is that enough running?

This is a source of considerable discussion/debate - Gordo Byrn (author of Going Long) and others suggest that anything beyond a 2.5 hour run for ironman training is just not worth it due to the high recovery cost and potential for injury. Others would argue that, especially if you are a slower runner, then that just isn't enough.  My plan calls for a 3 hour run, but I'm probably not going to go that long - my training pace for long runs is around 7:30/mile, so I don't see the need to run for 24 miles. On the other hand, if I were running 12 minute miles, I could see where a two hour/10 mile run might not give me enough confidence going into the event.

I think the assumption with the beginner ironman plan is that the goal is "just to finish", and that the marathon portion is going to be a lot of walking, so no need to kill yourself in training. It boils down to balancing staying healthy and injury free with building confidence and endurance - find what works best for you.

Heck, if you've already run several marathons then you shouldn't have ANY concern about the run.  The most likely reason you've struggled on the run in your previous races is due to your bike strength.  I know because I've had exactly the same problem.

I ran a marathon back in January as a "training" run for IMJapan in May.  It was the first time I had ever ran a stand alone marathon and I did it in 3:19 on VERY limited training.  During IMWA at the end of November last year my run time was around 4:45!!  I know I can run, as I proved in January, so that was a very dissapointing.

Since then I've basically been doing no running leading up to IM, apart from some short bricks off the bike.  I only did 39km last month.  I know that my biggest weakness heading into my second IM is my bike strength.  So I've been focusing on that by doing long rides on Sunday, a recovery ride on Monday, two shorter rides on Tuesday and Thursday and a strength session on Wednesdays.

However I do intend to pick the running up again during my last 4-week cycle before the race.  But my longest run will probably not be any more than 2.5 hours.  As was mentioned before, I can probably run about 30km in that time, which I feel is enough.  Especially when you're trying to do a long session on the bike during the same week.

If you want to know what others are doing though then check out their logs.  Go to the Irondistance forum and click on the "2006 IM List".  Some of the guys, and gals, are racing IMAZ in a few weeks, so if you check out their logs you can see how far they rode and ran, how many weeks of taper they had etc. etc.  I found it really useful last year.

Anyway, goodluck...