A question for the IM women...

[rocknrollgirl]

So the DH and I have been chatting about racing this week, with following RM and the Boston Marathon etc. So my question is, when you IM chicks are planning a season, do you do other races? If so, when, before after? How long does it take to recover from a race of that length?


Thanks...

Ruth

[Running Mommy]

Hey Ruth-
Yes, other races are important IMO. Of course those are much shorter, but I think they help.
Here is how my life works around IM. It may or may not work for you.
I live in a crazy climate, so when most of the country is racing, I'm struggling to get a workout in before it gets too hot. But here is how it works for me.

Jan- April is my peak build for Ironman. I generally do not schedule much of anything on the weekends due to the fact that I need to be on the bike for a long day every weekend. I "plan" it this way knowing that there will be at least one weekend I'll miss due to something. But I'm pretty anal about my IM training. It is the most important time of the year for me.

After IMAZ (now) I will rest for a week. I'll do NOTHING. I need to let my body recover. And then I will slowly ramp back up to a nice normal training schedule. But this takes about a month. It is crazy how fatigued you are after an Ironman. I already took a nap today! And I took a two hour nap yesterday. I also noticed last year that my body was good for no longer than a 45 minute training session for the first month post IMAZ. But I won't push it.

I do have a sprint tri on the radar for memorial weekend. I'll also do some other smaller races in so cal over the summer to keep me in good form. I find that keeping a race in the schedule gives me something to train for, and keeps the tri vibe going. In october I'll do the Subaru womens tri again (since I didn't get a kona lottery slot) and I think I'm going to do SOMA half IM in October.
November and December are always hard months to keep me focused. I just want to bake cookies and enjoy the holidays, but I have to keep my base up, because come Jan 1 I'm back in the IM saddle. But I will admit it's a struggle, and I don't put too much pressure on myself because I realize that my body/mind needs a break every once in awhile. And if you don't take a break you will get burned out.
Anyhoo... thats how I roll. Hope it helps.
Cheers!
Denise

[Wahine]

Since my IM is late season, I don't have anything planned after. I try to get in at least 3 solid races in the months prior to IM with the last one being at least 6 weeks before.

My schedule looks like this:

April - build intensity high end intervals and keep building long rides and bricks on Weekend. About 15 hours per week. With a big rest week of course.

May - Same as above but with wekly hours around 17.

I'll race during this time as much as I want but not at full intensity. Usually I'll pick one event and say "Alright I'm going whole hog on the bike for this one," then I'll do the rest of the race low key. I mix it up, one race focus on the swim etc...

Then I'll have a peak week or two and race hard for a week or two after this. This takes me into the end of June-ish. Then I'll have a transition week - total recovery, nothing above a zone 1 and days off. If I'm still tired this gets stretched out into 10 days or so.

Then I repeat a similar build cycle into IM, but with shorter cycles - 3 weeks instead of 4. Two week peak to race day and off I go.

After IM, I may race a little, but at a strictly rec level. No hard pushes. But we have some great races in the PNW in the fall that I think I want to do.

Wow, that was long.

[rocknrollgirl]

Oh silly Denise...I was just asking out of curiosity, not for me silly...ha ha ha...me on a road bike...doing an IM...Bob and Gidget my mt bikes are in a fit of laughter in the garage.....

Thanks girls...that answers my question.

[Running Mommy]

WOW! Wahine is way more intense than I am!! Big builds and intervals and stuff.. Hmmm... maybe I need to adopt her plan so I can actually FINISH a race!!
And RNR girl...never say never! Truth be told I NEVER in a million years thought this would become my lifestyle!! I used to say " Running?? My body doesn't do that".... Sheesh, and look at me now!!
that being said a training cycle is a training cycle. It's just the distances that may vary.

[Tri Girl]

Wow- you both are way more intense than I am!
I did 3 races before my IM (a sprint, oly and half). They weren't at full intensity, just a prep for the big event (and since my IM was in my first season of tris I just needed to get some practice under my belt).
Six months out from my IM and I still don't feel like I'm where I was before. It's taken a long time to recover (although looking back I don't think I did enough good recovery after the race as the "I just did an IM" laziness set in for a couple months after).
For the pros I don't think recovery takes quite as long, but for me it's taken a lot longer than I thought it would. I'm thinking about doing my first post IM sprint tri a "short" (ha!!) 9 months after my IM. We'll see....

[Wahine]

WOW! Wahine is way more intense than I am!! Big builds and intervals and stuff.. Hmmm... maybe I need to adopt her plan so I can actually FINISH a race!!

You did finish.... Last year. And really, you could have finished this year inspite of the wind, just a little over the cutoff is all.

Yes, my program is a little intense. But I've been at this a few years now - 8 HIMs, 1 IM and too many sprints and Olys to count. HIM is actually my favorite distance.

[LBTC]

HIM is actually my favorite distance.

Really silly question for you:
If Half IM is your favourite distance, why do you do the IM??

H&B
~T~

[mtbdarby]

Because she can

[Wahine]

Because she can

Bingo.

Now before I post this next bit, I want you all to know that I'm not some kind of a hot shot or anything. I also don't like to toot my own horn. And believe me, nobody's waiting around to offer me sponsorship or sign me up for a team or anything. But to truly answer the question...

HIM's as much as I love 'em, actually started to feel too easy. Don't get me wrong, race day is only as easy as you let it be. But I got to the point where I could do an HIM off the couch because I had so much base behind me. It hurt more, but I could finish one with nothing more than 4 weeks prep.

So, I needed a new challenge. Doing IM gives me a big enough goal to force me to focus. HIM's don't force me to focus and I blow off my workouts too frequently because I know I can.

So throwing the periodic IM in the mix keeps me pushing the limits.