Post Ironman Training

I kind of focused on doing s/b/r for fun.  Of course reduced the training times, but brought back in mountain biking in the schedule, went for group rides, left the HRM at home and didn't care if I was going "hard" enough.  Trail running...  Just mixed it up, and didn't care so much about length and effort.

I didn't want to do NOTHING, but also felt it was time to relax for the rigors of IM training.

definitely plan on some downtime.

I tried to keep up my fitness as best as I could after, but the IM took a lot out of me. Ran and biked when I felt like it, glad not to be following a training plan (for awhile). Swimming is good...

As above, I added in some fun things like trail runs, mtb, and just relaxing.  Didn't do anything too intense, had no races planned until about 4 months after, which was just about right for me.

I used the time post race to catch up on a bunch of things I missed while training.  S/B/R when I felt like it and it was great. 

Some people always have to have a goal, others don't.  It depends on who you are.

post IM training:

-first IM, first 3-5 days, just take completely off and focus on getting mentally caught up.  Focus on work/family, etc.

-After that, foocus on daily movement for the next week, not daily training.  I would still hold off on the running, and focus on swimming and very easy spins.  Walks are good or very very gently trots on a flat, soft surface.  Taking a MTN bike on the road will help limit your effort.  Very easy swims as well.

-afer 10-14 days, I think its good to return to more training, but still keeping things a bit limited.

-3 week after, back to structure.

With the sprint, no matter what you do, you will be racing with pre IM fitness, which will still be good 3 weeks post race.  The key is to not focus on building your fitness for that race, as that would likely have you training a bit too hard post IM too soon.

-weight gain

I would really foucs on this for a solid 2 weeks, in fact I wouldn't even weigh yourself.  Focus on eating healthy and limit the sugar mainly.  Give yourself a bit of freedom--you;ve earned it!

go into the sprint race simply to have fun, you won't be as fit as you were for the IM no matter what you do, so simply focus on getting back into participation to avoid that slump.

I hit a pretty major slump after IMLP last summer. I had an Oly planned for several weeks after to keep me motivated and take advantage of my fitness level, but even with that I slacked way off. In retrospect I did not give myself enough down time and didn't account for the emotional and mental recovery. I almost pulled a DNS for the Oly but just couldn't quit. A slump is temporary, quitting is forever. 

I also had planned to do a Nov marathon but decided to do the half instead. I just didn't have it in me to work hard enough ( to my standards) to train for a marathon after coming off a 4 year build to Ironman. It was a huge goal of mine and maybe I built it up too much. I still have not written a race report and I'm not 100% sure why not. Something about letting go and moving on, like I don't want that magic to end. You only get one chance to do anything for the first time. I still haven't gotten back in a decent groove since last summer but I am learning to not beat myself up too much about it

Oh, and I put on about 10 lbs but I wear it well

Is the chance to beat me not enough motivation for you to train harder Red?

C'mon... bring it on Ironman   I double dog dare ya!

This is great advice and pretty much what I've done after my Ironmans.