70.3 before IM

I think 8 weeks is pretty ideal. build up to race, week recovery, last 3 or 4 week build, then taper. i did one 5 weeks before, not ideal but it was my 3d or 4th HIM

Yes anywhere in there 6-9 weeks before IM for a HIM should work nicely.  I did one at 7 weeks out last year worked well. 

I am planning the same thing, HIM 8 weeks prior to my Ironman.  Seems like there is enough recovery and build time to accomodate. 

For those who have already done this, did you push yourself during the HIM or treat it as a training day to gage your fitness level? 

Greg

So...you are saying that 2 weeks is too close?

I am doing the Muncie 1/2 in July and IMWI in September. 

For the last few IM, I've done a half about 8 weeks out.  I will push it fairly hard to get a good gauge on how nutrition is going, race setup, etc...  The next week I scaled back volume to help with recovery. 

Assuming you are not injured and have trained properly over the previous months, I would recommend doing one just to test out your race day setup. 

If I enter a race, it's to race.  There's no better way to guage your fitness.

My personal opinion is that an HIM about 8-12 weeks out is good.  This way, you have something to focus your training on earlier in the season besides just the IM.  Train for the HIM, but don't do too much of a taper.  Race hard, see what you can do.  Then rest for a couple days, train easy for a couple more, and then kick into your IM-specific training the next weekend or following week.

I agree 8 weeks out is fine. 
My first (and only til this year) IM I didn't do an HIM but then I was just trying to finish
This year I am doing one (my first HIM) just over 12 weeks out.  In my planning mind it is to really test out my nutrition rather than fitness as that is what went wrong with my first IM but it is working out really well to have something to focus on before the IM.  Kind of wish I'd done it first time round so I say go for it.
I will race it cos that's my race mentality

Had the same question . . . the problem is that there are not a lot of HIM races in Asia. I will be doing HIM Singapore 5 weeks before IMSA. Not too sure how to race this. I figure no taper and hit the race like a hard, long training day. The recovery from the swim and bike is not big deal. I need to make sure I do not do any damage on run (?).

Cheers.

Yup the HIM was an all out effort, pleanty of time to recover for the IM.  I picked up like an hour over my previous HIM time in it.