IRONMAN TRAINING

Welcome to BT Jerry!  You've posed a good question, and to be perfectly honest, I would say no, don't do it.  If you had several IMs under your belt and were willing to risk it out that way, it'd be one thing, but with your triathlon background being minimal right now, and this being your 1st IM, I wouldn't risk what a marathon could do to the body when you have an IM pending just 4-weeks post race.  I have done one IM and multiple other tri's of varying distances, and I too have qualified for Boston for next year and am racing IM Coeur d' Alene in late June '11.  I would like to run Boston, but I want IMCdA more---so I'm going to hold off on Boston. I know I can qualify again and get there later.  IM is my A race, so I want to make sure my schedule supports that. 

NOW, if this is your first chance to do Boston, and you're not sure if qualifying would be easy for you in the future, and you'd prefer to knock out Boston as an A race, I'd encourage you to maybe look at holding off till 2012 for IMTX.  It'll still be there.  You could build up your tri racing and base through the rest of this year and thru 2011, getting some half-irons in there, race Boston in '11, and volunteer at IMTX so you can see the race, the course, get the feel for IM and sign up for 2012.  Could you do both? Yes, but the effort for one of them will suffer for the other.  Most people get in their last major workouts in IM training in the 4th/5th weeks before the race...but you'd be racing Boston and traveling, and then recovering...that will compromise some key IM training.

Just my two cents. Not a coach or anything, just my two cents.

Thanks for the info, Brittany!  That is excellent advice.  I qualifed for Boston last November but registration had already closed.  As you know, the qualification is good for two years and that's why I want to runit next year.  My last Boston was in 2008 and my grandsons like the trip so much they want to go back.  May see you in Bean Town!  Cheers!  Jerry...