There was a poll with this type of information on trinewbies.com this past winter. I put together all of the answers into a spreadsheet (yeah I know - get a life!). If you want to e-mail me your e-mail address then I'll send you a copy. My address is:

dawnyoung@sympatico.ca

Dawn

I don't want to sound disrespectful but merely because a lot of other people are riding for a particular time or distance doesn't make it right - for you or for them. And again with wanting to dump on trinewbies, the target audience of that website is by definition, a forum without much experience.

It really depends on what your "limiter" is in respect of your riding. For that reason, what works for one person won't necessarily work for another. I'd suggest you consult a coach or failing that a book like Friel's Triathlete's Training Bible or his new book with Gordo Byrn and apply those principles to your riding.

Longest ride 135 Miles with a pathetic 3min run. Longest Swim Bike Run brick, best thing is to do a couple of HIM. Always try and run for half an hour (minimum) after the bike and I found Run/Spin class/Run/Spin class/Run in the last couple of months before my IM great. Although only 3ish hours the intensity was high so virtual mileage must have been too.

Roy - You're right that you shouldn't take someone else's experience to set up your own training plan, but I don't think that's the point of it. It was very interesting to me to see how other newbies did in their training for their first Ironman and how their race went. Obviously, their experience will do you no good, but for first-timers it's nice to know that there are others out there like you. We don't take this information and set up a training plan based on it, but it is useful information, if for no other reason than to set our minds at ease.

This forum is certainly more experienced and more serious than Trinewbies, but that doesn't mean there aren't a few of us out there (mostly lurking) who can learn something from this.

Dawn

8 hour ride at faster than IM pace, followed by 3 hour run

75/15 bike/run brick, then I immediately go spend a couple hundred bucks mindlessly at my LBS to simulate the shopping experience of the "Ironman Village".

That might apply only to M-dot events, though.

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I'm a little torn about the training prgram I followed up to my first IM. My longest swim only workouts were 5000yrds continuous "at pace". The cycle only workouts were 6-7 hours...run onlys were 20 miles. My longest brick was 120m bike/13m run. I thought this was "good enough" but certainly wanted to do the long runs more often. At the same time , however, I injured my legs...most likely from over training (aka too much running).

In that first IM I was top 40 overall in the swim and top 60 overall for the bike. Felt good going into the run. For that reason I'd recomend similar bike training, perhaps even 8 hours. My injury kept me from finishing the run. For that reason I'd say only do as much distance (as often) as your body can handle. Even if that means maxing out at 15 miles and not bricking more than a 30 min run.

"8 hour ride at faster than IM pace, followed by 3 hour run"

How long does 112 miles take you? Surely 8 hours faster than IM pace means you get off the bike at the emergency ward.

"8 hour ride at faster than IM pace, followed by 3 hour run"

That is strong! Unless you are very,very advanced (under 10hr IM) don't try that one.

HA! I was thinking the opposite, somone who needed 8plus hours to finish the bike. If you're Sub-10, you are booking on the bike, so assuming you CAN ride 8 hours at faster than IM, that would put you in what, the 180 miles range? then an easy 20 mile run of course.

I think this was a joke? Or I'm WAY undertrained for Lake Placid, I didn't do any 8 hr/3hr bricks. Hey, I got one weekend left, maybe this Sunday?

Dawn - I guess we'll have to agree to disagree.

I just can't see any benefit to knowing that X number of people had long rides of P hours or miles, Y number of people had long rides of Q hours or miles and Z number of people had long rides of R hours or miles.

If you don't know what their circumstances are, you don't know whether they are doing too much, too little, at the right intensity, in hills, in flats, what aerobic base they have etc etc, the information is meaningless.

I'm trying to be disrespectful, but in those circumstances, it seems to me that any reassurance that is gained from such information is unfounded and misplaced, and probably reflective of the fact that person is uncertain of what they are doing. For that very reason, they should, ideally, seek the assistance of a coach (or at least obtain the guidance of a good book).

Before my first IM all I wanted to do was finish.

To make certain of this I built my long bike up to 100 miles by 3 months out and my long run to 3 hours by 3 weeks out.

On the 6 Saturdays prior to my 3 week taper I biked at least 100 miles(including the actual course twice) and ran up to 1 hour afterwards.

During the taper I swam 2.5 miles in the sea at least twice.

Didn't have much speed but boy did I have a base !