Running off the bike
I had my first race (sprint distance) of the season this past weekend and felt pretty bad coming off the bike. The legs felt ok, but my heart rate was failry high and i was sucking wind even when I was trying to start out at an easy pace and build. I started getting a small side and stomach pain on the run but it didn't really slow me down, just stopped me from speeding up. I haven't experienced this in training. Towards the end of the 5k I started feeling good and was able to push pretty hard at the end but it was too little too late.
I didn't go particularily hard on the bike and started to take it a little easy the last couple minutes coming in to transition preparing for the run. During the OS brick runs I have been able to run consistently well off the bike. My "transitions" while training are obviosly not as fast as in a race. I haven't done too many races in my triathlon career so I am still trying to figure out the pacing and strategy. In the last sprint race I had a similar experience.
What should I do to get better coming off the bike?
I am totally focused on getting good at long course so it is ok if this is just a part of short course racing. I just want to make sure I am not doing something wrong that will affect all of my races.
Comments
Sprint racing is hard. Especially for those of us who mostly race long. While they are certainly shorter that a half IM or IM they are still nothing like an actual sprint as they take about an hour to accomplish. My biggest issue in racing sprints has been being too frantic. Thinking, its a sprint, swim swim swim hard has left me 200 yards into the thing feeling out of breath and hyperventilating. Not a good plan with 50 plus minutes to go. Much like longer races it needs to be more of a controlled burn than an explosion of energy, the burn is just hotter.
All that said you will likely get better at racing as you race more. It is easy to get into a rut where you are really only racing a couple times a year. Hard to ever learn how to do it under those circumstances. You should really be able to run pretty close to your open 5k time off the bike in a sprint, maybe 1-2 minutes slower depending how fast you run. It is really hard to ride at 100 of FTP in an actual triathlon, at least any I have ever done. There seem to be plenty of turns and downhills etc. I have never managed to ride hotter than .93 in a sprint although I was trying to kill myself. Assuming you are riding for a half hour or so at even 100 you should still be able to run hard for 20 minutes, right? At least that is how the theory goes. If you have biked and run so hard for 40 minutes that you have nothing left to run then you went too hot. Its just hard to do. Based on your story it does not seemed like that is what happened as you would never have recovered while running if that were the case. There is really nothing comfortable about racing a sprint or any short races. It should really hurt if you are going it correctly. Coming off the bike and running out of transition in a sprint I usually feel like I will die if I do not stop and lay down immediately. I dont stop and to date I have not died so I assume that when I feel that way in the future it will all be OK. Remember the T pace, FTP is what you can hold for an hour with a gun to your head, its not meant to be comfortably hard, its going to die hard. Not sure if this response is at all helpful but those are my thoughts.
One workout I have done in past years to improve (or at least get used to the feeling of) running off the bike is the track/trainer session. I used to only do this workout in the summer during a race build. Not sure how the EN philosophy might alter that.
Set up for bike trainer right next to a running track. Do a bike interval of 10-20 minutes building to sprint distance race pace in the last 5 minutes.
Get off the bike and immediately run 800-1600 meters at your sprint distance race pace.
Get back on the bike. Repeat 2-3 times. This is a really difficult workout if done at the right intensity.
I've lost count of how many times (dozens, I'm sure) I've exited T2 with someone (in any distance triathlon) who is just going like a house afire, burning up the road ahead of me, and then I eventually reel them in in the last quarter of the run. I always try to run out of T2 at a pace I think feels comfortably hard, not my fastest possible, and build from there. The problem is often compounded by the fact that most transition areas are by a body of water, which is usually lower than the main section of the bike and run courses (water flows downhill, right?) So the first bit of the run is often uphill, and that needs to be accounted for as well as getting your running legs and wind.
As Chris says, the best way to practice for racing is to race. And the best way to race each segment of a triathlon is to start easier than you intend to finish. Even stand alone bike and run races will help teach race pacing.
Thanks for all the feedback.
Sounds like the good news is that I just need to keep racing and dial in my efforts and the bad news is that it is going to hurt
As Al said, a lot of people seem to go out way to hard on every leg. I have really been trying to start at a steady pace and build. I may try to get a little transition and brick practice in at some point as well.
I think a part of my issue is that I get pretty excited when I am racing and my heart rate gets elevated (esp in transition). I think learning to relax will help a lot.
back when I used to wear a HR strap while racing highest rate of the day was always in T1 and just after getting on the bike. Frantic running out of the water, wrestling with the suit, not wanting anyone to get out ahead of you will do that.
For sprints I'll give myself about a half mile to get settled on the run. For Olympic, a mile. After that I tell myself to suck it up and I go as hard as I can go, for the distance.
"Settling in" for me is to:
Thanks again team!