HIM training...how long for long bikes/runs??

You can get by on several 50 mile long rides and several 10-11 mile runs.  However, my experience is that you have a much stronger race if your long bike is around 65 (I did 75 this year for my long bike for HIMs) and long run of 14-15 miles (I did 16-17 miles). So to finish the race you can go shorter, to be trained so that you can really race it I like a bit more distance on the longs.  I am in the 5:30-5:40 range for HIMs.  Faster folks can chip in.  What are your goals for the race?

Another strat if you cant get the longer runs in is to do more mid range runs. So instead of 4, 6, 8, 5, 15 you could go 4,6,10,6,12 and be in pretty good shape come raceday.

Anyway my 2 coppers, you will hear folks saying you can get buy on a long bike of 40 and long run of 9 and folks who are more in my camp of doing more gives you a thicker base to really hit the race.  It really depends on your goals.  It sounds like you are a solid cyclist.

Looking at your logs you are stronger than me probably in all 3 events (maybe not running) so if you train well you could be looking at around a 5 hour HIM, if you don't more like 6 hours ish. 

   Thanks for the in-depth response.  Since this is my first HIM, I would say that my goal is just to finish...HOWEVER, I am very competitive and so I know that really, I want to do well.  I think the run will be the hardest part for me.  I am strong in swimming and biking, but have never even ran a half marathon. 

   I probably could get up to 60-70 mile long bike rides, and I will just have to wait and see about the longer runs.  I can only run every other day, so I just plan to start out doing all easy runs and working up to 10 mile runs every other day.  Once I can maintain that (about 30-40 miles per week), then I will break down the weekly mileage into different length runs at different intensities. 

   I really like to train smart and safe and so I don't see myself doing long runs in the 15 mile range since my weekly mileage won't support that.  Thanks again. 

   Oh yeah, also, does anyone ever do race distance brick workouts (ie 56 mile bike to 13.1 mile run)?   Or should I keep the few bricks that I plan to do a bit shorter than race distance?  Thanks.

Over-distance rides of 60-75 miles should be ample, especially if you use them to gauge the effort that allows you to comfortably run off the bike. Perhaps the biggest pitfall of HIM is overcooking the bike and then paying for it big time on the run (which conveniently tends to come right when the weather is getting nice and hot).

Slight over-distance runs of up to 15 miles would be great, but most people seem not to do that, and you're probably right that you won't have the mileage to support that. Long runs of 12-13 should serve you well. If there's any way to increase the overall mileage via more frequent runs, then that could be very helpful. Just doing 10 mile runs every other day is probably not ideal. Mixing up the longer and shorter runs, and throwing in some shorter runs after your S/B workouts could really help. Those extra 4-milers might not seem like much, but they do help.

Good luck.

In training for two HIM's this season I've done three 80+ mile rides, four in the 70's, and six in the 60's, plus a bunch in the 40-55 range. Doing a 75 mile ride at 70-75% effort/RPE/HR/Power (or whatever metric/gauge is used) has helped make the HIM bike seem quite manageable.

For running, I'm also doing the NYC Marathon, so I've been trying to do a 15-16 mile run every other week, with a regular run of 12 or so once a week. Doing a long run of 12-14 miles on a weekly basis would set you up nicely for a HIM. Your ideal HIM run pace is about what your open marathon pace would be (use Mcmillan's website and put in another run time to find what this would be). A staple of my marathon training has been longer runs with the last 8-14 miles at goal marathon pace. I've done about one long run a month like this, where I've done 8-10 miles at that pace. I'll do 3-4 more in the eight weeks I have between Vegas 70.3 and NYC.

My bike mileage has been around 600-700 a month (in season) and my run mileage has been around 180 a month, but that's with more of a run focus.

For the bike, getting up to about 3.5-4 hours should be plenty long for this. And doing it at a decent effort (don't noodle along). After that, you can go longer if you really like to bike (which I do), but you would likely do better spreading it out into the week to better get more work at a higher intensity. This will also give you more time at near or just over race duration. I go into a HIM now and the bike section does not look like any trouble. It feels rather normal.

