Which to focus on bike or run?
combatdwarf
Posts: 258
in General Chat
Having just completed my first tri (Westonbirt 2nd Tri) this Sunday I was wondering what people thought was the most important area to improve on for a newbie. I came third in the swim but came 130ish (out of 160) in the bike and run [:(]
Which should I focus on more? I have seven weeks until my next raceand I am trying to plan my time effectively, any advice would be appreciated...
Thanks.
Which should I focus on more? I have seven weeks until my next raceand I am trying to plan my time effectively, any advice would be appreciated...
Thanks.
0
Comments
On top of that you can also save time by getting T2 (bike to run) quicker both in terms of time in the transition zone but also by doing a few short brick sessions of bike to run in your training so your legs stop going round quicker and start going left right left!!!
Either way at least doing both gives a good bit of variety which for me is what triathlon is all about. Alternatively if you can swim that well become a fish [;)]
At the gym I do 15 min bike on moderate resistance to 6 min mile on the treadmill x4 reps
On the road Ill do a steady 25mile ride followed by a 4-5 mile run (gentle pace)
Basicaly theres no hard and fast rules, you tailor the sessions to your time and ability. I truly reccomend these sessions as the reluctance to get the "jelly legs" out of T2 and more importantly my fitness has come on massivly since I introduced them regularly. Well done on your swim by the way!!!
Incidentally, I was told that the name 'brick' came, not from it being a building block for training, but rather cos they hurt like having your knackers battered with one!
p.s. cyling helps with running where as it does nt work so well the other way around
The way i look at it is, being decent on the bike should give you a pretty good position overall, as this section is the longest and so has the most influence, but being a quality runner IN ADDITION to being good on the bike will give you a great position and possibly the race win. If you need any example of this you only have to look at the best in the world, i.e. Javier Gomez. If you happened to see the mooloolaba event in march you will have seen Gomez came out of the water way down, he pressed on the bike but I think he had a bit of an accident, then he scorched everyone on the run to take the win by about 30 secs!
Also as I have a running background I am of the belief that the ability to run quick is a natural skill. I'm not saying with the right training you cant improve your running speed considerably, but i think it takes alot more work to improve you running speed that it does to increase bike speed. Sorry, I am probably gonna get killed for saying that!
I like this description of brick training.
I have just gone from sprint distance bricks 20km cycles and 5km runs to olympic distance 40km/10km and I would have to admit brick training feels exactly like that except now I feel like i am being battered by 2 bricks instead of 1.
God knows what it is like for those that do iron man events !!!!
I dont think there is any substitution for getting the miles in on the bike, and your run will improve anyway.