CP= Critical Power. CP360 is the power you can average for 360 minutes or 6 hours.

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It's often considered to be about 65-75% of what you can hold for 30 minutes. That can be helpful if you want to do a test with a power meter and form some expectations about a sensible IM bike split.

Your bike strength means everything for your ironman run. I don't think it makes too much difference if you do any speedwork at all on the bike (up to a point of course) provided you can log a lot of time in the saddle. Everyone always says that ironman favours the runner, but as a 2:32 marathoner who ran 3:29 in his first ironman after cruising a 41 minute first 10k, I know that the run is all about the bike strength you have to set up your run. If you can't cruise the bike it doesn't matter how fast a runner you are, your legs won't let you run fast. This year I spent way more time on the bike and I managed a 3:12 in Panama City (after a 1:29 first half.... and a quad cramping extra minute per mile on the second half) so I'm hoping to continue with the high bike mileage to get my strength up even more for next year.

Excellent points.

Great bike fitness sets you up for the possibilty for a great run. It has to be a balance. Many out there mistakenly believe, that you have to be a really good runner to do "well" in an IM. It helps, but your example and experience illustrates that it's only part of the solution.

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Steve Fleck @stevefleck | Blog