I’m looking at my training log, and wondered, what are people’s typical bike miles before IM? Last year I did not do nearly enough, I think (about 1,200 total) this year more is more!
This is for curiosity I guess…thanks!
My biggest weeks topped out at 200 miles, but average was anywhere b/w 150 and 175 spread out over 4-5 rides per week.
Then again, I am a rookie and my first IM is in two weeks. I am not really one to be giving any advice. I guess I can let you know how it works out after the race. I’m shooting for a 5:50 - 6:00 bike split with the ambition (haha) to run the marathon.
Perhaps I should be asking the same question, but it’s a little late for that!
I have 2000 miles this year and I’m doing CdA in a few weeks. It’s my first one so I dont know if it’s enough…but I suspect it’s enough to finish and have a decent time. Nothing too spectacular though.
i did about 30 per week before my HIM, that was good for 19mph average with a porta potty break in there
maybe ill bump it up to 60 when i do an IM…
I ma training for my third (Roth) and have followed the SuperCoash program for each. The SuperCoach training schedule is 38 weeks.
2006 - IMLP - 171 hours at ~29kph = 4959km or 3025miles
2007 - IMFL - 209 hours at ~30.5kph = 6375km or 3950miles
2009 - Roth - 171 hours (at the end of May) at ~31.5kph = 5386km or 3340miles
You will get many different answers depending on training plan and length to determine volume. If you feel ready than you probably have done enough.
i did about 30 per week before my HIM, that was good for 19mph average with a porta potty break in there
maybe ill bump it up to 60 when i do an IM…
This is either a joke, or you’re one of these people who doesn’t have to train at all to do well.
In which case I hate you.
half joke, half educational
I was training a lot, for a marathon at the time. so running a lot (for me, 40ish mpw)
30mpw of biking, with 100% of it being all out 30 minute efforts, is enough to get the lug muscles used to biking
and all my aero weenie crap, really does work =)
i was however, absolutely misreable for most of the ride, because my fit had only been figured out for 30 minute efforts, so after about 30 minutes it was horrible, lol
and I got chicked, which is no good
i did about 30 per week before my HIM, that was good for 19mph average with a porta potty break in there
maybe ill bump it up to 60 when i do an IM…
This is either a joke, or you’re one of these people who doesn’t have to train at all to do well.
In which case I hate you.
From a previous Post:
32 Week Program:
Swimming: 114 Miles.
Biking: 3314 Miles.
**Running: **1021 Miles.
**Ave Hours per Week: ** 13 hours. I had a few 20s, a lot in the 15s, with a few bust/sick/rest weeks sub-10s.
ha! this sounds like me this year, lucky my race not for a few months. Short term goal is to get the bike mileage to date up to the run mileage…run is at 900 plus, bike=70. Then carry on from there.
In the past I’ve ‘kinda’ followed Super Coach also, more to get an idea of the length and timing of the long weekend bikes, then build my own thing around that, and use a lot of their swim workouts. This year I am shooting for 2000 or so before the race.
if think if you were designing a training plan purely with optimal IM performance in mind, you would want to do an epic shitload of biking, because you can without hurting yourself.
but, if you are running and swimming a lot and can’t or don’t want to bike a whole lot, you can do ok with short, intense sessions.
but get a couple 100 mile rides in until you figure out whether you are comfy or not
ha! this sounds like me this year, lucky my race not for a few months. Short term goal is to get the bike mileage to date up to the run mileage…run is at 900 plus, bike=70. Then carry on from there.
In the past I’ve ‘kinda’ followed Super Coach also, more to get an idea of the length and timing of the long weekend bikes, then build my own thing around that, and use a lot of their swim workouts. This year I am shooting for 2000 or so before the race.
1200 miles for the year? Yeah, that is, ah, low. Just look at the May bike challenge. Most good cyclists do 800-1500 per MONTH, not year and that is WITH racing crits, TTs etc (not just long, slow tri miles).
Yes, I know…I was almost too embarassed to post that…Still, I did 618 that year on the bike (moderately hilly, non Mdot course) so I think adding decent miles, or, as was eloquently put an ‘epic shitload’ of miles…there is a lot of room for improvement, maybe bring that under 6.
half joke, half educational
I was training a lot, for a marathon at the time. so running a lot (for me, 40ish mpw)
30mpw of biking, with 100% of it being all out 30 minute efforts, is enough to get the lug muscles used to biking
and all my aero weenie crap, really does work =)
i was however, absolutely misreable for most of the ride, because my fit had only been figured out for 30 minute efforts, so after about 30 minutes it was horrible, lol
and I got chicked, which is no good
Hahahaha, you got chicked???
Wait, is that getting beat by a girl?
yeah, which is no big deal except I got chicked on the BIKE leg
that is not ok!!!
but it is going to keep happening here in Austin Time Trials for a while, sadly 
Hahahaha, you got chicked???
Wait, is that getting beat by a girl?
I’m at 1,850 miles year to date and doing IMLP. The increase from here on out won’t be linear so total miles should increase significantly.
First IM will be IMMOO in 14 weeks, but through 22 weeks of training I am at 2500 miles From here on out the bike mileage will look like logarithmic growth graph…
This is my peak week for IMCDA and I’m doing 170 miles this week. That’s about all I can stand…not a big fan of doing those long rides, but I’ll suffer through them to prepare for IM.
Last year for Silverman, put together a 9 week program based off of an article by Roch Frey and Paul Huddle titled “Ironman Training without a Leash”. The example schedule was insane…38 hours training, the first week.
Cut things back to my ability and went for it. Key workouts were interval based. For example the key run day was long intervals at 10k pace. The key swim was 400s at 1500 pace.
9 weeks including race; 50 miles swimming, 2000 bike, 250 running.
Unfortunately, the one thing I didn’t plan for was the weather, particularly being adapted to cool and wet temperatures. Went hypothermic on the bike. Damage control the rest of the way. But was a great program. It’s had the benefit of raising me to a higher level this year.
Just looked back at the journal I kept leading up to my first IM last year and found the numbers below. These are my rough totals from 7 months of IM-specific prep (with ~4 weeks missed due to injury):
Swam 141,000 yards
Rode 2,600 miles
Ran 600 miles
Total time - 308+ hours
FWIW I averaged exactly 20.0 MPH in the race.
2100 miles YTD. Averaging about 150 a week and with IMLP in 7 weeks I shoud be just about 3k.