This is true, I have years training for IM following mostly TR training plan long distance base and some build but not that much to catch with LT workouts.
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Welcome back 
I became a triathlete after becoming a parent, so I had years of experience being exhausted all the time which turn out to be perfect prep for the long hours of suffering we need - see it as assistive training 
I am hesitating over entering for races and pretty much all 70.3s in my time zone are sold out, I’m looking at local events at the moment, But I entered a half marathon last night for the end of September so I have a marker on the table…
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haha as I’m sure you know, while my wife was pregnant everyone was very eager to tell me how exhausted I’m going to be once I become a dad. My answer was always, “I’m a long course triathlete…I’m used to it.”
And wow I’m surprised all the 70.3s are sold out. I need to keep that in mind. I may be going the same route as you and look to do some local tris. I used to love them so much before getting fully sucked into the ironman ecosystem. But with the baby, I like the idea of being more flexible to commit or decommit to a race last minute, without losing hundreds/thousands of dollars.
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despite being a long time TR user I still struggle to have clear opinion on the pace to run the following WO :
10min Easy RPE4 (Endurance) pace to warm up 25min Comfortably Hard RPE6 (Half Marathon) pace 10min Easy RPE4 (Endurance) pace to cool down
Half Marathon means standalone Half marathon pace or pace for half IM ?
Not the same as half im pace is quite comfy and half marathon pace is rather painful
I don’t know but I’d assume Standalone HM
Although 25 minutes at either doesn’t sound particularly difficult, would it be a RPE of 6?
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Sure but there’s almost 20sec/k differential. Which could be different for longer runs
About 14¼sec per km for myself.
Why not split the difference?
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When I used them I gave up on pace and focussed on RPE - those directions say to me 25mins high aerobic, high zone 2, definitely under threshold heart rate or pace…but it’s not an easy run.
If you running pan flat like on a track, then I’d consider actual half marathon pace before starting out but also how I feel during the run, and if it feels like a huge effort back off.
Ultimately, you don’t need to hit a specific pace.
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Here’s a few questions for the group.
To prepare for your last full distance Ironman, on average how many hours per week did you train, for how many weeks leading into the race, and was this for either a “just finish the damn thing” or specific performance/outcome goal? Finally, based on the result would you do anything differently?
I’ve done the research on Slowtwitch, chatgpt, google, but just wanted to get some thoughts here. right now I’m averaging 10ish hours per week and have only done 70.3s since 2017, but trying to see about how many more hours per week would be needed for IM FL in November for a “just finish without crawling and have a little fun” goal.
Thanks, Mark
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I averaged around 10 leading up to my first full last year. Once I got into build and specialty phases I was averaging 12, with several weeks at 14-16 hours. I did a masters plan (I’m 45), so I had recovery weeks every third week. That seemed to work well for me. Going in I was hoping to finish under 14 hours. I ended up finishing 11:30 at IMCA. I was very happy with that. I don’t think I have the time to recover from doing much higher volume than that. Hope that helps.
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Great question, also interested in others answers.
Looking back at intervals.icu leading up to Ironman Canada last year, between 12–14 hours a week on a high-volume full-distance TrainerRoad plan. I followed the bike and run workouts pretty closely but had to limit my swims to twice a week due to my schedule.
For some reason I can’t see in TrainerRoad’s calendar exactly when my plan started, but I think it was right after St. George, so about 16 weeks, coming immediately out of a high-volume half-distance plan. That said, I missed one week due to covid exposure, and sprained my ankle six weeks before the race in a trail running race, so missed a couple of weeks of running and most of my long runs. Still finished comfortably (although the swim was canceled, so the limited swimming during my training had no real impact).
Both, sort of: Just finish, but finish as fast as possible.
I definitely would not have done that dumb trail running race where I injured my ankle, almost ruined my season for no good reason.
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Just FYI if you’re racing an Ironman-branded race this year, they just announced some changes to the competition rules for 2025, effective on March 17th. Nothing super major, so mostly sharing for visibility. Here’s a summary of the changes and an FAQ if you don’t want to read the whole thing. Of note:
- Blue card violations (e.g. drafting, littering) for full Ironman events now result in a 3-minute time penalty instead of 5 minutes, and for 70.3s, they now result in a 2-minute time penalty instead of 5 minutes (now consistent with World Triathlon rules).
- Neoprene hats are now expressly permitted as long as wetsuits are permitted and you wear the race cap on top. You can also explicitly permitted to wear two swim caps as long as the race cap is on top.
- The biggest change is that there are now limits to the amount of hydration you can carry between the aerobars and behind the saddle. You can now only carry up to 2 liters BTA, and you can only carry a maximum of two bottles of no more than 1 liter each BTS. This doesn’t apply to storage inside the frame or in downtube or seat tube cages. Interestingly this renders 2024 Ironman World Championship second-place finisher Magnus Ditlev’s three-bottle BTS setup illegal (although he could simply move one of those bottles in front).
