Marathons and Ironman races?

Harold Buck said:

Does anyone have any advice regarding whether it's reasonable to do an
"easy" Marathon 11 weeks after doing an Ironman race (which is the key
race of the season)?

I'll tell you in just over 2 weeks ;-)

I raced IMUK on Aug 21st and I will running in the Abingdon marathon on
Oct 16th - a gap of 8 weeks - in that gap I also did the Vitruvian half
IM distance and the Xtreme Terrain Tri (xterra type thingy).

It all depends on you and how well you recover from an IM, you should
have good fitness coming off the back of the IM and as long as you
rest properly and then prepare well for the marathon then there shouldn't
be a problem, but it all depends on you. I recover fairly rapidly, others
may need longer.

Quoted message said:

What about doing a Marathon 5 1/2 months before an Ironman race? Good
idea or not?

5 1/2 months is far enough out from the IM that you will be able to
recover and not have much impact on your training.

Enjoy !

Doug

Harold Buck said:

Does anyone have any advice regarding whether it's reasonable to do an
"easy" Marathon 11 weeks after doing an Ironman race (which is the key
race of the season)?

You should be OK. I did one 5 weeks after and wasn't quite ready, but
that was earlier on in my IM experiences. A lot of it is mental, not
physical. Your mind just isn't ready to push hard again. It expected a
nice, easy three or four months off. <g>

If you keep it real easy, then it shouldn't be a problem.

BTW, I'm doing NYC 2 weeks after doing the Great Floridian, which is
really quite insane. I'm doing it as a fun race with my wife and her
friends. We're looking at a 5+ hour effort, so it shouldn't be too
bad. I'll probably be OK until about 16 -18, then it'll get tough.

Quoted message said:

What about doing a Marathon 5 1/2 months before an Ironman race? Good
idea or not?

The only issue I see is making it a logical part of your schedule so
that it doesn't interfer with ramping up to the IM. If recovering from
it puts you behind, then you need to look at it.

Mike Tennent
"IronPenguin"

Harold Buck said:

Does anyone have any advice regarding whether it's reasonable to do an
"easy" Marathon 11 weeks after doing an Ironman race (which is the key
race of the season)?

What about doing a Marathon 5 1/2 months before an Ironman race? Good
idea or not?

--Harold Buck

<<SNIP sig>>

HB,

In my experience, you can only really answer this for yourself, after
you have tried it. I understand an IM is a big investment; you would
not want to risk the quality of the IM if you did not have to.

I know people who can do this; I am not one of them. My recoveries are
very long.

rsquared

rsquared said:

Harold Buck said:

Does anyone have any advice regarding whether it's reasonable to do an
"easy" Marathon 11 weeks after doing an Ironman race (which is the key
race of the season)?

What about doing a Marathon 5 1/2 months before an Ironman race? Good
idea or not?

--Harold Buck

<<SNIP sig>>

HB,

In my experience, you can only really answer this for yourself, after
you have tried it. I understand an IM is a big investment; you would
not want to risk the quality of the IM if you did not have to.

I know people who can do this; I am not one of them. My recoveries are
very long.

rsquared

I did SF marathon first week of July and Canada IM last week in August.
I would not recommend it in that interval. I also take a longer time to recover.
M50-54 age group at the time.

"Harold Buck" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

Does anyone have any advice regarding whether it's reasonable to do an
"easy" Marathon 11 weeks after doing an Ironman race (which is the key
race of the season)?

What about doing a Marathon 5 1/2 months before an Ironman race? Good
idea or not?

--Harold Buck

"I used to rock and roll all night,
and party every day.
Then it was every other day. . . ."
-Homer J. Simpson

Harold,

Let me answer this from a different perspective. I did the Blue Devil IM
last October. In January, my wife and I traveled to Phoenix so she could do
the Rock n' Roll marathon with her sister. Although I was invited to join
them, I opted to sit out the RnR Marathon and watched my wife and sister in
law from the sidelines.

In retrosepct, for me, this was a big mistake. I know you've done an IM
before so this might not apply to you, but after mine I had a hard time
getting motivated and keeping myself in the groove. I really wish I had put
something my calander post-IM to shoot for because it would have given me a
reason to get out the door. In the long run, I think I would have been
better off.

