Still deciding on 10 week bridge plan

I am not a coach

That said, you should be able to maintain your run fitness for the HIM and really work the bike.  For California, it's not hilly per se, but the middle few miles do have 3 climbs that will take it out of you, so if you can work some hills Feb-March, that would be good.

Sax

I would say it depends on what your weakness is - if its the swim or bike, then right after the marathon is a perfect time to work on those sports while letting the legs recover from the marathon. I agree with Chris M too - 70.3 Cali has some rollers that can be challenging, and the head wind on the way back can be a pain too.

Doing lots of fast stuff early in the tri season would be the way to go in my opinion, then starting mid-August you could start focusing on the IM in AZ.

thanks.  I know what I need to do is get on the bike about 4 x week after the marathon.  I figure almost no running first two weeks focusing on just bike and swim.  last 8 weeks maybe get back running but I will keep it lower intensity at first. 

I think the midseason sprints will be more fun this year.  08 was my first year tri'ing so I just got through them all...not really reacing.  I hope to race some this summer and see where I'm at.