I am baffled. It’s anonymous too so maybe less likely to be posturing?!?
Any of the “workoutaholics” who do 5 or more 100 milers in the run-up to an Ironman care to share: why?
(I totally get that you love being on the bike for a long ride but do you deem it beneficiary for the race?)
Well, I have to admit I counted Ultraman day 2 as two five hour plus rides 
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I’ll bite. I like riding long rides. So I wake up early and go. My body responds well and I enjoy the hours especially when I do them by my self. I just focus and go. Some runners have told me they do long runs for the same reason.
I do 5-7 100+ milers before an IM. It is by far the longest part of the race, so being ready to ride that far, both mentally and physically, is critical to a good race. Most people start to question themselves around mile 80 of the bike. These rides help me feel like that is the time to get going! Just my personal preference. I consider myself an FOP cyclist.
I voted 230 times just to skew the results
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Well, I have to admit I counted Ultraman day 2 as two five hour plus rides
Good one. I guess if you string Ironmans a la Joe Bonness.
I have surely done 3 or so 100 milers leading up to an Ironman. But when I raced an Ironman in July and another in November, I most likely only did that for the early one.
so are you asking 3+, or 5+? Ironman is an ultra distance event. 100 miles should be easy assuming you want to RUN the marathon. 5 worked pretty good for me.
“100 miles should be easy assuming you want to RUN the marathon.”
Uh-oh!
mm
I do 5-7 100+ milers before an IM. It is by far the longest part of the race, so being ready to ride that far, both mentally and physically, is critical to a good race. Most people start to question themselves around mile 80 of the bike. These rides help me feel like that is the time to get going! Just my personal preference. I consider myself an FOP cyclist.
x 2 (except for the FOP bit, closer to MOP for me). I did five 100+ mile rides before my last IM.
Before B2B last year I must have had about 10 100 milers. That was the best I have ever felt coming off the bike.
training for my first IM … 15+ rides over 100miles … comes down to enjoying it and seeing great training effect. That being said I’ve only done two runs of 20 miles for the IM. about 12 more from 14-18 miles tho. It all depends on what your goals are… I’d like to finish strong, not finish by a hair.
Don’t forget, it’s 65% of SLOWTWITCHERS that are doing 3+ 100-mile rides. I would argue that this community is not a representative sample of the population that participates in IM events. Specifically, I’d say that many of the people that reside here are more serious or dedicated or experienced triathlete. This might cause the results to be skewed.
Alternatively, I am just a shite cyclist and a wuss. I’m in the bottom 5th percentile. 
-pokey mm
I only did 3 long rides over 160km in my LP training. 95-100km was my regular Wednesday night ride.
Rick
I am baffled. It’s anonymous too so maybe less likely to be posturing?!?
Any of the “workoutaholics” who do 5 or more 100 milers in the run-up to an Ironman care to share: why?
(I totally get that you love being on the bike for a long ride but do you deem it beneficiary for the race?)
Because I like to ride.
I do 5-7 100+ milers before an IM. It is by far the longest part of the race, so being ready to ride that far, both mentally and physically, is critical to a good race. Most people start to question themselves around mile 80 of the bike. These rides help me feel like that is the time to get going! Just my personal preference. I consider myself an FOP cyclist.
The mental aspect would be key (especially for a first timer) but wouldn’t this be achieved by one, maybe two, such rides?
Physically, I am not sure whether doing 5-6 hours/100-120 miles is much better than say 4 hours/80 miles rides. Wouldn’t the ability to ride long be developed just the same over a 4-hour workout?
I will do 10+ 100 mile rides in the 4 months before an IM. Not exactly sure how long the build up period is but that is my basis for my response.
I really see an improvement in my cycling as I get more and more miles in them. I likely do less 20+ mile runs then most, but feel I recover quicker from 100 mile rides then 20+ mile runs. I come from a running background and the bikes replace some of my longer runs but w/o the pounding. From my perspective doing 100 mile ride & 3 mile brick and the following day do a 15 mile run works better then doing 20+ mile runs and my recovery time is much better.
Peace,
RF
I did 4 rides of ~100mi, that’s it. One was on the IMC course itself in early Aug, the rest were earlier in the season i.e.: June. Not worried about the bike.
AP
so are you asking 3+, or 5+? Ironman is an ultra distance event. 100 miles should be easy assuming you want to RUN the marathon. 5 worked pretty good for me.
The current result of the poll (65% of the respondents ride 100-mile workouts at least 3 times) prompted the question but I’d be even more interested in hearing from the guys/gals that push it to the extreme.
I do 5-7 100+ milers before an IM. It is by far the longest part of the race, so being ready to ride that far, both mentally and physically, is critical to a good race. Most people start to question themselves around mile 80 of the bike. These rides help me feel like that is the time to get going! Just my personal preference. I consider myself an FOP cyclist.
The mental aspect would be key (especially for a first timer) but wouldn’t this be achieved by one, maybe two, such rides?
Physically, I am not sure whether doing 5-6 hours/100-120 miles is much better than say 4 hours/80 miles rides. Wouldn’t the ability to ride long be developed just the same over a 4-hour workout?
To an extent you are correct. Hard 80 mile rides are likely as good or better than easy 100 plus mile rides. That is why you ONLY need to do say 3-5 100 plus mile rides. Last year building to LP I did epicman and 2 race rehearsal rides of 112. They were some of the easiest rides of the year. Most of the other “long rides” were in the 70-90 mile range but done at a much harder effort.
This year I am not doing an IM but have still done 3 rides of more than 112 miles. Riding 100 miles really should not be that big of a deal for someone who races IM or even halfs.
I guess the answer depends on how fast you wanna go on the bike and whether or not you plan on walking with your buddies in the dark or not.