IM done...what do we do know

I know the feeling!

I finished IM CdA 5-6 weeks ago, and I'm still floundering about, looking for what to do next.  I have plenty of exciting stuff in my life, but I still feel like there's a void that needs to be filled.  Like you, I'm focusing on speed work for a while and might sign up for a late season race.  We'll see!

Good luck, and just enjoy the recovery!

Congrats on finishing you IM!  As far as what to do...start out by relaxing for a while.  You have just finished something that required serious dedication and many hours of training.  Your body needs time to recover.  Maybe look for another type of event this winter after you have had time to rest...you deserve it!

I am doing my first IM next month.  I can tell you already I can't wait for it to be over.  While I enjoy the training it really has been much more of a burdon than I anticipated.  I really feel like I have negelcted my family this summer...not only because I have been spending so much time training...but also because I am so tired!  Been feeling very quilty lately!  I'm this far into it so I will see it through but I won't be doing this again.

Late season marathon would be a great goal.  Do take some time to reward yourself with some time off of exercising how and when you want to.  Do some fun group rides with friends or the local bike club, run without a watch on at a comfortable pace, skip the masters swim workout and just do some laps by yourself to stay loose. 

Be careful to not let this become too much of a habit though.  After my first IM, I was so burnt out that I took about 4 solid months off doing absolutely nothing and gained an easy 15 lbs.  If you are looking for new goals to set consider your motivations (Im struggling with this process right now myself) ... are you fast enough where qualifying for Kona or Clearwater is a reasonable goal?  If not, what about qualifying for USAT Nationals in either Short or Long Course, or Boston?  If speed isnt your thing, what about coordinating a major vacation around an event ... like St Croix 70.3 (highly recommended!!) or even something in Europe?  If traveling isnt your thing, maybe you want to up the distance and try an ultramarathon?

Go long or die! 

I just made that up.  I read your post yesterday and have been giving it some thought.  My initial reply was going  to be "sign up for another IM" but then I read your post again and see that you don't want to do another IM.  So your dilema is, you want the challange and reward of an IM but you don't want to pay for it.  Hmmm, that is a challange.  Here are some suggestions:

1. Find a cheaper, non-Mdot race.

2.  Find a cheap HIM and complete the course twice.

3.  Set some 'swing for the fence' time goals.

4.  Hike to Everest Base Camp.

5.  Do a marathon and century ride in all 50 states.

6.  Coach/mentor a fist time IM

I never really had serious post-IM depression becuase I always signed up for another one upon completion of the event.  I can relate though in terms of vacations.  I invented a disorder I call PVTSD.  I think a variation of PVTST is PIMTSD.  The only documented cure is "sign up for the next event"

Here is the medical defintion of PVTSD that I invented:

I've got the post-vacation traumatic stress disorder (PVTSD).  If there isn't such a thing, then I just invented it!  This phenomenon occurs following the "vacation of a life-time" and is characterized by periods of lethargy and apathy while the patient recalls how it seemed as though he had passed through some portal into another dimension.  A dimension of sight and sound (Mike does his best Rod Serling impression) so far removed from the vicissitudes of real life as to be a seemingly perpetual dream. 

I have developed a new appreciation for the feeling a repeat-criminal must feel upon his return behind bars.  For a short time, I was free!  Meetings and appointments and obligations and commitments did not mandate my comings and goings.  I awoke every morning with an attitude of expectancy whereby I expected good things to come my way.

~Mike

And if you add the 5K on Friday to the Goofy, you get to unoffically complete the Dopey.  That's what I will be doing.  Next year's goal is a HIM.

I did IM UK last week as my first ironman.  Do not think I want to put the traiing time in an IM again next season so I was thinking a goal would be to qualify for Boston or look into one of the Xterra events.  My PB for a marathon is 3:44:00, need to get that below 3:15:00 to qualify for Boston.

Also, I will continue to do duathlons/triathlons of all distances for personal bests.