What do you guys peak at for cycling hours/volume for a half Ironman?
IME it’s less about overall mileage, and more about how many 3+ hour rides I do. These are long enough to simulate some of the fatigue from the race (ie still have some running legs after), and necessitate getting nutrition/hydration dialed.
I managed about 100 miles per week, from 2 one hour rides during the week, a 3 hour ride on Sat and a 2 hour ride on Sun. A lot of it was hills so flats might have bumped my mileage more. Add to that a bike-only focus week.
This is what I do…I am about 2:40 bike split guy for HIM, so not FOP, but not bad for a bald 49 yo with no God given ability. Goal this year is 2:30 min, a stretch for me.
My peak is 3 rides, 7 hours for about 2 weeks before race
- 2 times during the week, 90 mins (20 mins * 3 @ SS)
- Long ride, 240 mins (one hour at HIM pace in middle of ride)
I keep it simple, so the key is to get your FTP up till at about 7 weeks out from Race so you can pace these peak rides just right.
Last year I finally went under 2:30. I’ll top out at approximately 200 miles, the majority of which are commuting miles. It’s free training time for me so I take advantage of it.
Monday afternoon commute home from work (32 miles)
Tues morning commute to work (32 miles)
Wed afternoon commute home from work (32 miles)
Thursday commute to work (32 miles)
Saturday long ride (60-80 miles depending on how I feel)
As much as I’m physically capable of.
Last year I was up to 225/wk.
If I was doing IM or Olympic I would be doing just as much.
jarejt
well this all depends on your goals for the race.
What is your current mileage and FTP or 40km TT at
Answer back and I’m sure you might get a better response
Edit: last year was at roughly 225 mpw for 3 months leading up to it… 2:22:ish at steelhead
250 miles a week. Three 50-65 milers then an 80-100 on weekend. My goal is that 56 feels like a quick ride to the store
I think you can have solid results on around 5-6 hours of biking a week. A weekend long ride in the 2.5-3 hr range plus another two rides per week should be pretty good. That longer ride should have lots of HIM and above pace in it - something like: 20-25 min warmup, then 3x (10’ @ Olympic effort, 5’ easy, 30’ @ HIM effort, 5’ easy). My IF for a 3 hour long ride is generally right around .80, a little under what I’d do in a HIM.
I’m impressed with all these 200+/wk mileage guys - makes me realize why I’m not leading the pack!
I’m around 5-6hrs/week on the bike. Mileage around 100-120. No problems running off the bike if I pace it right, and still respectably fast enough to get into the front.
I think most folks (2:30-3 hr riders) only need a few 100+ mile / 5-6 hr weeks weeks and a couple 120-150 mile / 7+ hr. weeks. Half those miles from a weekly “long” ride.
The super ambitious with tons of free time do more …
The super ambitious with tons of free time do more …
That would be me… or it was until the twins came along!
I think my last HIM I built up from 5 hours to about 12 hours a week over the course of 12 weeks of training, my max week (about 4 weeks out) consisted of:
1 x 2-3 hour cruise intervals (or FTP session)
1 x 2hr AnT or Vo2 max on the TT (includes a good 50mins of zone 2 warm-up/down)
1 LSD, 5 to 6 hour hill ride mainly at zone 2, but high 3 on the hills
1 x 2hr brick session.
I’m a big fan of using the long bike rides to build endurance - after knocking out a couple of 150/160k rides in the hills a flat 90k seems like a piece of piss. I try to vary the LSD’s, throw in a couple of local TT which involve riding to the course and back, and always throw in a minimum of a 2 km run after the long ride to get the legs used to running fatigued.
The above resulted in a 2.20, but I rode conservatively and put in a good run afterwards.