Racing one week before marathon

[Mike Davis]

I was just asked to join a team for the Mountains to Sound relay on June 21. That's only a week before the Seattle RnR. I've been wanting to do a relay for a while now and had planned on doing the Northwest Passage in July until I found out that I'll be out of state in a class that week.
My leg of this relay would be the 1/2M and I planned on doing one last long training run of 12-13 miles on friday June 19 anyway, but I'm a little concerned about pushing it 2 days closer to race day. I'm sure the team would be happy if I just committed to running a 7:30-8:00 min pace so I wouldn't necessarily need to knock myself out, but then again, it is a race and I might be tempted to run a little harder than normal.
Any advice?

[Sasha Pachev]

The problem with those relays is nervous system fatigue from the lack of sleep. It can linger for as long as a month afterwards. But if you are used to living without sleep you might be OK. Also, since your limits are still most likely aerobic and not neurological, this might not be a big deal. For me it is different, though. It is all about the nervous system the day of the race, if it fails, I am 3 minutes slower in the half, and 4 minutes slower in the full.

[Jon Allen]

It doesn't appear this is an overnight relay, right?  Just a one-time, 1/2 marathon?  I would never consider a multiple leg relay just before an important marathon.  But an easy 13 miles one week out would be doable, as long as you DO NOT race it, but do easy pace.  The most conservative route is to not do it, but I don't think it would kill you.

Just one last thought- if you do the relay, then don't do well at your marathon, do you think you will wish you hadn't done the relay?  Something to consider.

[Mike Davis]

This relay is just a 100 mile one day event and a lot of it is biking and kyaking. It's not like the northwest passage ragnar relay that goes all night and then some. As fun as this one sounds, I think I am going to skip it mostly for financial reasons, but also to make sure I am 100% for the Seattle RnR. Next year I definitely want to do the Northwest Passage. For now I should be concentrating on a BQ.