For the run, you would do better to switch around the strategy listed. Build up into the 30-40 mpw by more runs and a variety of runs. Build up several of them longer in this and you can have one go farther out. Often people try to get up to 15 with that one, but it isn't necessary. Getting over 10 on a regular basis with a solid amount of miles every week will go a long way.

You've asked about the long ride/run, but do know that what matters more is your weekly work. And in that doing a solid amount of work on a consistent basis. For the running, consistently running 30-40 miles a week will go a long way. "Consistently" is not just 2 of 3 weeks or 3/4, but more like 9/10 or better.

http://www.trifuel.com/triathlon-training/Half-Ironman-Training.php

http://competitor.com/2010/09/sports/triathlon/super-simple-ironman-70-3-triathlon-training-plan_6442

http://www.trinewbies.com/tno_trainingprograms/tno_HIM.asp

x2 to all of this...especially the bolded. 

You could finish a HIM without any run training.

You could finish it comfortable with a half-dozen runs over 6 miles.

There are plans that don't require anything longer than 8 miles and are for RACING.

The longest brick that I will do is a 60/4.

Only one HIM under my belt but....I don't think there's a magic number for either. That being said, I'd agree that what's really important is to get a good sense of what kind of pace you can maintain on the bike, esp. if your ability to build run endurance is limited. I found longer bricks of about 100 km (62-65 miles) on the bike and 40-50 minutes of running really useful for this. I did these nearly every weekend for months--would have to go back in my logs to see exactly how many but guessing at least twelve. In the race, there wasn't really any epic struggle to finish that last hour of the run; just kept on at the same pace though it got progressively more tiring, and was able to pick it up in the last mile or so. Alternatively, stand-alone rides of 75-85 miles, which at least for me are close to what I can stand for a HIM and still have a strong run, could help you dial in the bike pace.

You probably don't want the HIM to be the first time you run a half-marathon, so I suggest you actually do a a stand-alone HM at some point, or a 13 mile run at least once, but it's not necessary to do a race distance run every week, esp. if you are doing longer bricks. I often did a shorter "quality long run" (for me, 75 to 90 minutes or maybe 10-12 miles; could be more like 60 for someone with less run background) with some fartlek or tempo thrown in, and a longer run of 1:45-2:00 (13-15 miles) at a steady Zone 2 effort, in alternate weeks. I did something similar when I trained for my marathon PB years ago, and it seemed enough to allow me to have a pretty strong HIM run (I did 5:53, with a 1:43 run).

x3. Yep, the bolded as well

I've found that my HIM performance correlates well with how many 3+ hr rides and 10+mi runs I've done in the months leading up to the race.  Consistent volume is the key.

For the runs, I keep them easy (to aid recovery) and carry a fuelbelt with two 70z. bottles and two gels.  The goal is to speed recovery, and also get used to eating/drinking while running.  A good nutrition strategy is key at this distance, whereas you can do an Oly on one bottle of Gatorade on the bike.

I wouldn't shoot for 3-4x 10 miles a week, especially if your run is not strong.  Something more like 5 miles (easy) 8 miles (moderate), 5 miles (tempo), 10 miles steady.  Would be a good solid base to then up it in your last couple build cycles to 6,9,6, 13 ish for or so for a peak week.  You do need some recovery in your runs, 4x10 is pretty rough unless you have a long run history. Look over some plans and you will get a feel for what it should look like to build the run up.  I am currentaly at 5,7,7,5,14 which would be a good peak week for a first HIM plan.  Easy, tempo, hills/800 repeats, easy, steady. 

Hit any of us up with specific questions.  You look like a very strong triathlete once you get your base in there.

I've done four HIM but am fairly slow (6:21), however, my first two HIM, I suffered bad cramps due to a pretty bad nutrition plan, and then overdoing it on the bike...the reason I tell you think is that I'm now a firm believer, you need to do some long bikes (60-70) followed by some long runs (6-9) incorporating the nutrition plan during both before you will feel mentally prepared.

I agree with some of the other posts that doing some 6, 10, 7, 14 type runs is also good.