This year will be my first IM so I am doing an early spring marathon. I am wondering how to handle the swim/bike volume leading up to the race (particularly during the taper). I will hit about 80mpw, 5 weeks before hand and then gradually bring that down till a two week taper (45 and 20mpw). Will I be alright to maintain the swim and bike volume that I had prior to this five week period? Should I also bring those two down during the taper? I have previously done fall marathons after tri season so I only ever worried about running and this is unfamiliar territory for me. Thank you.
I’d continue to hammer on the bike up to about a day before the marathon.***
*** = Poster has never ran more than 7 miles 
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Will do. Since the marathon is close to me, I thought I might just go ahead and ride my bike there. It would look so bad ass if it weren’t for those damn aero streamers on the handlebars.
In all seriousness though, if you have long runs that approach that distance, and you are still training on the bike, I don’t know that I’d change too much aside from not going hard a couple days prior.
I will hit about 80mpw, 5 weeks before hand and then gradually bring that down till a two week taper (45 and 20mpw).
That is WAY too steep a taper. I have a marathoning friend who used to do that, and he always felt like crap on race day. He’s about decided a three week taper with the last week at 65% of peak milage works best. YMMV, but I would think hard about cutting down to nothing.
Too many variables…
Have you already done a marathon?
Are you planing on “racing” the marathon, or is it a long, supported training run?
How much time between your marathon and your IM?
What is your current swim and bike mileage? Run mileage?
When I was training for a marathon I used the swim as a recovery workout. Good for flexibility the day after my long run, but I never pushed it. The bike is still good b/c it lets you log hours w/o the pounding. Did about 2 bikes a week, sometimes long but never too hard. Most was run training. One of the best things about training for a marathon was that it was a break from a triathlon focus. But you might not get that if there isn’t much time between your marathon and the IM.
You will probably get conflicting advice, but in the 3 weeks up to your marathon I would do only easy bikes and swims. Just enough to maintain flexibility and help recovery.
-edit-
By “only easy bikes and swims” I mean of those workouts. Still Run.
I have done a marathon before and plan on racing this one. I will have 4 months till the IM. Previously, it took 3-4 weeks to get my run mileage back to where it was pre-marathon. So, a month for full recovery then 3 months solid IM training. Current mileage is a little in flux. I tried to be bike-focused (I really tried) and have gone back to run focused training. My recent stats: 55mile running, 70mile bike, and 6.5K yards swimming. Run mileage gets screwy if there are treadmill runs (same HR gets me about 1.5min/mile faster outside and I do most all runs by HR and time).
Also, my taper plan is something new. I plan on trying the reduced volume/increased intensity thing which I have not done in the past. Thank you for the input though, I will consider adding some more mileage and not cutting as quickly.
Thanks for all the input.