Ironman then marathon

anyone?

I don't think you should have any trouble coming back and doing the marathon.

I did IM Wisconsin in '04 and finished in 13 1/2 hours. Certainly not as fast I had hoped but I'm glad I perservered and finished. Three weeks later, with some pressure from my corporate team partners, I ran a marathon and finished in 2:40. It was a nice redemption for all of the training I had put in. It's tough to say how I would have felt had I gone faster in the Ironman. Best of luck.

In my opinion...

How long you won't want to move depends on how hard you are able to actually RUN the IM marathon. If you are totally smoked from the ride and end up jogging through the run, then recovery time will be a little bit less. If you are able to come off of the bike feeling relatively fresh and can lay down a solid effort on the run, then your muscle breakdown will be a little bit larger and you will have a little more delayed onset muscle soreness. Seems backwards, but I'm pretty sure the lesser intensity you are able to use running the IM marathon and the longer you are out there, the less muscle trauma you will experience.

All of that being said, it totally depends on your fitness... I would personally be hesitant to attempt to pace someone in a marathon around a month after i completed my first ironman. if you did more running to run your 2 48 and then started riding more this year you will likely have gained some size and "useless to running" weight, which will slow you down.

I'd sign up for the marathon, have an active recovery plan of swimming for many days after wards, attempt a run on day 6 or 7 and go from there. If its gonna happen, you'll know after 5 or 6 runs.

Having done both, I don't think your plan has any problems. (especially since the IMW course was softened in year two).

Grand Rapids, course-wise, is only challenging in the first half and even that is mild challenge. I would think you could pick your friend up at the half or 16 mile marker or so and bring him in. There is a section that goes out into an industrial park that's tough and where most runners at GRM break. Talk to Don, the RD. He's a standup guy and understands athletes. He will find a way to accomodate you.

Thanks a lot so far for the advice guys! Seems like Ill just have to play it by ear but I wanted to make sure that, if I do go throuhg with the marathon afterwards, I wont mess myself up too bad. Its reassuring to hear people have done both without any problems!

Given that you're not trying to compete at that marathon but are helping pace someone, I think you're fine. I'd run every other day, very short runs, for a couple of weeks after IM, and then you'll be basically runnable again. In my experience it takes a couple of months to get race-ready again, but that's a different story.

(I did 7 IM races before I retired--best of 9:49.)