running until week 10. The run was freaking hard and it took me a lot longer than normal but I still enjoyed it. In general if you are fit you can do a lot in 8 weeks.
Just go for it but pace it easy. I broke a bone in a foot and needed surgery 12 weeks prior to a 70.3 in Mallorca. Did not train for 4 weeks then slowly swimming and cycling and no running until week 10. The run was freaking hard and it took me a lot longer than normal but I still enjoyed it. In general if you are fit you can do a lot in 8 weeks.
Thanks. I’m thinking go for it. Ran 5 miles today. Calf still hurts, so maybe that was a bit much. Still, I think I can get close to where I need to be to get it done.
If you are 100% cleared by your dr to do it, I would personally do it as a mission to end your journey on a good note, regardless of time.
If you can hit the swim and bike cutoffs without an issue, you should have time to speed walk/jog/run/wog/whatever to the finish line.
There are 7 and 8 hour finishers, so usually there’s enough time on the course to get to the finish line.
If it makes life difficult to fit it in, maybe punt it. I know some races for me are a logistical stretch, so if there was a good reason not to do it, I’d probably scrap it.
Then again, I did my first ever 70.3 on less than a weeks notice (signed up as a relay swimmer and then the rest of the team backed out) and having NEVER run more than 3 miles in my life. I swam and biked to my ability and then did a run/walk based on feel. Lots of walking was done but I finished, caught the long course bug, and have now finished 9 IM’s and countless 70.3’s.