How long does a reasonable person wait after racing IMLP (7/23) before racing a Half?
I was physically tired for 3 weeks after IMLP 2005- I started racing again 4 or 5 weeks after. I am normally 5 hour/night sleeper and after IM i wanted 10- I was napping and still wanting more sleep it was a very weird feeling for me.
K
physically anything can be done, but please let your body recover from a hard day–if you don’t rest, feed and hydrate it you set yourself up for potential injury. Try some shorter runs (I find this is the part that hurst the most) and see how the body responds.
As for timeline–that is so individual. I have seen some do better because of the fitness right away then later, and vice versa. Your body will let you know what is going on, but make sure it is the body and not the mind telling you what is happening. You might not be as slow as you think you are because of sluggishness postIM.
I was thinking of a Half on August 13th.
I also did Lake Placid, and I say jump right back in. I’m doing a bike race this weekend and next weekend, swimming again, and staying off the pavement until next week. As long as you are careful you will be fine.
I agree that it’s entirely individual. In previous years, I would not have entertained the thought, but this year, i’ve found an unexpected scheduling opportunity and feel pretty good, so i’m trying a HIM this weekend, which is a month after im Roth.
Although I have no real established basis for my approach, here’s what I’m doing:
-day zero: IM race
-weeks one and two after race: total rest; Daily McFlurries or Dairy Queen visits; weight jumped from 153 to 158, and I didn’t care. total focus on mental recovery.
-week three: about 10 hrs total, mostly aerobic efforts, one 90 min run and one 4hour ride. Also return to healthy non-Dairy Queen based-diet.
-week four / race week: key wokouts were one 45min tempo run, one 90min ride with 40 mins up-tempo, other light aerobic stuff here and there, until two days before race.
Fri/Sat: 30 min bike /run bricks each day with a few 90 sec. z3 intervals. Lots of rest. maybe a 20 min swim if i feel like it. might add a flushing massage if I can find the time.
We’ll see how it goes. Recognizing my approach to the HIM race week is a combination of "“cramming” fitness (which is widely acknowledged as foolish), and a two-day micro taper, I’m quite interested in seeing how I make out, both in comparison to previous HIMs and relative to the IM.
I’m taking the same approach.
Nothing for two weeks…racing a 1/2 IM in September. It should be interesting.
For OP I believe that all of the fatigue and soreness should be gone before triaining and racing again…It’s not only the IM you’re recovering from, it’s the 6 months of training leading up to it.
Sure, one may not feel sharp after two weeks or rest, but mentally and physically I think one would be ready to regain most of that IM fitness and effectively begin on the road to a second peak in the season.
Also, google IM recovery or racing after an IM. Mark Allen, I think, wrote an article for a magazine that outlined a program to peak for an Oly 8 weeks after an IM.
Personally I think you should hang up the season and let some of us that were racked next to you at Placid have a chance to catch up to you. I suggest putting on 30 pounds and getting a 40 pound bike before your next race. That should be perfect.
#305
I thought I was the only one on the mcflurry kick! I did LP this year…and I am on day 5…need to quite that right away!
I did a Half Ironman last year after LP in the same time frame and did quite well, I thank you. Even raced a sprint the weekend before the Half and performed well. So the sprint was 2 weeks after LP, and the Half 3 weeks. That said, I wouldn’t recommend a Half that soon, and I did the jog/run shuffle at LP, hardly a stellar finish, but a finish nonetheless.