#907 – Ironman Training Basics

Crushing Iron Triathlon Podcast

Mike Tarrolly

Fitness, Health & Fitness

4.8 • 739 Ratings

🗓️ 25 February 2026

⏱️ 65 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Sometimes it's best to go back to the basics and re-think what you might already know. Or answer the questions that a lot of people think about but are afraid to ask. Today, we drove the podcast by asking AI what are the most frequent questions asked about Ironman Training. We get into proper volume, plan structure, longest runs and rides, taper, Zone 2, burnout and overtraining, and how to avoid injuries. Success in Ironman rarely happens without a great understanding of this basic principles. Open your mind and come into it fresh.

Come join us at one of our awesome Camps:

Nashville, May 13-17 - https://runsignup.com/Race/TN/Nashville/2026Camp

Madison, Wisconsin, July 30-Aug 2 - https://c26triathlon.com/camps/triathlon-camp-wisconsin-2026/

Topics:

AI dating and restaurants
How many hours per week is a realistic training volume for a full Ironman?
Your peak period should be what you earned
6 hour easy rides are actually intense for most people
What does a properly structured 6-month or 9-month Ironman training plan look like?
How long should my longest run and longest ride be before the race?
What is the optimal Ironman taper, and how many weeks should it last?
How important is heart rate Zone 2 training for building long-course endurance?
How do I avoid injury from the high volume of training?
How should I balance the three disciplines to prevent burnout or overtraining?
How good is your ability to shed fatigue?
Life stress affects your taper
The taper responsibility is mostly on athletes
The taper is an Art
The "D" word
High volume should be volume you "can handle"
Stacking volume in manageable ways
Is stretching creating injuries?
Burnout is mental
Fatigue is physical
End today's workout looking forward to tomorrow.

Mike Tarrolly - mike@c26triathlon.com

Robbie Bruce - robbie@c26triathlon.com

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0	all right folks here we go again we're back here we're back here we go again. We're back here.
0:26.4	Yeah, we are. We're back. You're going to get a two-pernip. We're back to the two times a week. This week. It is a... You know what? It's a gorgeous day here in our own park, Kansas. It's February 25th, the year, 2006. And welcome aboard, everybody. You'll listen to the crushing iron podcast this is episode 9007
0:39.8	yep beautiful day here in central wisconsin we got uh we got some snow last night but i'm still
0:46.7	bummed i mean everybody else out east got like 20 inches and i got like three two oh that's it
0:53.1	i mean well yeah northeast like i mean, all I saw yesterday was like these, uh, endurance focused, uh, snow shoveling in training peaks, which is, you know, it's a solid workout, but like I said, it'll be good, unless you get the man plow and then it's done in like five minutes. I mean, you guys should have went and got the manplow like I suggested.
1:30.0	And you'd be perfectly, you'd be done. You'd be done in like two seconds. You'd have plenty of time for your workouts. And, uh, but yeah, they got a ton of snowy. You only got three. We got nothing. We, you know, right now we're going, typical Midwest. we're going from sauna to cold plunge every other day.
1:47.3	So we're going now we're going typical Midwest we're going from sauna to cold plunge every other day. So we're going we're calling single digits. It's up it's like I think Sunday Sunday morning it was nine yet Monday morning for school was nine today high 63. So we're just going right back and forth to everyone's sinuses. Uh, you know, just you go back and forth.
1:48.3	And that's the time of year.
1:49.1	But it's almost here.
1:49.9	Springs is almost here.
1:52.4	Seems like there's more light in the day.
1:54.5	But yeah, no, it's gorgeous to stay here.
1:55.6	Hope you're all having a good week. Happy to be back.
1:58.4	And I think you have a, you got a topic for us today that I know we were, we worked hard and long on.
2:03.6	We had a special guest submit some questions.
2:07.6	Dude, it's, it is, you mean, I think every other podcast has probably talked about AI before, you know, probably the last one's getting to me, how some platforms,
2:18.2	that's, you know, all they do. But it is wild to me how many, like, how often it is used.
2:26.4	And then I think still like, again, we're not going to go like deep in the training and like
2:29.9	what it prescribes day. But like I always found it fascinating because it for the
2:34.9	majority like the majority of people, the majority of entries you've put in the Gemini or
2:39.2	whatever platform or chat GPT. Like over time, it just tells you what you what it, what you want
2:44.7	to hear. Like you know, based it because it obviously attracts and records everything you ask and
	...

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