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Bike & Run - how to get the balance right?

I did Windsor Olympic last weekend, and following a tip from a mate I backed off the bike leg to conserve energy for the run. The plan worked, while I added 3 mins to my bike split I knocked 7 mins off the run. And a new PB of 2.38.



Any tips how I can build my bike speed back up without losing the run time? How do I improve cruising speed on the flat and speed up hill?

Comments

  • PC67PC67 Posts: 101
    What are you comparing it to?



    I took 3 mins off my Windsor 2006 bike AND 6 minutes off my Windsor 2006 run. Pity about adding 4 mins to my swim!



    I'm sure there's a multitude of training variations you could do but I put my improvement over both disciplines down to having a better bike this year and just generally being fitter overall, especially running fitness & speed (my standalone 10k PB fell by nearly 4 mins over the winter).



    In 2006 I found the heat an absolute killer on the run but it wasn't an issue on the bike.



    Are you sure all of the 7 minutes you gained on the run is due to easing off a bit on the bike?



    I went all out on the bike and did a 48 min run, which is 3 mins down on my average standalone 10k time, 4 mins down on my standalone PB. I doubt I could have done much better whether it was after 1:55 of hard effort, or 2:00 of slightly less effort. Maybe a minute?
  • rpopper65rpopper65 Posts: 171
    The only way to know for sure what combination of speeds and intensities will work right for you is to try out different approaches in your training and log the results carefully for comparison later. Make sure that combination sessions (especially bricks, if what you want to do is try out different strategies in your bike-run combinations) become part of your regular training. Make sure you take good notes after the training sessions, though, so that you have enough information to compare like-for-like (i.e. weather conditions, breakfast, resting heart rate, maximum heart rate - or finish heart rate if you don't use an HRM, use your watch and two fingers on the carotid - the training you've done recently, etc). Then, you can get pretty scientific and find your threshold avoidance points - the points at which faster cycling means slower running, or at which slower cycling doesn't mean faster running.
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