A marathon a month before HIM?

Depends on your goals and your level of fitness.

Your logs don't show enough volume to do either.

Exactly.  You can do well at one or the other.  It will be a challenge to do well in both even though 4 weeks is a decent enough time to recover from a marathon.  You will just not be able to train with a lot of quality between the events.

I took me months to recover from my 1st marathon (under trained) and weeks to recover from my second.  I felt great 3-4 days after my 1st HIM.  If you're willing to put in the requisite training, I'd flip the order and you could finish them both.  With that said....

I have a marathon on 11/1/08 and did a HIM on 8/2/08.  To perform well, I wouldn't put them any closer (12 weeks) as I don't have the running base that I'd like for peak marathon performance; but should be fine.

For 2009, I plan to do a HIM in June and marathon in mid-October.  This, I feel, is more optimal as I'll have a solid aerobic base and wil enter into a full 18-week marathon program.

Marathons and half-iron triathlons are serious business; especially if they're your first.  Respect the distance.

Happy training! 

So that's plenty of time to train enough to do either race, but, like others said, it depends on which one you want to do really well in. If your "A" race is the HIM, no way would I do a marathon a month out. Unless you've got a ton of time on your hands, it's be really difficult to put enough time in on the bike *and* manage 45 mile run weeks. Plus, recovery the couple of weeks after would put you in a pretty severe training deficit.  

However, if you want to train like a rockstar for the marathon and compliment that training with some cycling and running, you should be able to get through the half. I wouldn't expect a stellar performance, though.

I did one and ran a BQ three weeks before my first IM race.  Was it the smartest thing to do??  Probably not.  But it was also my 5th marathon finish, so I wasn't exactly new to the distance.

You'll definitely feel better trained and excited doing a fall one instead of trying to cram them together.  Enjoy your training and have fun!

I did it last year. Ran a marathon in May, HIM in June. I was somewhat undertrained for the marathon, but still came within 2 minutes of my PR at that time. Blistered my feet badly and could barely run at all in between races. I was able to bike and swim though. The HIM was my first go at that distance and I didn't plan to really push too hard - just get a feel for the distance. I finished the HIM in a bit under 6 hours.

The difference was that the marathon was my 6th and even though I was undertrained I wasn't beat up physically the way I was after my first marathon. If both of these are your first you may want to drop the marathon and just do the HIM, unless you are logging very high running mileage - minimum of 60+. Doing a marathon on the standard insufficient mileage marathon plans may leave you with a much longer recovery than you had planned.

I'll have to say it depends on your level of fitness and how hard you push in races. I just did IMKY last weekend, have a marathon planned on 10/12 and another Ironman on 11/1. My marathon on 10/12 will be my last long run before the IM and I'm leaving it up to my coach to make sure I'm recovered and rested for the IM in Nov.

Level of fitness is key though. Look at Chris McDonald and Hillary Biscay, both winning IMWI after competing the week before at IMKY.

rstocks,

d00d...you da man

Provided you put in the proper training for your HIM, I would recommend doing a 1/2 marathon a month or two before your HIM.  It would be a nice tune-up race and good confidence builder.

The killer thing about a marathon is the last 10k.  Before I ran my marathon, somebody told me "The marathon starts at mile 20."  I had no idea what that meant.  Now I do.  Those last 6.2 miles can take weeks for you to recover from. 

If you train for your HIM, then recover for two weeks, that'll give you a solid 16 to 18 weeks to train for a Fall marathon. 

If it's your first marathon and you don't have a solid run base or come from a running background, I would say don't do it.  Only reason is that you don't know what your recovery from your marathon will be like.  For some seasoned marathoners it only takes a week or 2 to recover, for others it can take a month.  The marathon is very hard on your legs and you don't want to prolong your recovery by rushing to do a 1/2 IM.  Not only will your legs be tired, but your entire body in general will be fatigued.

Which is your "A" race?  the marathon or the 1/2 IM?  Do you have to run the marathon before your 1/2 IM or can you wait?  Is there a different marathon (before or after) your 1/2 IM that you can run instead?

That's my plan-I like to run a 15K or a half a couple of weeks before.  You can't beat 1-1.5 hours at a hard pace to bring your lactate threshold up.  LT pace, according to many noted exercise physiologists, corresponds with the pace that you can hold for a one hour race all out.  The unfortunate thing is they don't have enough races at that distance throughout the year.  I have one lined up for mid Oct followed by HIM Nov 8th.

I think I could run an all out HIM 2-3 weeks before an all out marathon, but not an all out marathon 2-3 weeks before a HIM.  I just get too beat up (in the knees particularly) at that distance, but then again I'm older than many here.

I was new to both distances this year; first marathon in March, first HIM 2 months later.  No expectations for either except to finish under my own power.  Surprised myself with a sub 4:00 on the marathon and a sub 6:00 on the HIM.  Marathon #2 this year will come in November, one month after my planned A-race Oly. 

Then nothing until 3/15/09, marathon #3.  Planning HIM #2 1.5 months later, then a fall HIM, followed 5 weeks later by marathon #4.  But, my run base is somewhat solid at this point.

Long story short; everyone's different.  I'm new at this, and did not feel that running the marathon 2 months prior to the HIM hurt me.  What hurt me was going too hard on the bike for my bike fitness at that time, which led to run issues (that and bad nutrition planning).  I've learned SO MUCH since then!!