What is involved in training for an Ironman?

Before a decision is made weather or not to do an Ironman, one must research the level and quantity of training that will be needed to be able to complete such a challenging event. What I found back in December of 2006 (notice more than 1.5 years before my event date of July 2008) is I did not have even enough base endurance training to even start the beginner's Ironman training. So I decided I would do some base training and get a few smaller Triathlons under my belt before beginning my Ironman training. I started a plan to use 5 months to build on my base...which left me 1 month to rest/recover before starting my Ironman training (this is where I am at now).

I found a good (I hope) program to follow at BeginnerTriathlete.com. The problem (for me) with this program is it does not address my 2 key problems (100lbs of spare tire that I carry with me and my base is still just not where it needs to be yet). From all the reading I have done and out of all the programs I have looked at, this seems to be one of the better programs for beginner Triathletes, but I need to include some Core Body workouts and some Weight Training so I have decided modify it.

To account for the lack of base conditioning, I will repeat a 24 week version (the original is only 20 weeks) of the program twice with a 4 week recovery period in the middle. I will repeat the first 4 weeks both times through the program, in order to achieve my desired training length of 24 weeks.

"Why take a recovery period?" I hear you asking. This type of training program is called periodization and in periodization training it appears your body stops improving after about 5 to 6 months of training and you need to take some time to recover before starting another cycle (at least this is what I have read).

Also to address my "Over Weight" or "Obese" condition I will need to include some weight training. Weight training is one of the keys to losing (so says everything I read). So I will need to work in some core body and weight training. (I will do most of this "additional" training during my first periodization) I currently don't have a program to follow on this subject, so I have just put together my own routine until I can finish doing my homework one the subject.

So a brief overview of the schedule is as follows

24 Week Periodization #1
--8 Weeks Prep
--4 Weeks Base 1
--4 Weeks Base 2
--5 Weeks Base 3
--3 Weeks Taper

4 Week Recovery
--4 Weeks of easy short workouts

24 Week Periodization #2
--8 Weeks Prep
--4 Weeks Base 1
--4 Weeks Base 2
--5 Weeks Base 3
--2 Weeks Taper
--1 Ironman USA event week