Looking for #1 piece of advice doing HIM on consecutive weekends.

My advice would be to keep with your plan for race#1. The swim will not change the outcome-try to hit your goal pace, be efficient and don't waste too much time in T1, if this is going to be an 'A' race. Get on the bike and try to hold the power goal. I did austin in '16 and the swim was cancelled due to fog. The X factor for me was the heat on the run and the beat up roads. The roads weren't as bad as described...just sayin'. The heat, however, caused a LOT of cramps. Make sure your hydration/nutrition plan is spot on or you will pay for it.

My advice is to ALWAYS start easy on the run. To do well in long course triathlon, you must simply 'not slow down'. We often overestimate what we think we can hold for a pace. But, keeping what you perceive as 'easy pace' in the first few miles late into the race is more than challenging. You are not allowed to 'go for broke' until mile 10 of the HIM run or mile 21/22 of the IM run, IMO.

And please allow for some recovery this week. NO HARD RUNS. One intense bike w/o that is short and swim a lot. Your fitness is there, trust me.

Oh, and good luck!

Edited by dtoce 2017-10-26 4:39 PM

Thank you! I needed to hear it...especailly to use the same plan as for race #1.

Personally, I wouldn't do ANYTHING hard. Your body is still in recovery mode for at least a week, maybe up to two weeks, after a HIM. (I think the general rule of thumb is at least one day of recovery for each hour of racing. For most non-pros that is at least 5-6 days. Then you add to that if there was additional stress like being underprepared, racing super-hard, dealing with tough conditions like heat and wind, illness, gut or mechanical issues, etc.

I would focus on active recovery--mostly cycling, walking, and swimming; maybe a few short pickups to race pace, like 25's or 50's in the pool or some 30-60 second pickups on the bike. I'd minimize running (which tends to show deep fatigue the most and get back to normal last) and not do any hard running. Also, really make sure your nutrition and hydration is good. Especially true if you may have been under-fueled for the last race due to the gut issues. You probably need to be taking in more calories than normal, making sure you don't go hungry (your body is spending extra calories on recovery), plenty of carbs, protein, and water. Plus try to get some extra sleep each night--that helps speed recovery.

I haven't done two HIM back to back, but have done an Oly a week after HIM. No change in race strategy. I just did what I could in each leg. As others have said, don't start the run too fast, as that is where cumulative fatigue is most likely to come back and bite you. In reality, for that second race, the bike and run went really well. For some reason I had a slow swim--I'm normally a pretty good swimmer, had felt fine on swims that week, and had no idea my time was so slow till I got out of the water. Go figure. Maybe I was so worried about the possible effects of the previous race on bike and run that I wasn't focused on pacing or sighting or something?