Just another perspective for what it's worth.

John

John Hardt said:

"Harold Buck" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

Does anyone have any advice regarding whether it's reasonable to do an
"easy" Marathon 11 weeks after doing an Ironman race (which is the key
race of the season)?

What about doing a Marathon 5 1/2 months before an Ironman race? Good
idea or not?

--Harold Buck

"I used to rock and roll all night,
and party every day.
Then it was every other day. . . ."
-Homer J. Simpson

Harold,

Let me answer this from a different perspective. I did the Blue Devil IM
last October. In January, my wife and I traveled to Phoenix so she could do
the Rock n' Roll marathon with her sister. Although I was invited to join
them, I opted to sit out the RnR Marathon and watched my wife and sister in
law from the sidelines.

In retrosepct, for me, this was a big mistake. I know you've done an IM
before so this might not apply to you, but after mine I had a hard time
getting motivated and keeping myself in the groove. I really wish I had put
something my calander post-IM to shoot for because it would have given me a
reason to get out the door. In the long run, I think I would have been
better off.

Just another perspective for what it's worth.

John

I agree. after Canada IM, I also had a hard time to get motivated for regular
appropriate workouts, with no goal in sight.

John Hardt said:

"Harold Buck" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

Does anyone have any advice regarding whether it's reasonable to do an
"easy" Marathon 11 weeks after doing an Ironman race (which is the key
race of the season)?

What about doing a Marathon 5 1/2 months before an Ironman race? Good
idea or not?

--Harold Buck

"I used to rock and roll all night,
and party every day.
Then it was every other day. . . ."
-Homer J. Simpson

Harold,

Let me answer this from a different perspective. I did the Blue Devil IM
last October. In January, my wife and I traveled to Phoenix so she could do
the Rock n' Roll marathon with her sister. Although I was invited to join
them, I opted to sit out the RnR Marathon and watched my wife and sister in
law from the sidelines.

In retrosepct, for me, this was a big mistake. I know you've done an IM
before so this might not apply to you, but after mine I had a hard time
getting motivated and keeping myself in the groove. I really wish I had put
something my calander post-IM to shoot for because it would have given me a
reason to get out the door. In the long run, I think I would have been
better off.

Just another perspective for what it's worth.

John

It's a little different with me. While I also see a dramatic *fizzle*
in my motivation, everyone around me welcomes it.

rsquared

John Hardt said:

"Harold Buck" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

Does anyone have any advice regarding whether it's reasonable to do an
"easy" Marathon 11 weeks after doing an Ironman race (which is the key
race of the season)?

What about doing a Marathon 5 1/2 months before an Ironman race? Good
idea or not?

--Harold Buck

"I used to rock and roll all night,
and party every day.
Then it was every other day. . . ."
-Homer J. Simpson

Harold,

Let me answer this from a different perspective. I did the Blue Devil IM
last October. In January, my wife and I traveled to Phoenix so she could do
the Rock n' Roll marathon with her sister. Although I was invited to join
them, I opted to sit out the RnR Marathon and watched my wife and sister in
law from the sidelines.

In retrosepct, for me, this was a big mistake. I know you've done an IM
before so this might not apply to you, but after mine I had a hard time
getting motivated and keeping myself in the groove. I really wish I had put
something my calander post-IM to shoot for because it would have given me a
reason to get out the door. In the long run, I think I would have been
better off.

Just another perspective for what it's worth.

John

It's a little different with me. While I also see a dramatic *fizzle*
in my motivation, everyone around me welcomes it.

rsquared

In article <[email hidden]>,

rsquared said:

It's a little different with me. While I also see a dramatic *fizzle*
in my motivation, everyone around me welcomes it.

For me, I think it wold be nice to have something get me out the door
within a few weeks of my IM Moo. I'm sure my wife would prefer if I
stopped leaving the house for a few months, but I can do a Marathon on
not a ton of training, so hopefully I can pull it off without getting
into too much trouble.

