Nailing the IRONMAN Marathon..

It all depends on what works for you ...

I did a lot of what he suggested and was very happy with my IM marathon (30 mins slower than my open mary).  In particular, since it was my first IM I cut out a lot of speed work (both run and bike) as I was worried about injury.  I focused on technique and riding long.  I did a lot of bricks too, because they build confidence for me, if nothing else.

I would be thrilled if I could duplicate my IM run for #2!

Again, to each his own.  You have to find what works for you in training and nutrition.  That is why we practice so much, right?

I read the article with interest, as someone who didn't do a lot of running during Ironman training (relatively speaking). My training was very bike focused and I questioned my coach many times as to why I wasn't running more. He told me not to worry, that my run would be there because I was training for an Ironman and not a marathon. I had a couple of running injuries in the year leading up to IMAZ, so that was another reason to limit the runs. In the end, my run was good. Next time around I look forward to having a much better run base going into IM training. IMHO, there's no one-size-fits-all approach to nailing the run. There seems to be a lot of trial and error amoung the athletes I train with, hopefully the more IMs I do, the more I'll figure what works for me personally. Until then, articles such as Friels and threads such as this are very helpful!

after you have the race fitness, which is not a given for all, i think dialing in nutrition tightly is so very important. i had the fitness, and thought i had the nutrition dialed in, but in reality i didn't and i suffered in the middle of the run until i got that broth in me. guess what>? im dialing the nutrition in better this time and i think thats a point that alot of people miss.

oh yeah, and i will train faster/longer haha

My 2 cents:

A strong marathon comes down to correct pacing on the bike and nutrition. 

I did a 90 mileish ride and a 9 mile run to test my nutrition and pacing a maybe 2 months out.  I felt great, but new I was a bit behind on my nutrition as I started running.  I figured being a bottle short of fluid and 300 calories light was no big deal.  It was about 6 miles into the run that the wheels fell off, and I limped home.  I did a similar workout 2 or 3 more times so that I would not make the same mistake on race day.

I know folks on here aren't big fans off long bricks, but I think they are very important for dialing in nutrition and pacing.

Interesting thing about articles like this is the wide range of opinions available even from the experts.  I'm sure most of it is useful advice, but I was really surprised by

    If you can start running strong off the bike, chances are you will continue running strong.

On its face, that's the opposite of my IM experience and the experience of many others I've spoken with.

EXACTLY!!  I did a bunch of 75-80 mile bikes with 3-4 mile runs and thought i had my nutrition dialed in.  But that just isn't long enough to know if what you ate on the bike, and when you ate it, is going to work.  I think some of the most important workouts should be at least a few LONG bricks.  70-90 mile bike and at LEAST 10 miles on the run.  If you do that you will know if your nutrition will work.  I had nutrition issues and it hit me about mile 8 when my stomach was totally full of fluid and nothing would go down until it all came up.