How did you decide how many races to do?

I'm looking at different races for next year (my first year doing races). I'm starting the year with more of a fun run (3 miles) and then going up to a couple of 5k's and some 10K's by middle of summer and ending the year with a 1/2 marathon. This doesn't include any cycle events just the running. Is two a month or so within the realm of possibility? or could I do more? How did you decide how many races to do?

Just be careful... Racing takes its toll on your body... By the end of this year I will have done 4 marathons 4 x 70.3 Ironmans and a Full Ironman, along with several 5k & 10ks and 3 Sprint Tri's. and multiple 100 mile bike rallies... My body is pretty much wrecked. It is my 1st year racing too, so to tell you not to do TOO much would kind of be calling the kettle "Black"... Just listen to your body and let that be your guide. The good news with doing 5k and 10ks is that they normally don't sell out or have caps on numbers of participants so you can register pretty close to the event rather than registering for all of them now and may face an injury and have to just forfeit your money and registration. My two cents....

WOW! You did do a lot this year!  Thanks for the advice. I think I'll end up doing mostly 5 and 10k's and some "fun runs" as well. I'll try and see where I am by early summer and see if a half is in the works for next year.

Katie

If I could race every weekend, I would.  $ and time are the holdbacks.  The official comment that I have read in Runners World is that you should go easy for the amount of days after the race as many miles as the race is.   I didn't say that clearly.  If you race 3 miles, you should go easy for 3 days and so on.  I don't necessarly believe that as most of us are not elite runners who make a living on out running times.  I say to race every weekend if you want.  I probably wouldn't do back to back marathons but I have met people on the road who have and they are fine.  I think that it's about monitoring your body to see how you react.

Thanks for the input! I need to start looking at runners world. Someone else mentioned it to me yesterday, but I haven't had a chance yet to get on it.

Next year is probably going to look like this for me.
1 Olympic Tri the end of April
1 70.3 Tri in JUly
I have a voucher for a sprint tri entry, not sure which one I will use it on yet, they run all year long through a local company.
I have a couple 100 + mile bike rides I want to do.  Maybe even a couple 200 mile rides if the schedule works out.
1-2 1/2 marathons.

But utimately it is going to come down to money and which events conflict with each other and if there enough time to recover and train between them.

Scott

That reminds me, you posted a link to several double century rides in Cal. Could you repost the link? I was going to save the page, but for some reason the bookmark didn't take.

http://www.caltriplecrown.com/


Scott

Thanks Scott!

Let me know if you are going to come down for any of these rides.  That may help me to decide which one I want to sign up for.

The hardest part is finding one that fits into my triathlon schedule.

Scott