Now that pre season is upon us, I am trying to decide how to balance my Late season IM Training with my Early season Short course races.
If i keep my long run and Bike each week is it ok to do more intense workouts through the week to be ready for some sprints and olympics? or should I just be focusing on IM
Short course races are May and June, IM is in November
What is your A-race? (Meaning the distance you want to go your absolute best at) Let that race be your guide. Use the other races to have fun, socialize with your brethren, and assess your fitness. You can go pretty darn fast off of IM training in regards to sprint/ oly distances.
Why focus on the IM now at all? If your last short course race is in June, that leaves 4+ months to prepare for IM. Plenty of time to prep for your IM. No reason you cant keep your long run and ride.
Speedwork in the Spring will make for a better Ironman in the Fall…
Ironman specific training for last 8 to 12 weeks…rest of time train for short course
Ps that can mean 2 hour runs and 4 hour rides re short course training
.
Speedwork in the Spring will make for a better Ironman in the Fall…
I won’t ask anyone to use the search function because you’ll likely find nothing on ST, but it is firmly imprinted in the brains of those of us racing in 1989. That’s the year Mark Allen drag raced Dave Scott for the sub 8:10 win. That year, Mark Allen had a 20 race winning streak largely at the Olympic distance (we was the first ITU World Champion in a very deep field in Avignon). When Sep 1 came around, he clamped down and did his long distance training in ernest, but was a short course athlete till then. Nick was around then, as were many of us. Back then, athletes (both age groupers and pros) raced all distances and it never hurt anyone. In the end, a 1 hour sprint or 2+ hour Olympic tri is still a very long endurance event. It’s the same concept around getting your FTP up and then racing at 70% FTP at Ironman. Back then, we had no powermeters. We got our swim speed, Bike FTP and Run Vdot up by racing short course nearly every weekend (racing our way into shape) and then banged off a long race later in the year. It totally works.
Go for it
I think you should just train for IM which is 99% as good for sprint training as anything sprint specific would be.
Maybe add in more transition practice.
I will keep you posted though when Paulo Sousa tells me how stupid this advice is on twitter, but he won’t offer anything constructive, but at least you will know I was wrong 
Ironman specific training for last 8 to 12 weeks…rest of time train for short course
Ps that can mean 2 hour runs and 4 hour rides re short course training
I’d even say that the 8-12 weeks period is long. If your short course training has 2 hour runs and 4 hour rides, you don’t need to change anything…just hop in an Ironman…or max 2.5 hour hard rides and 90 min runs most of the year and up things to 2 hour run and 4 hour rides for 5 weeks and it is totally possible to get through and do decently in Ironmans