Home Chat General Chat

IM pre race advice.

Those of you who have already done an IM race: is it a good idea to do an IM 70.3 8 weeks before IM race?



I'm doing IMCH in July and have the opportunity in competing at IM 70.3 Austria in May.



I'm following the Don Fink training plan and whilst I can see the benefits of a practice race - nutrition, open water race conditions, race pacing ect. My main concern is being fresh/recovered intime for the full IM.



I welcome your advice.

Comments

  • I would do it but take it easy. If you haven't done middle/long distance before then it will give you some idea of how IM might feel: Mass swim start, using feed stations on the move, running with a lot of miles in your legs, etc.
  • feesfees Posts: 28
    Agree with IronJohn, do it but don't push yourself as you can't afford to lose too many days whilst you are trying to recover from the 70.3. It will also help you get used to transitions nd what kind of nutrition to use. Don't get carried away in the whole moment and race it as you will only hurt yourself.
  • JohnaJohna Posts: 27
    Thanks IronJohn/fees for the advice. I'll think I'll give it a go.
  • rob4rob4 Posts: 13
    with regards to this, what half-ironman are people doing, if they're preparing for the full distance at Sherborne?



    I'm signed up for Weymouth but wonder if it's too close.



    The other option I'm considering is to simply do the distance on my own a bit earlier - probably round Richmond Park!

  • bennybenny Posts: 1,314
    Alike rob4 I'd like to do a half distance, maybe on my own. So here comes another question; My A-priority race is an olympic distance organised by the club I'm in. It's only 10 miles from my home, so a lot of people I know are coming to watch. So you see, I wanna be the best I can at that race( idle as I am[:)]). But I want to do a Half IM this year for the first time too. Which one is the wisest: Half IM before or after my A-race? And how much time between them??

    Thanks a lot in advance,

    Benny
  • BARNYBARNY Posts: 157
    Hi



    I'm doing ironman swiss in july also - I plan to do Beauleu middle distance tri (www.racenewforest.co.uk ((or .com??) as it falls about 6 week before the race and so perfect timing methinks,, just going to do it at full IM pace and try and finish thinking I could go further in each section... (yeah right)... Going all the way to austria will be a bit of a ballache dont you think and might get in the way of your other trianing...



    Cowman is a great middle distance (big cow events) and I believe good timing for IMUK - lots of poeple last year were going to do IMUK.



    barni
  • Hey Rob,



    I'm doing sherbourne in September and also doing weymouth in June. I have a coach at the moment who is helping with my training and he has said this is fine, it may have some impact on IMUK performance depending on how hard you race at weymouth, but I know there's no way I can just train for 10 months without racing so 1/2 IM is there to help break things up for me.



    Good luck with it all and see you there :)
  • treefrogtreefrog Posts: 1,242
    This time last year I asked the same question and got a 50 : 50 response. In retospect I opted not to do it for convenience and holiday savings as much as anything else. In retrospect I was wrong. I say do it but use it as a dress rehersal. I f the timing is good do it at race pace (only you and your coach can decide what good is - as you will know about your limits & recovery ability). Otherwise don't worry about pace but use it to practise nutrition plan, to test kit, to experiment with strategy. I would also strongly reccommend that you dont make a big deal about it ie get all your loved ones to send cards and that but DO WRITE ALL YOUR THOUGHTS DOWN AS SOON AS POSSIBLE AFTER FINISHING this will prove to be a great weapon in your IMch armory
  • pacmanpacman Posts: 109
    I think a half is a great idea before IM. Somebaody mentioned the Cow Man series and I'd agree, it's a great race and well organised. I also did a half at Ireman Co Down Ireland before doing IMUK last year and I'm looking for a half in April (suggestions welcome) this year prior to IM france. I find it's useful for testing bits of kit and creating the necessary IM equipment checklist. Most of all though 1/2 pace for me is between 5/6 hours which is roughly what a long training session would be anyway and it's a change of scenery which was badly nedded 4 / 6 weeks into the training.



    All the best



    Patrick
Sign In or Register to comment.