Yeah I think aerobic conditioning from bike (and swim) carries into running.
I’m going on a bit of tangent here, but find that big steep hills (mountains better) are great for training. On the climbs you can put in some really big efforts, with very little impact on joints, while the descents are really good for recovery. I focus on running form on the descents, and don’t go too fast to avoid injury.
Afterward, when you run on the flat, it feels really easy
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yes you only have one aerobic energy system but that is not the whole picture.
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Indeed. Its worth doing, LTHR% is commonly thought of as the better way to determine HR zones. Go strap your HRM on and do a guided Lactate Threshold test and see where you are. I seem to remember you were asking in another thread about HR during runs. HR Zone training is certainly not the be all and end all of running training but for us amateurs its a good method to ensure your not pushing those easy runs too hard. Thats my 2 pence anyway. On the harder days I don’t care what it is and just crack on to try and hit my targets for whatever the sessions are.
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not according to the evidence, but i am not in a position to go in search of the study and iirc, i was quite critical of it when it was produced…
they are of course some general cross over benefits…
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you’ve obviously got more a scientific coaching background than me, but i would have thought that whilst you can build the bodies ability to transfer the oxygen if the muscles its transfering to are not conditioned enough to accept the extra oxygen it’s kind of pointless. A lot of studies seem to focus on one point to the detriment of the bigger picture
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it’s a very broad subject, and one you can only either specialise in a narrow field or generalise…perhaps we should have a sport science thread…
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For an Ironman run, I think that training for the run doesn’t need to be as tough as people think. Bike strength and fitness is very important because that helps you be able to run in the marathon, coming off the bike in a position where you can actually properly tackle the marathon. Also bike fitness transfers well to Ironman marathons (in a way it wouldn’t for a sprint or a standard).
I’d say 3-4 bikes per week, and 2-3 runs per week would be ok. Even for the bike, for an Ironman, I’m thinking it’s more about trying to improve your ablility to hold a moderate pace rather than trying to improve your FTP and trashing yourself with intervals. If I was planning a week, I’d rest on Monday, I’d alternate bike intervals and a tempo bike each Tuesday but not go absolutely full pelt in the intervals, I’d do a tempo run on Wednesdays (possibly turning it into some sort of over/at/under race pace run and also taking in hills for strength), then on Thursday I’d just spin out an easy bike, possibly with some single leg drills, I’d do a long bike on Saturday with hills and strength and low cadence work, followed by a very short run, and on Sunday I’d do a long run, slower than race pace. Possibly once every few weeks I’d combine the weekend bike and run into a single 3-4 hour bike plus 1.5 hour run. Consistently doing that would see good improvements and would I think set you up well, better than than trying to do too much in training and then ending up burned out or injured.
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yep, good post, but i’d add ‘build up to’ and ‘walk/run’
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There have a been a number of “I’m getting divorced because of my IM training” threads on ST over the years.
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I have a feeling that excessive IM training is a symtom of the problem, not the root of the problem. Therefore those getting divorced would do so whether IM training or not… the excuse would just be different
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I remember listening to an Epic Camp episode of IM Talk and most of the blokes on it were divorced. They said because they did so much IM training but they meant becasue they’re selfish.
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I mean if they prioritise 6 hours per day Saturday and Sunday over seeing their families I can well see why other halfs decide it’s just not a marriage anymore. We’ve had some really good threads on here on how to manage family and exercise, most of which confirm that compromise when kids are young is seriously important.
Sorry Joex, I’ve taken this properly off topic.
I have nothing more to add on whether you should run/swim/bike fast or slow because I know very little about what’s best.
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Bit selfish
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divorce him from the forum 
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Something else you need to consider if your run is consistently the weakest, is your weight/BMI/muscle mass. You talk about lifting, what type of ‘lifting’ is it?
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Right, self indulgence N=1 sample size time for me here - SORRY NOT SORRY folks
@joex - Your half marathon PB of 1hr50mins is roughly equivalent to a 23:55 5km.
I would work on getting that raw 5km speed down from now until Christmas.
Why?
Because it’ll teach you to run fast and you do not need to do a massive volume of running to be quick over 5km.
Read up on form and make sure you do stretching and core, etc. Cool down properly after the quicker runs.
I ran three to four times per week and managed this progression:
|06/10/2018|21:33|185lbs
|03/11/2018|20:02|184lbs
|01/01/2019|19:45|180lbs
|23/02/2019|19:14|176lbs
|16/03/2019|18:42|174lbs
I ran a 1:20:41 half marathon the week after that 5km and went through the first and second 5km in 18:35s.
I did not run over 10 miles in the lead up to that half marathon.
I average 22km per week, peaking at 43km the week before.
My runs were:
easy 30 minute jog @ >5:15/km
45 minutes at predicted HM pace (I used the previous 5km time plugged into Jack Daniels VDOT to give me this)
60-85 minutes easy @ ~5:15/km (building up 10% per week, blah blah blah)
I then had a 200-800m session once every other week.
I’d do a 2.5km warm up and 2.5km cool down, with 4.6km of intervals in the middle, doing the intervals at some horrific pace that The Internet told me I should be doing them at.
200-400 is about 5km pace or a teensy bit more
800 is at 10km pace
It was that simple.
I then started running four to six times per week and managed this:
|04/05/2019|18:04|177lbs
|20/07/2019|18:03|177lbs
1st July I ran a 10km in 36:34 at 177lbs.
That was during my “secret” 13 week 70.3 / IM Block (Outlaw was officially sold out, but I was sure of getting a place…fat lot of good that was )
For that, I averaged 46km per week, maxing out at 72km (which I did twice)
At this point, I was running 6 times per week, swimming 3-4 times per week and cycling 2-4 times per week.
I was doing midweek 2.5hr rides if I couldn’t ride at the weekend.
These were done entirely at a set FTP% and were super focussed.
I rode my best ever 70.3 bike split, by miles. I even stopped twice and still rode way quicker than ever before.
One ride was 30-60 minutes easy turbo, other one was either hills or 5-minute power.
Swims were filler.
Still managed to get 15*100s on 1:30 off 1:45 done (they’re a key indicator that I can swim 3.8km under an hour)
Two squad swims that were killers, one endurance and one drills (shut it, @Hammerer, I like splitting them up)
Running?
I’d brick after an easy turbo, around 4km (4:45/km)
One long 'un, again, 10% build per week, blah blah blah. I did my last long run 10 days before the event at 32km (21km for the 113) (5:15/km)
two of Easy early morning 30-45minute runs (5:15/km)
10km tempo @ 4:17/km (70.3 pace)
I’d then do 2km to swimming and then 2km back once per week, just as a bit more filler.
Hopefully that gives you some ideas on a run-focussed IM build?
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This year has been my best training and best marriage year 
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