- The rest is mostly verbiage changes for clarification and to align with World Triathlon rules.
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I’m not a fan of hours as a measure but 6.5hrs a week avg for the season will get me round the course, 10hrs to support a strong performance.
6.5hrs might be a single bike ride for some, which is why I much prefer TR bike training.
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I prefer both. 
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Pretty good February all things considered. I don’t think I missed any cycling workouts and added more than a few for extra volume, and my hip pain seems to have gone away, just in time to start my Runna half-Ironman running plan. It seems to have a lot more easy runs and a lot less speed work than TR’s runs, so hopefully I can stay injury-free until race day.
Really wish TR or intervals.icu had a good way to visualize a month’s workouts for the roll calls, but maybe this is not terrible?
I made some upgrades to the bike this weekend, I feel 25 watts faster already 
The plan for this month is to keep the cycling and running on track, do the Zwift Games 2025 (mostly for variety and extra volume, so probably won’t actually race it), and start swimming next weekend. Just need to get through this month and I can finally start running and riding outside at last.
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Now that I’ve completed my run event, I’m officially in triathlon training mode. My focus is on structuring my week better to maintain consistency and avoid overloading certain days just because I have the time. In the past, I’ve fallen into the trap of doing back-to-back six-hour weekend rides, which left me exhausted and unproductive during the week—only to repeat the cycle. Instead, I aim for smaller, consistent training days throughout March.
Current Training Approach
- I’ve been following the TrainerRoad (TR) Plan Builder for a half-distance triathlon but have primarily focused on bike workouts when I feel like riding due to my prior run priority.
- My swim sessions are dictated by the squad’s training plan, which I’m happy to follow. I’ll supplement with open-water distance work when the weather improves and closer to race day.
- The plan below includes 16.5 hours of cardio per week. If it becomes too much, my first adjustments will be reducing the Friday bike and dropping the Friday run, as soccer often leaves me feeling rough the next day.
Looking Ahead
With four months until race day, I want to build consistency before transitioning into a more structured “build” phase. I recognize that my current plan may not be optimal, but I’m hoping to rely on TrainerRoad to guide my bike workouts based on my overall training load.
Questions for the more experienced
- Are my totals per discipline weighted correctly for a self produced ‘base’ month?
- What plan should I hop into starting April? I’ll need to play with the TR plan builder weekly settings to get my workouts on the correct days.
- Pretty much all of the running I intend to do will be low intensity, 30 min 5k at lunch during the week and maybe some HM pace intervals during the weekend run. Should I reduce volume and do dedicated speed work instead?
March Weekly Volume
| Day | Swim time | Run time | Bike time | Soccer time |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 - Monday | 1 | 0.5 | ||
| 2 - Tuesday | 0.5 | 1 | ||
| 3 - Wednesday | 1 | 1 | ||
| 4 - Thursday | 0.5 | 1 | ||
| 5 - Friday | 0.5 | 2 | ||
| 6 - Saturday | 1 | 1.5 | ||
| 7 - Sunday | 4 |
I think that’s quite a lot, and to do that consistently through to June will be tough. Swim is good, I’d rather see less with progression on the bike and run.
Let plan builder recommend and consider how it fits with your life.
I suspect lots of little runs isn’t going to do much for you. You have three hard days already; soccer day, long run day and long bike day. I’d expect this to feel like a chore pretty quickly and consistency to dive. I wouldn’t run on a soccer day, injury city. Soccer is injury city just on its own.
I’d keep the three swims, in the morning. Match that with an evening run, one of those progressing length or varying intensity over the months.
The others as bike days, per tr plan with one as your group ride day.
All that said, there’s no rules the most important thing is to get out when you can.
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Appreciate the reply Joe.
I should have been more clear - The proposed 16.5 hour weeks will only last through March and absolutely not be the status quo until race day. Swims will likely stay the same with the mentioned OWS added later down the road.
My thought is to build fatigue by means of frequency than length or intensity. This march ‘camp’ will achieve that and have me primed to start a proper build in April.
Soccer is absolutely injury city. The run those days is a half hour warmup at the track before I hop on the field. Pending on when the season starts/ends i’ll be dropping it for the 8-12 weeks leading into my 70.3. The risk is just too high.
Sounds like you’d scrap the 30 min lunch runs all together and just put that time into a quality run somewhere during the week?
February was a little lighter than I had planned, as got a bit more busy at work than I expected and I came down with a stomach bug that wiped me out for about 4-5 days…good news is I got caught up on sleep lol.
Highlight of the month was a win in my age group at a local international distance triathlon. Well, sort of a win. The person who won the overall was from my age group and since he got overall they took him out of age group awards. Smoked me by several minutes.
Still on pace for IM Gulf Coast 70.3 in May, then either a 70.3 or 140.6 this fall.
Good luck to everyone in the coming month.
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