As you grow older, you'll find the only things you regret are the things you didn't do. ~Zachary Scott
Hmmm....maybe that starts this post out on a biased note. I'm ok with that, though. Need a little help from thy blog friends, readers and silent lurkers :-) If you've been reading TFB for long, you know I have a small obsession with triathlon (duh). 2011 has been a pretty epic year for races so far-I've done a half marathon, Olympic Tri, full marathon, half ironman, and have an ironman in 8 weeks. Not too shabby! However, I've had a few pretty crazy time goals in mind for the full marathon (which I missed by 8 minutes, but still PRed by 30 minutes) and the half ironman (which ended up basically being the Sahara triathlon and was an exercise in just finishing!)
SOOOO....I can make peace with these crazy races and move on from it, and go kick my Ironman's behind, or I can seek out a bit of retribution on one of the distances: The Half Ironman! Enter: St. George's "Big George" inaugural half ironman on September 4th. 3 weeks out from my ironman, a brand new race. Decisions, decisions!!
So, enter in my pros n cons of doing this race....
Pros:
* An Ironman tune up. Getting out there and racing!
* A holiday weekend-plenty of time to travel
* It's not too expensive (well, the actual race)
* It's during my taper (right at the start, after a recovery week!)
* I get another chance to do a mondo PR!
And, not as fun, the cons...
* It's a bit more $$ cause we need a room and gas/travel for 200 miles each way (ish)
* Is it too close to my Ironman?
* No clue about the course. I've looked at the bike and run profiles, which, aside from a decent hill on the bike, look pretty do-able)
* Concern that I am cramming something in too close to my ironman. I know that alot of athletes race Tupper Lake 3 weeks out from Ironman Lake Placid, and I recover well, but still unsure.....
Sooo....help! Talk me into it. Talk me out of it. I have the hubster's support, which is important, but he has the nerve to tell me it's up to me :-P What do you guys think? Go for the PR and tune up while I am in shape? Or back off and give all my energy to Chessyman?
If the IM is your A race and Lake George is in the middle of your taper, I'd skip it - you've 70.3s. And you can do them again. If you feel like you need a tuneup, maybe an Olympic or sprint would accomplish that?
ReplyDeleteIt might be too close!! Give all that energy to Chessyman!! I know I need more recovery! Im doing one about 5 weeks out from mine!
ReplyDeletetoo close to ironman, do it another time, taper is there for a reason, as you know you need to respect the distance of ironman.
ReplyDeleteI agree with the above people.. too close to your Ironman. Tinman is 4 weeks out from IMLP, not 3.
ReplyDeleteThanks to my wise tri and swim friends :-) Alexa, I forgot that it was 4 weeks, since it was the end of June and Placid is the third weekend in July. Oops!
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