Typical Training Block

My training structure at the moment is typically three days on, one off, as planned. Though I rest depending on when I need it, so sometimes I don't always make it to three days before I have a rest day. Also, of note, is that I am still not running often, so you won't see the typical aerobic runs interspersed throughout. Likely a good thing though, as they might send me over the edge if added in. Also, this kind of work is only planned to be held for three weeks max. After that, I will have a recovery week. A VERY big recovery week. As this particular training block is meant to overload my body to a much deeper fatigue than one might normally attempt.

But, here is an example of what my last three day swim/bike block looked like:
Wed AM- 39 mile bike, very hard. First 45 minutes doing all that I could to stay on Andrey's (Russian Pro) wheel.
Wed PM- 2000yd swim. Main set: 2x200, 4x100 hard.
Thurs AM- 82 mile bike, hilly and hard. With Nina Kraft and Teemo. Cracked from dehydration near the end.
Thurs PM- 2500lcm swim. Lots of fluff, too tired to swim a hard pace.
Fri AM- 40 mile bike, solo, medium hard.
Fri PM- 28 mile bike, hilly, medium hard, with 3 x 3 minute all out intervals.
Fri PM- 4 mile run, 4x800 on track at 5k pace.
Fri PM- 600lcm swim, cool down from run.

As you can see, each day has quite a bit of intensity. At the end of this, I felt surprisingly good. However, it turned out I needed two relatively, short, easy days instead of one before I could get back to a hard workout again. This is fine. Broken down to simplicity, the way to get faster is to overload your body and let it recover. Again and again and again. For most, it will likely be one or two hard days before a recovery day, but with experience and fitness, the body becomes able to handle more and more. One of the pros I train with often goes four on, one off. His off day is usually only an easy swim or bike, but for his "on" days, he is swimming, biking AND running very fast and very hard for most of it. Very little is what most would consider relaxed or easy. Though since he is an Ironman athlete coming from an ITU background, for him most of his workouts are considered "not hard".