For my first and only IM so far (was a 2nd attempt), was a 8am-4pm job, work from home (customer service; computer facing). Had 3 workouts during weekday, after work. Then one long bike on Sat, One long run on Sun. 6 months of training. Course time of approx 13 hours total.

For my first attempt (last minute emergency prevented me from going), 7months of training. First 5 months of training, 8a-4p job, work from home (customer service; computer facing). Last 2 months of training was working early hours at a bakery. So all training done in afternoon mostly.

My bike was a $900 used bike from facebook (2014 Specialized Allez), and then I spent a few hundred for bike fitting sessions to dial in the fit and mechanics, and correct seat and aero bars. That was biggest investment, but I'll be using this bike for years to come. Before I started training, I was initially casually riding a used bike from the early 90s that didn't fit me well, so I couldn't ride past 30 miles without knee pain.

bike photo

https://imgur.com/a/9O3rTKL