5 days out form a half ironman?
No
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No. If you TT properly, I wouldn’t even be able to walk for a day or tow after it. If it doesn’t help the taper leave well alone…
At the risk of being off-topic:
I don’t do triathlons. I do however race events which are sometimes 4-5 hours in length, which I’d guess is about the same duration as a HIM. So if the question is, would I do the tuesday night TT series and go for a 200km road race come Sunday, yes, definetively.
I’d probably not race the TT all-out (ie, I hope not to be bleeding by the end of the course), as most probably the 200km is a higher-priority race then the shorter event. But, what the heck, I’ll give it a go and have some fun.
just take good care of nutrition and you’ll be fine. sleep too, and don’t drink any alcohol (did I really just say that?)
kittycat
These are never simple questions to answer with “yes” or “no”
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Is the HIM an A level race?
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Have you done these 9 mile TT’s before?
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Are the TT’s a regular part of your weekly routine?
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How do you recover from this sort of effort?
Fleck
I’d do it, and do it hard. I think after 5 days you’ll feel great and after all it’s only a 22min effort. 5 days from a 22min effort should be more than sufficient.
Probably not.
When I TT, I try to red-line it the whole way.
After a TT I can get back on a bike a day or two later and ride fine, but my swimming/running take a little while to catch up.
5 days out form a half ironman?
I would, but you have to assess your fitness. I did a harder workout than that 6 days before Ralph’s. If you do them routinely, a 9-mile TT has almost no recovery lag. It’s what – 25 minutes? If anybody is sore or tired the day after an all-out 25-minute bike ride…maybe they’re not really ready for a hard-fought half IM anyway. Hell, 5 days out, I’d do the TT and then go out and ride a hour of steady endurance effort. I’ve seen people get overly chicken too far before races and their bike fitness falls back. A 25-minute effort is nothing.
Maybe give some more info about your bike fitness. How often do you do long, hard intervals? If you do them every week, then you can shrug off a 9-mile effort in no time. You’ll be tapering your running down anyway. In my experience, it is the running that needs tapering before a long course race, much more so that the biking.
yes
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I’ve done a fair bit of bike racing ! Last weekend i went so hard over a 32 mile TT I nearly blacked out nearly falling off the bike going up the climb towards the finish when my vision started to go. Trust me I know what hard is…
Anyway bragging aside, a taper is a delicate thing and if the TT isn’t required why risk the upset ? The big race is where you need to be fresh not at a local TT. Plus if you were not going to race it hard at the TT whats the point ? A 9 mile TT should be very VERY hard…
are you serious? After only ~20min at TT effort?
He’s is deadly serious. I have been overtaken by him 30 mins into a 25mile TT and had to go anerobic to catch him up and tell him to get back into the kerb as he was in the middle of the fast lane of a two lane highway! As I shouted over it was clear that no-one was home and I had to shepard him back in! He also, loses the ability to count up to 3, but that is another TT story 
I always knew that would come back to bite me…
Maybe we should find out if there is a local TT when we head out to the states soon in Detroit ?
That would be a question for Tom D or SuperDave I guess.
The key is to assess your priorities. The TT is not an optimal taper but with five days to recover I doubt it will keep you from completing the half-ironman. It’s really hard to quantify just how much the TT wil cost you in terms of reduced performance in the half-ironman. If the TT is a weekly deal that you can do later, I’d skip it. If the TT is a really cool race that you are looking forward to, do it. It’s all about having fun (for most of us anyway).