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I genuinely don't intend to disparage your mate (about whom I know nothing), but I wonder how his family feel about the balance too
Among ultra-guys, he was a freak in doing so little training. Partly because he was also a physical freak, who regularly got invited for tests in Swedish universities, because when he hit the hammer, lactic didn't hit him for about 10 times longer than 'normal' people.
He lives on a small farm outside Stockholm, has a pretty basic job, spends most of his time at home with the family. Just pops off occasionally to do a Triple Deca Ironman.
Having said that, I know plenty of ironman/other ultradistance guys who are nowhere near as good as him, and have much more demanding jobs, and who absolutely neglect their families to get their stripes. And when I was in that world, I absolutely encouraged them to train with me for days on end and neglect them more. I'm much more of a cunt than he is.
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kl
I genuinely don't intend to disparage your mate (about whom I know nothing), but I wonder how his family feel about the balance too. I mention because I'm topping out at about 4hrs a week and on occasional weeks might sneak 7 - that's with a full-time job plus family etc. I know other people with similar commitments who regularly get double-digit weeks but seem to do none of the childcare. It's not for me to say one approach to family life is better or worse, but when I see people who seem to "do it all", I know that they have a balance that I wouldn't want and that my wife wouldn't tolerate.
Re rear loading the training. That is how I used to do my IM training, and even my rowing training before I started triathlon. In my case, it was usually a result of poor planning and panic training in the last 12-16 weeks but I got some good results (~9:5x:xx). The last few weeks would include a lot of intensity and even the generic rides would be "as fast as I can for xx duration" so included a lot of high Z3, and low Z4. But I would say that I also got a lot of overuse injuries. I'm sure a steady build is far more stainable and is what I'd aim for if I ever had time for more serious training in the future.