--Harold Buck

"I used to rock and roll all night,
and party every day.
Then it was every other day. . . ."
-Homer J. Simpson

In article <[email hidden]>,

rsquared said:

It's a little different with me. While I also see a dramatic *fizzle*
in my motivation, everyone around me welcomes it.

For me, I think it wold be nice to have something get me out the door
within a few weeks of my IM Moo. I'm sure my wife would prefer if I
stopped leaving the house for a few months, but I can do a Marathon on
not a ton of training, so hopefully I can pull it off without getting
into too much trouble.

--Harold Buck

"I used to rock and roll all night,
and party every day.
Then it was every other day. . . ."
-Homer J. Simpson

Well this is a bit of a delayed response but I didn't want to answer
until I had at least tried an ultra distance first. My suspicions were
that you would be fine to do both. I can now confirm. On Oct 1st I
did my first ever iron-distance triathlon (Chesapeakeman) and then this
past weekend (Oct 15th) I did the Baltimore marathon. Two weeks was not
enough for a full recovery and the marathon was about 10+ mins slower
than I would have hoped to have done if that had been a key race for
me. It took a week for my left calf to recover from the ultra and
there were still lingering sorenesses when I tried some easy runs last
week but it wasn't a huge problem. With 11 weeks you should have time
to sufficiently recover and build up again for the marathon.

Oh and, FWIW, I have never really been a marathoner - before this month
I had officially done one - in 1994 - and did another unofficially last
year. (Last year I had planned on registering the day before the race
but got sick and spent the whole day before the race visiting the
doctor, going to the hospital for some test and then to the pharmacy.
I ended up not being able to make it to the expo to register but I had
trained and wasn't about to let a little croup-like cough and the
inability to breathe properly stop me, ha.) Anyhow doing a marathon
isn't something that is ho-hum to me like it is to some people. If I
could do one 2 weeks after an ultra, you should have no problem doing
one 11 weeks after. Go for it!

-hug

Harold Buck said:

Does anyone have any advice regarding whether it's reasonable to do an
"easy" Marathon 11 weeks after doing an Ironman race (which is the key
race of the season)?

What about doing a Marathon 5 1/2 months before an Ironman race? Good
idea or not?

--Harold Buck

"I used to rock and roll all night,
and party every day.
Then it was every other day. . . ."
-Homer J. Simpson

Hey Michael:

Good luck this weekend...hoping that Wilma finds Fred, or the other way
around, and they hightail it far, far away from Florida.

Mike C

Mike Tennent said:

Harold Buck said:

Does anyone have any advice regarding whether it's reasonable to do an
"easy" Marathon 11 weeks after doing an Ironman race (which is the key
race of the season)?

You should be OK. I did one 5 weeks after and wasn't quite ready, but
that was earlier on in my IM experiences. A lot of it is mental, not
physical. Your mind just isn't ready to push hard again. It expected a
nice, easy three or four months off. <g>

If you keep it real easy, then it shouldn't be a problem.

BTW, I'm doing NYC 2 weeks after doing the Great Floridian, which is
really quite insane. I'm doing it as a fun race with my wife and her
friends. We're looking at a 5+ hour effort, so it shouldn't be too
bad. I'll probably be OK until about 16 -18, then it'll get tough.

Quoted message said:

What about doing a Marathon 5 1/2 months before an Ironman race? Good
idea or not?

The only issue I see is making it a logical part of your schedule so
that it doesn't interfer with ramping up to the IM. If recovering from
it puts you behind, then you need to look at it.

Mike Tennent
"IronPenguin"

In article <[email hidden]>,

Quoted message said:

Anyhow doing a marathon
isn't something that is ho-hum to me like it is to some people. If I
could do one 2 weeks after an ultra, you should have no problem doing
one 11 weeks after. Go for it!

Thanks! I think I'm going to go for it!

--Harold Buck

"I used to rock and roll all night,
and party every day.
Then it was every other day. . . ."
-Homer J. Simpson

Mike C said:

Hey Michael:

Good luck this weekend...hoping that Wilma finds Fred, or the other way
around, and they hightail it far, far away from Florida.

Mike C

Hi Mike,

Thanks. The race went off as scheduled, though not without problems,
apparently caused by volunteers bailing because of the storm. The
field was smaller, too.

