I haven't been posting much lately, but I saw this and thought I'd chime in...

1) How far out did you start training for your IM?

For my first IM (IMFL) I started training "officially" in January for the November race. It was too far out in my book and I hit a big wall around July. For my second (IMCDA) I started training in January for the June race and it was perfect timing.

2) Did you get rest days in your training plan? Was it possible to get in the volume that you needed and get rest days?

ABSOLUTELY. I took Sundays off each week and depending on how things went the rest of the week, sometimes another day. My typical schedule looked like this:

Monday: run/long swim
Tuesday: bike/strength workout
Wednesday: speed run/swim
Thursday: easy run or sometimes easy bike spin/strength or core work
Friday: long run/recovery swim
Saturday: long bike
Sunday: off

My schedule worked in three week build cycles with a "recovery week" after each three week period. During the recovery week, the volume went down, the intensity stayed the same, and I had one extra day off.

3) Did you have a regular day job (aka: Basically 7-5 with getting ready, etc.)?

Yes, I have a job, although I work from home. I also have two children (11 and 12) and although not a single mom, I am the major caregiver for them. My workouts happen generally before everyone else was up and at lunch time.

You should expect to be tired, but imho you are doing too much volume too far out and your coach is not giving your body ample time to recover and repair. Do a little research online and take a look at the trifuel site, or trinewbies or even markallen.com - he's got some GREAT information. Interesting note about Mark Allen, too, is that the LONGEST out he will create a schedule for someone is 20 weeks.

It sounds to me like your coach is not listening to your feedback and could have some unrealistic expectations of you. This could be dangerous and will leave you feeling tired, believe me, and you do NOT want that! We want to see you enjoying this process!!