Madison 70.3, Ohio 70.3 IM LOU

I would review training plan and see how the 70.3 race impacts or works with your scheduled training. I assume the IM Lou is your "A" race and you will approach the 70.3 as a "B" race.

How did you recover after the Madison 70.3? Will you be able to resume your IM training without much recovery after the 70.3?

I completed a IM Lou when it was in August and did B2B IM in October without any issues. The IM Lou was my "A" race and I did the B2B because I wanted to improve on my race time and I felt like I had majority of the training behind me.

Bottom line is you know your body better than any of us and know what you can handle. I really don't see a big issue with including another 70.3 into the schedule if you are comfortable with it.

I did Madison 70.3 as well and will be doing Steelhead 70.3, 4 weeks before I do the full in Madison. I'm also doing Door County, which will be about 8 weeks before the IMWI.

I've done this the last 2 years (raced Steelhead/Door County then did Madison) and had no issues. I've always used Steelhead (and even Door County) as sort of a final dress rehearsal. I would wear the same gear as I would on IM day and practice my IM nutrition. I would go at a slighter faster pace (but not all out) but that's because I know I can recover fairly quickly.

I think a lot depends on how fast your recover. A lot will also depend on how hard you race the 70.3. If you use it more like a long training day, then you should recover rather quick. However, if you want to go for a PR and actually race it, then it might take you a little longer to recover. IM LOU is roughly 10 weeks after Ohio 70.3. Even if you race Ohio and go for a PR you should have enough time to recover and build back up. I've done marathons at a training run pace while training for ultras and felt back to normal within 2 days.

One other thing to consider is logistics. Will Ohio be an entire weekend thing? Sometimes I find it harder to recover from a destination race because staying in a hotel, eating unfamiliar foods, and trying to figure out an unfamiliar city can wear you down. If your Olympic is local then you can sleep in your own bed, eat at home the night before, and feel a bit more relaxed (at least I always do).

I think the key will be how long it will take for you to recover so you can go back to building up for IM LOU. My coach and I sit down every year to plan out my race schedule. We rank the races, decide what the goals will be, and how hard I will race them. He told me that while it's fun to try and PR every race, I have to keep in mind that if I do a race and it leaves me beat up for a week, then that cuts into training for my A race.