i’m training for my first IM in november…
there are three races i want to do in september… a sprint (on the 4th), a half iron distance race (on the 12th), and a half marathon (on the 19th). i’ve decided i will only be doing two of them.
the sprint i have an excellent chance of bringing home some hardware… the other two i don’t. however, the half-iron and half marathon i think would be good for my training.
which TWO should i do?
It’s hard to say.
You can do all if you do it cruising… but I would do the Sprint and the 1/2 Marathon OR just the 1/2 Half Ironman.
Hard to say without looking at your training plan and without knowing the exact date of the Ironman.
I never did a Ironman but I’m going for a 1/2 Ironman in August 22 and will be racing in a sprint just a week before but it was all careful planed 
sprint shouldn’t be a problem recovering from, and would be a good indicator of where your speed stands as well as good psychological boost. unless you cruise the 1/2 im, i’d recommend against it, since it can be costly in terms of recovery time, when you could use the time for key building workouts before taper time hits in october. half marathon would still cost some recovery time but not as much as the 1/2 im, depending whether you go balls out on the race, or use it more as a fast training run and use it to experiment with nutrition and to dial in an even pace. IMO - use the half marathon as a run indicator, and get in some quality bike mileage between the sprint and half marathon weekends.
Tell you what I would do. There is no place for sprint triathlon when you are prepping for an Ironman - bail on it. I would do the 1/2 IM, but at my Ironman pace. Finally, blow off the 1/2 marathon - if you actually race the 1/2 you could end up with a nice injury, which you don’t want.
it is diamondman that i am thinking about doing. i did all three races last year but they were spaced out over a couple of weeks… not 3 weeks in a row. loved all 3 races - that’s why it’s hard to decide.
well, i don’t really have a training plan for the IM. i’m kinda winging it. i’ve done 2 half IM’s without a training plan and went a little over 5 hours for both. i won’t be doing all three races… too much money… thanks for the advice.
i think i’m beginning to agree with you somewhat. i just did a sprint and… you’re right… i need to focus on long course. i will most likely opt for the half IM and then use the half mary as training run… it’s all flat… no hills. i’m sure i’d be doing a long run that weekend anyway.