I have decided to do an Olympic race this weekend which is three weekends away from Lake Placid (can’t freakin wait!!!)> Anybody have any suggestions for this race? I thought I would take the swim relatively easy as I won’t be setting any records at Lake Placid for the swim. And then take the bike out at just at or a little over LT and the 1 loop of the run under LT and then second loop fairly hard. Any thoughts on this? I want it to be an effective training session for speed.
thanks!
That’s it. You’re FIRED!
Bump…no opinions? Or is everyone gone for the holiday weekend already? 
Bumping my own bump
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That’s the funniest post I’ve read today.
As for Markus’ question, my expertise is non-existent but since that’s never stopped me from expressing an opinion here goes:
It sounds like you have your reasons for your plan; however, it seems complicated. If you want to work on speed, why not try and push the swim and bike at an overpace and then see if you can keep a solid 10 k pace going for both halves. The swim/bike effort will give you a sense of fatigue on the run and you can practise your pain management for LP. As long as you are not trying to set an overall personal best you should recover quickly.
EDIT: Wait a minute. When you said effective training for “speed”, did you mean “pacing”?
Hey Markus – I know some elites like to race short course just prior to an IM but there is some risk invloved that should be considered. Weighing risk vs reward may be a good idea. Additionally, Oly racing is not IM specific and you may want to consider this.
A great session that gordo has shared with me and that I am using with some of my athletes this week is a 5hr ride Saturday that includes specific IM mainsets. Something like ride easy until warm, followed by a 40min IM effort. Easy until 1.5hrs and insert 3x(12/3) 12 at IM efforts and 3min at HIM efforts. Easy. At 2:30 ride 3x15min as IM, HIM, just >HIM efforts. These are more race specific and, I think, run less risk of problems resulting from prolonged threshold (LT, MSS, FT) efforts. Careful not to overwork the intervals as HRs often stay low at this time of season prior to IM. If you are not 100% sure of execution, race efforts and fueling then a race simulation ride based in ‘fact finding’ is even more valuable than the attempt to top off the fitness tanks. Less a fitness ride than a personal education or reinforcement of race execution.
My priorities in order of importance for this weekend:
(1) fact finding race simulation if needed
(2) add longer easy to steady ride for endurance – if needed
(3) long ride with specific IM mainsets using bits of mod-hard and some longer steady efforts
KP
Thanks Kevin…I am actually doing my long ride tomorrow. I switched it as it was suppose to fall on Saturday. And I already did my long run yesterday. The way I figured it was that I have speed workouts all this past week and I haven’t raced at all this year. I wanted to get at least one race in before the IM. This is the best I could come up with.
As for nutrition and what not, I have Plan A and I am working on Plan B. 
Thanks for the advice, I appreciate it.
My pleasure bro – there are many ways to get ready for an IM. As Molina has said before, if you are really fit it doesn’t matter what you do the last few weeks. For most of us, not owning his type of fitness, our main emphasis should probably be not to screw up a good thing by doing something silly.
Silly being specific for each of us – not necessarily the Oly race.
Have fun and good luck at IMLP!
Lock up and lock down a rock solid IM nutritional plan!
If you need some direction ==>
I just did IM CDA and did an Oly (with an extended bike leg) two weeks out from race day. I raced it as hard as I would do any other oly but I made sure to recover well from the race and had no problems at all. In fact, I think it gave me a great mental boost. With a good base I certainly would recommend it.
-Matt
Markus. Don’t taper for this race. Go all out on race day. Don’t hold back. You must be in pain for the whole race. This will prepare you mentally for the last half of the marathon at Lake Placid. Your body will be screaming at you to shut off but your brain has to keep flogging the body until you cross the line. Olympic distance tri is perfect preparation for that. 3 weeks is bags of time to recover from Olympic distance. Finally, don’t treat this as training. Treat it as a RACE. If you pay the entry fee and the results are on the internet, then you can’t sandbag it. Get it ? If you take ANY part of this race easy, you should just stay home and train. This is your last chance before LP to practice racing psychology. Use it to your advantage. If not, you will slip into a training style mental comfort zone while at the Ironman. This would be a bad thing.
Everyone is fit on race day. The ones who do best are the people who are mentally strong and who make quick decision on the fly, often to adverse circumstances.
GO HARD OR GO HOME
I plan on racing the NYC Tri 2 weeks before Lake Placid. My plan is to go all out and do my best, then taper for Lake Placid. I never worry about scheduling races too close to one another because I’m pretty well-trained, and it’s fun to race!
So you should be fine.
For what it’s worth, Chris McCormack races a sprint or olympic the week before all of his Ironmans, which i’ve heard is a superstition he has. You’ll be fine, good luck!
On another note, I can’t wait for Lake Placid. I can’t imagine a more amazing weekend. And no pro men!
Dev,
You don’t half ass anything do you?! You would be a great motivating coach. I plan on doing my very best.
Thanks!
Mark
Markus,
I think it comes down to how old you are/how fast you recover. I personally do not recover quickly from all out efforts, and would not do a race this close. If you are younger and recover quicker, then no worries.
if you’re going to race, then race. i’ve never liked the idea of stepping up to the line with the intention of giving anything but your best effort.