Two questions....

1 - What does your training plan say?

2 - Why not a swim and a long run on the second day?

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Rodney
TrainingPeaks | Altra Running | RAD Roller
http://www.goinglong.ca

I always work on 7-10 days to see improvements. With cycling, I don't see any problem with back to back 5 hour bikes as long as you're not getting any issues such as saddle sores or back ache which might linger for the race. You'll certainly be recovered within 21 days. I reckon it will be a great confidence booster.

Personally I would not do this because it would just dig myself deeper into a systemic fatigue hole that would affect all my other workouts. I would stick to the plan your body can only absorb so much training stress. You'll probably get folks on both sides of this--good luck in Chatt.

Go for it. There's nothing wrong with getting in some decent base mileage. I wouldn't smash it both days though.

If you have been doing this kind of volume before, then sure why not. 3 weeks to the race, these should be your last long workouts before tapering. I'd do a 6 hr bike 1st day, the long swim and semi-long run the next day.

Assuming this is something you haven't tried before, just be aware that it comes with risk. I tried this prepping for an IM in 2012 and my neck locked up on me. It still bothered me during the bike leg 3 weeks later. I was fine in aero for one day for 5-6 hours but adding that second consecutive day was just too much of a stress. My neck was the last thing I was worried about at the time of attempting it, but it proved to be too much.

If you try it I strongly recommend taking one of the days very easy and spend a balanced amount of time in aero/non-aero. I could see lower back, shoulders potentially being an issue as well.

I did 2 back to back 180k rides about 2 weeks prior to IMMT, with an Oly distance the day before.

• Did I Benefit? Probably. Was my first Ironman and I rented wheels and I don't have a PM, so you can never really tell. I felt great and recovered in time for it though. (manged to tie my HIM Bike PB on the first loop, decent time on the second loop; had a decent run)
• Will it hurt? Yes. That second half of the second ride was brutal.

Not sure if you will get more out of back to back rides or a long run; Others can chime in on where the lowest hanging fruit is to be found. My strength is the run so I knew my gains were better had on the bike. I also know my best tapers are 10 days long, so I had enough time to recover. You may be different.

This question is too vague for anyone to answer effectively. How intense will the rides be? What else was in your training plan? What's your background training over the last few months? What are your strengths/weaknesses? How well prepared are you for the IM?

It's a cost/benefit that depends very much on your individual background and strengths/weakness.

I will be doing the same thing during my reverse taper and did the same a year ago for the same race. If it works for you just do it. Don't ask the "experts" of slowtwitch. Go have fun and enjoy the days. I sure look forward to them...

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Swimmer
http://www.usprotri.com/LAMASTRA.html
http://www.bodyphyxinternational.com

you'll be fine.
you could even workout on the holiday then rest on a work day (tuesday - assuming he normal M-F gig is what you do)

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Brian Stover USAT LII
Accelerate3 Coaching
Insta

Yeah, you'll be fine. I've done it before, and had one day hard, one day easier, and differently, again across a three day holiday weekend, first day hard riding, second day easy running or swimming, third day hard riding. fourth day easy running or swimming. But I do recover well and did pay special attention to taking the rest of the time easy, eating well and getting lots of sleep.

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Swim. Overbike. Walk.

Thanks for the feedback.
To answer a few of the questions--to be clear the Saturday ride would be race pace on my tri bike. Sunday's ride would be on my road bike and much easier. I've been training 18-20 hours week for the last several weeks and half of that has been bike training.

I think you'd be better served with a 90' b + 120' r brick all zone 2 on sunday

He has never done it before so how would he know if it "works for him?" I'll give the OP enough credit to take any advice given with a grain of salt...

Personally I'd do a long swim bike brick the next day...