olympic distance pacing

kurshing

 know we've proibably discussed this before, but, I wanted to throw my guess out there for some thoughts.  i am doing the Memphis In May 5150 race and am trying to figure out what need to be thinking pacing-wise.

I figure will swim similarly to a 70.3, with a little more push in the middle to end.  on the bike,  z3 pushing to z4 as the race progresses, and then hitting the run at z3 for a mile or so and then pushing z4 as long as I can.

 

Thoughts? 

 

Al Truscott

That sounds about right for the bike. On the run, my rule of thumb is pace it one gear slower, meaning go at open half marathon pace for about 4 miles , then spend all I have left. Take terrain into account when applying this.

TracyWood

 Stephen

Here is a thread where it was previously discussed. I found it the other night, looking at the same thing for Columbia Tri in May. Hope it helps, hope the link works."Help with pacing/racing an Olympic triathlon It was titled "

http://members.endurancenation.us/C...aspx#40989

 

[Deleted User]

Good thread - Thanks!  Hopefully I'll remember that for Columbia in 2011!

Michael Byerts

I think about the swim a little differently.  I go fairly hard for the 1st 200 meters or so to get clear of the pack and the look for feet.  If you can draft right off the feet or the hips of someone going just a little faster than you are comfortable with, you can save a ton of energy to use later. 

MattAaronson

Posted By Michael Byerts on 07 Dec 2010 03:02 PM

I think about the swim a little differently.  I go fairly hard for the 1st 200 meters or so to get clear of the pack. 

 

I used this strategy in the Chicago Tri this year and it worked really well. On a swim course that is super-crowded, I found that an early push followed by settling into my pace got me clear of the pack but not at any great cost, energy-wise. Btw you do not need to be a superstar swimmer to make this work (I was barely top 20% of my AG in that swim), but if you are back half of the pack then this is unlikely to work and will probably result in a lot of people swimming over you during the course of the race.

MattAaronson

Posted By Matt Aaronson on 08 Dec 2010 12:25 PM

Posted By Michael Byerts on 07 Dec 2010 03:02 PM

I think about the swim a little differently.  I go fairly hard for the 1st 200 meters or so to get clear of the pack. 

 

I used this strategy in the Chicago Tri this year and it worked really well. On a swim course that is super-crowded, I found that an early push followed by settling into my pace got me clear of the pack but not at any great cost, energy-wise. Btw you do not need to be a superstar swimmer to make this work (I was barely top 20% of my AG in that swim), but if you are a bottom quartile or bottom-third swimmer this is unlikely to work and will probably result in a lot of people swimming over you during the course of the race.