Training to run in Multisport

[Vetplant]

I completed my third Duathlon on Sunday in a time of 2h40, improving on my previous best time of 2h57(Which was on a MTB with slicks) 

 

The bike leg saw an improvement of about 14mins over 40 km, which is expected because I did it on an actual road bike this time round. I am happy with my 1h14 for now, pretty close to the times of the leaders. (Included a "fall" at the turnaround point, got excited in the turn and started to pedal while still leaning, only damaged my ego  )

 

The run legs also improved from 59min to 55min for Run 1 (10km) and from 31min to 28:44 for Run 2(5km).

 

It was clear as day that my run has allot of room for improvement, the leaders lapped me at the beginning of my third 2.5km lap....

 

Thus the question: What have you worked into your training routine that has benefited the run leg of a multi sport event the most?

[shaper]

I completed my third Duathlon on Sunday in a time of 2h40, improving on my previous best time of 2h57(Which was on a MTB with slicks) 

 

The bike leg saw an improvement of about 14mins over 40 km, which is expected because I did it on an actual road bike this time round. I am happy with my 1h14 for now, pretty close to the times of the leaders. (Included a "fall" at the turnaround point, got excited in the turn and started to pedal while still leaning, only damaged my ego  )

 

The run legs also improved from 59min to 55min for Run 1 (10km) and from 31min to 28:44 for Run 2(5km).

 

It was clear as day that my run has allot of room for improvement, the leaders lapped me at the beginning of my third 2.5km lap....

 

Thus the question: What have you worked into your training routine that has benefited the run leg of a multi sport event the most?

Brick sessions to overcome the heavy leg feeling when going from bike to run

Hill repeats

Speed work

[Rocket-Boy]

Brick sessions to overcome the heavy leg feeling when going from bike to run

Hill repeats

Speed work

Exactly this^

Bricks are great for getting used to transitions.

For overall running though some heavy hill repeats and speed work do wonders.

[Vetplant]

Exactly this^

Bricks are great for getting used to transitions.

For overall running though some heavy hill repeats and speed work do wonders.

Great, thanks. Will get those into the training schedule over the winter months and then we will see those improvements in the new season.

[Cheabb78]

I read somewhere that if training for a tri / duathlon, that every ride should be followed by a 5min jog to get your legs used to that initial change over. Obviously if it's a brick session then you're running anyway.

[Vetplant]

I read somewhere that if training for a tri / duathlon, that every ride should be followed by a 5min jog to get your legs used to that initial change over. Obviously if it's a brick session then you're running anyway.

Inversely, would it make sense to do a 5-10min bike warm-up before a run training session? 

[travisza]

Running more, going less hard on the bike during the race.

 

Not a believer in brick sessions unless you are doing it because you dont have time to workout twice a day.

[shaper]

Inversely, would it make sense to do a 5-10min bike warm-up before a run training session? 

you will need to go balls to the wall "warm up session" to simulate race conditions and have the blood pumping to your cycling muscles... then when you run, it trains the body to move the blood from your cycling muscles to your running muscles.... is why we feel the heavy legs until that blood/oxygen has moved

 

http://www.triathlonmag.com.au/training/swim/6967-running-strong-off-the-bike

[Vetplant]

you will need to go balls to the wall "warm up session" to simulate race conditions and have the blood pumping to your cycling muscles... then when you run, it trains the body to move the blood from your cycling muscles to your running muscles.... is why we feel the heavy legs until that blood/oxygen has moved

 

http://www.triathlonmag.com.au/training/swim/6967-running-strong-off-the-bike

Thanks for the explanation. 

[jonnow]

I found that doing some core work and leg work at the gym helps.  The stronger muscles don't make you go faster, but they help maintain your speeds and strength for longer so you don't get tired as quick.  

 

Try a class such as Gravity HIIT at the gym.  I did that once a week for gym and found that my running and cycling were vastly improved. 

[RABUBI]

Best thing I did for my trailrunning was to start crossfit. However, your legs are dead most of the time on the bike if you do 3 classes a week

 

My riding partner only rides, and runs twice a week, so I am in the hurt box everyday.

 

But when you hit a good day and everything clicks, makes up for any bad day.

[TheBritishTwit]

sorry for asking a novice question, but what is a brick session?

[Vetplant]

sorry for asking a novice question, but what is a brick session?

When you combine two exercise sessions for two different disciplines back-to-back.

 

The most popular one is where you do a cycle session followed immediately by a run session. 

[Vetplant]

Best thing I did for my trailrunning was to start crossfit. However, your legs are dead most of the time on the bike if you do 3 classes a week

 

My riding partner only rides, and runs twice a week, so I am in the hurt box everyday.

 

But when you hit a good day and everything clicks, makes up for any bad day.

I did Crossfit for 2 years, absolutely loved it. However I was never going to be anywhere near competitive in the CF environment. So when our baby arrived I had to cut something for financial and time reasons, thus Crossfit got the cut.

 

It definitely gave me a very strong strength base to work from, but need to drop some kg's now while maintaining the power to get age-group competitive in Tri's.

[TheJ]

After two full IM finishes, I can agree with the guys here. You CAN NEVER do too many brick sessions. Breaking through that heavy leg feeling is crucial. Also like the guy said, hill and speed repeats. 40 seconds to 1 minute. Hill doesn't even have to be steep, a gradual drag is fine.

[shaper]

sorry for asking a novice question, but what is a brick session?

http://breakingmuscle.com/endurance-sports/what-is-a-brick-workout-and-why-do-triathletes-do-them