Rest? before and after a Tri

[birddog1]

GCT was supose to be my first Oly but ended up being a Duathlon. I was prepaired for it. Monday I just had to swim and by wed I was hurting and took day off.
Strange feeling I havnt done enough this week for Vermillion Harbor Oly but but I have.

What general rule for rest before and after OLY? what do you change or do different when you do back to back weekends?
Thanks,
Ed

[gregnemes]

Depends on your base on how much and how long to recover. If you have a strong base and tend to bounce back quickly, the week between will have some decent training in it, but much like a taper week. If you dont bounce back quickly or your base is lacking, get good rest and dont go very hard on the training. But things like this are so different for each individual, its more a matter of knowing your body.

[Brandon]

Greg makes a great point about this sort of thing being different for everyone. The training this week (between GCT and Vermilion) will not help prepare you for Vermilion, per se. The focus should be first and foremost on recovery. A great indicator for me of my revovery is my HR during an easy swim. If it is high, then I am not recovered. Once you determine you are recovered you can focus on some maintenance work (which probably should have happened between Wed. and today, (i.e. race paced intervals, etc.). At this pooint I'd take it pretty easy, especially if you are new to the sport.

If you are looking down the road to another event this summer then there is reason to train hard (assuming you are recovered) between the 2 events. However, this training will not help this weekends event (most likely it will adversly effect performance) but would be focused on being better prepared for the event down the road. Again, I would have done this training mid-week this week.

I'm racing Vermilion (did not race last week, but am in high volume training) and did my long run yesterday and am working my long ride into the day on Sunday (after the race) so that I can have a rest day today and an easy day Saturday. Hope this helps.

[psquared]

My question might be similar. I am doing the Chicago Oly at the end of the month. i was thinking about doing the Lorain Sprint to just practice. Is this too much? I feel I have a good base down and have been recovering pretty good. Chicago is technically my "A" race and I really want to shave some serious time off. Would this hurt?

[gregnemes]

without knowing too much about your training, and fitness - i would say its a good idea. a sprint is easy to recover. you wont dip too far into your glycogen stores in 1:00-1:15 of racing. itll also be a good tune up, help to keep you sharp for next weekend. just make sure it fits your taper plan. after the race, stretch, eat well, maybe grab a nap and youll feel good by monday. but if you have any ailing injuries or soreness you might think twice about the race. but overall, seems okay to do.

[psquared]

Thanks Greg. I think I am going to do it. I am more like a 1:22. I am heavyset. I mean a clydesdale. ;D But, I should be fine.