Home Chat General Chat

How do you race?

jacjac Posts: 452
When it comes to the bike?

Do you go all-guns blazing, TT-style or down a notch or two because you know the run is next?

I ask because I felt as though I took the bike quite conservatively the other week because of the run..

Comments

  • starcherstarcher Posts: 126
    Hi jac



    Personally I have found my max bike speed for each distance by training at race distance or above and at race intensity. I find it harder to slow down as the adrenaline kicks in when racing and my bike legs my best bit, so I always try a bit to hard on it then suffer in the first couples of Ks in the run.



    Maybe also worth thinking about what distances your racing over, during sprints I have a bad habit of going all out and hoping I can hang on till the end .....obviously this didnt work with my first OD I bonked hard!!! during the begining of the run and the end bit was all walking!! very bad planning.



    Hope thats some help



    Mat



  • MGMG Posts: 470
    That, for me, depends on the distance and the type of course you racing on.



    For Long distance its all about pacing and practice, lots of long bikes so you know what speed/cadence you can sustain.



    For olympic, pace does come into it but not so much, I like to think of it as a 40k TT JUST below TT effort.



    For sprints its all out guns blazing/pyrotechnics/dancing ladies everything I can throw at it and then just hang on for dear life for the run.



    Most of my training has been LD training this year and not much sprint/speed work. However I raced Eton at the weekend (and although I had a crap swim.....) got a 1hr06min using the hang on for dear life method......
  • JulesJules Posts: 987
    MG wrote:


    For sprints its all out guns blazing/pyrotechnics/dancing ladies everything I can throw at it and then just hang on for dear life for the run.





    In my limited experience so far, this is me. Plus trying to swim calmly at the start.



    This is also going to be me for my first OD in June. I may dial it down a tiny bit but my bike is better (less bad) than my run, so I don't want to cut my nose off to spite my face, as it were. If the run takes me over an hour, I may rethink...



  • Jack HughesJack Hughes Posts: 1,262
    My strategy for a sprint is to go as hard as possible - because it's about a hour - hour and a half. Which is doable!



    In a none drafting sprint, the cycling is where there are the most gains to be made.



    1) Get through the swim - concentrating on technique

    2) Hammer the cycle as hard as possible.

    3) Hammer the run as hard as possible with whatever is left.

    4) Throw up and Die.
  • shadowone1shadowone1 Posts: 1,408
    In my limited experience (very) I took it easy on the swim and hammered the bike. The run was as hard as I could take it (see my current thread on running probs).



    then at the end sit down and try not to throw up while drinking some mad concoction.



    Enjoy.
  • GGBGGB Posts: 482
    Not done a Tri yet .. but in the few Duathlons I have done I started off with the run too fast, then too hard on the bike and died on the run, though looking back not that bad ... running is not my forte though. You use different muscles for the run so going hard on the bike should be fine so long as you can put up with the Jelly legs ;)



  • willieverfinishwillieverfinish Posts: 1,381
    Slowly
  • TommiTriTommiTri Posts: 879
    Sprint - hard, hard and more hard!



    I was running with a couple of mates of mine who are elites (70.3 and quadrathlete),the 70.3 guy used to do oly distance when he was younger at GB level but was screwed over when they brought in drafting as he is a beast on the bike but not the strongest runner. Anyway, we were talking about this and my original thought was that in oly you would hold something back, so you could push hard on the run, but they both said that they would treat the 25 miles almost like a time trial, they would push their body almost to breaking point. They weren't thinking about saving anything for the run as such, as they knew that their bodies had been trained well enough to deal with intense sessions on the bike followed by hard running sessions. Also they had in their mind that during the 10k run they were only 30mins or less from the finish, so they had that to push them. Sometimes it didn't work and they had a bad run, but most of the time their body just got on with it.

    The key is train hard and train well. Your body is an amazing thing, you can punish it for hours and it will still keep going.
  • jonEjonE Posts: 1,113
    Tend to agree with Tommi's comments.Some race as three separate entities depending on the nature of the course and play to their strengths according to the course,others just go full tilt till they finish or 'blow up'.I tend to be the former,hilly course such as Hathersage or Ilkley would lead to a conservative bike whereas Ripon would be more of a TT blast on the bike,I don't think it makes much difference to me,last is last.
  • husslerhussler Posts: 237
    I go out at a speed I know I can hold for that distance ie at threshold for anything above olympic, olympic and below is all out, balls out....



    I can hold 60-65min 40k for 3hours + so anything above olympic is all at this pace, this is a good pace for me... and its at my threshold so although I can go quicker I would slowly grind to a halt....



    I dont race with HR or power, I go on feel, I know what it feels like at threshold.



    You want to cross that finish line like your gona pass out regardless of distance.... if your not feeling that then you havent pushed hard enough and you wont have achieved the highest position/fastest time you could have achieved......



    As long as you fuel your body correctly it will keep going forever.... well nearly...:)
  • BlinkybazBlinkybaz Posts: 1,144
    Unleash the beast Jac! I nailed the swim for a PB and then nailed the cycle for a PB. The run was a plod round as I was ploding for some reason. Next TRI I am going to go balls out for the quickest time in all three!
  • jacjac Posts: 452
    Thanks for the replies guys.

    Hard it is then.

    Sick bucket added to checklist!
  • nivaghnivagh Posts: 595

    For me, it's a case of balls out all the way round. If I could have gone harder I might as well have stayed in bed.
  • ipay1980ipay1980 Posts: 84
    i would always want to feel like i can attack the run especially on a sprint through to a half ironman. for an ironman is different. remember it is not a swim or a bike race, but is a triathlon.



    also there is not a better feeling to pick you up, and keep you going than picking off people on the run.
Sign In or Register to comment.