I had one of my worse times, 16:53, but managed 8th in Age Group
thanks to just enough old fast guys staying home. <g> First time I've
scored an award. (GFT goes 10 deep.)

I came through without any real harm other than a small blister that
bothered me the entire run.

Next up, NYC marathon.

Mike Tennent
"IronPenguin"

That is awesome, Mike. Was thinking about you as I was watching the
Weather Channel...sounds like the worst of it kept out of your way.

An AG award in an Ironman---not too damn shabby, old fart! ;-)

I'll be heading down south this next Sunday in final prep for IM
Florida on the 5th. Hoping the "fast course" designation holds up for
me!

Nice job, and get yourself some rest!

Mike C

Mike Tennent said:

"Mike C" <[email hidden]> wrote:

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

Hi Mike,

Thanks. The race went off as scheduled, though not without problems,
apparently caused by volunteers bailing because of the storm. The
field was smaller, too.

I had one of my worse times, 16:53, but managed 8th in Age Group
thanks to just enough old fast guys staying home. <g> First time I've
scored an award. (GFT goes 10 deep.)

I came through without any real harm other than a small blister that
bothered me the entire run.

Next up, NYC marathon.

Mike Tennent
"IronPenguin"

Mike Tennent <[email hidden]> wrote in
news:[email hidden]:

Quoted message said:

Mike C said:

Hey Michael:

Good luck this weekend...hoping that Wilma finds Fred, or the other way
around, and they hightail it far, far away from Florida.

Mike C

Hi Mike,

Thanks. The race went off as scheduled, though not without problems,
apparently caused by volunteers bailing because of the storm. The
field was smaller, too.

I had one of my worse times, 16:53, but managed 8th in Age Group
thanks to just enough old fast guys staying home. <g> First time I've
scored an award. (GFT goes 10 deep.)

I came through without any real harm other than a small blister that
bothered me the entire run.

Next up, NYC marathon.

Mike Tennent
"IronPenguin"

Great job Mike! I had a friend who did IMFL last year as her 1st IM who
was down there. I knew she had gotten into great racing condition, but
was thrilled to see she pulled off a 3rd overall! She's uh, a little
faster than me (I went 16:48 at IMFL last year, she was sub-13).

I'm thinking that I can't be ready for another IM until 2007, but if
training goes well in 2006, I've always got the option of signing up for
GFT late in the summer. Have you done IMFL, and if so, ow do the races
compare?

Tom Henderson said:

Great job Mike! I had a friend who did IMFL last year as her 1st IM who
was down there. I knew she had gotten into great racing condition, but
was thrilled to see she pulled off a 3rd overall! She's uh, a little
faster than me (I went 16:48 at IMFL last year, she was sub-13).

I'm thinking that I can't be ready for another IM until 2007, but if
training goes well in 2006, I've always got the option of signing up for
GFT late in the summer. Have you done IMFL, and if so, ow do the races
compare?

Thanks, Tom.

I haven't done IMFL, but I'm familiar with the area.

GFT is a much harder course due to the hills. And yes, Florida does
have hills. <g> The area around Clermont is topographically unusual -
it's called early Kaarst, which is characterized by steep, short hills
formed by sinkholes in the underlying limestone. Go the GFT website
and look at the race day bike photos from this year.

http://sommersports.com/events/greatfloridian/2005/photosbike2.asp

The hill featured is Sugarloaf mountain. It's the worst, but the last
part of the course features almost continuous rolling terrain.

A flat course like IMFL is a different kind of challenge, of course,
but GFT times reflect the relative difficulty.

GFT has a small town race atmosphere, quite different than the MDot
races. GFT is convenient for me and I've done races down there for 25
years, so it's like going home each year.

BTW, GFT adds a half hour to the final cut-off (17:30 rather than
17:00.)

Mike Tennent
"IronPenguin"

Mike Tennent <[email hidden]> wrote in
news:[email hidden]:

Quoted message said:

BTW, GFT adds a half hour to the final cut-off (17:30 rather than
17:00.)

Sounds like a race made with me in mind :-)