I doing IM Lou next weekend and then Florida in November. What sort of time should I take off after Louisville? I am hearing at least a week of nothing and then a 2nd week of no running only light biking and swimming then the third week start running easy and take bike and swim serious and by the 4th week full swing on everything. What have others done to prep for an IM double and what works best?
I’ll let you know Monday. I finished IMLP 3-4 weeks ago and I’m doing Timberman in a couple of days. If I sub 5 it, then 2 weeks is fine. I think it depends on how much of an effort you put into the race. If you end up in a med tent after the IM, I would give it a few weeks of nothingness before easing into it again.
For IMLP, my muscles and body were fine, but I miscalculated my calories and was completely out of energy for the run. So within 1 week after the IM, my legs were good enought to place well in a local sprint tri. I ran 4 days at 5 miles per day the next week. The following week I did a 75% effort on all workouts. This week I’m tapering. Sunday I race. I feel fine.
I plan on doing a short, easy run the day after IMLou (mostly to try and loosen the legs up before doing a 12 hour drive home), then a few easy swim and bike days. I’ll likely run for about an hour the weekend after and do a light week with all 3 sports the 2nd week. If all is well after 2 weeks then I’ll sign up for a marathon that I want to race 3 weeks later 
The length of time it takes to recover is largely a factor of how well you prepared for the race and how deep into the well you go on race day.
Don’t listen to what you have heard. Don’t take a day off at all. Do a little 20 minutes of either spinning on the bike, walking or pull buoy swimming the day after your IM.
Then do 20 mins realy easy activity for the first 5-7 days after your IM. If you are feeling a little fit after those first 5-7 days, do maybe 2 sets of 20 mins training a day. Don’t go over 30 mins of continuous training for at least the first 10 days after IM. A short and easy morning and short evening set is fine. Then bring training back to almost normal after 14 days or so. Be very very very carefull with long sets and intensity the first 4 weeks after IM. No real need to do that in those weeks. Week 3-6 after IM is where you have to be carefull. If you recover fine you will probably feel a little stronger then you are. It is easy to break something in those weeks, that will keep you from doing hard training in octobre for your florida race.
Taking time off is a very bad idea if there is another IM waiting later in the year.
I am doing ironman wisconsin and ironman florida.
I plan to do a 20-30 minute run/walk/WTF am I doing workout the morning after before heading to registration/awards banquet - will run with my wife or my dog to ensure I go nice and easy.
Tuesday i’m planning to do an easy spin and swim.
Wednesday a short spin and short run.
Thursday easy hour of swimming, and a short spin
Friday - same as thursday
Saturday - Paddling a canoe on the wisconsin river and eating smores on a sandbar
Sunday - Paddling a canoe some more on the river and drinking beer while I do so.
The week after that will be a normal week freqencywise, starting at ~30% volume and build to 50% volume by the end of the week, with a sprint distance race possible on Sunday.
After that 4 weeks of “normal” then taper again.
That’s the plan anyways.
In 2007, I did IMAZ and then the Triple T about 6 weeks later.
The week after IMAZ was “mostly” off. I stayed on vacation in AZ, I say mostly because I did hike Rim-to-River on Tuesday, and River-to-Rim on Wednesday.
The week after that was a lot of swimming with a short run on Friday, and Saturday, with an easy 3.5 hour bike + 30 minute run on Sunday.
After that it was a pretty normal schedule of training - I was in the best form ever (at that point) 6 and 8 weeks later for the Triple T and Rockman.
So I think a lot of possibilities will work - it just depends on a lot of variables, but I do think it’s important to do something active the week after.
P.S. I wouldn’t recommend hiking the grand canyon, that was exhausting. That said, I’d do it again in a heartbeat!
Here are some thoughts from Chuckie V: http://www.xtri.com/coaches_display.aspx?riIDReport=5805&CAT=41&xref=xx
-Scott
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