Once an athlete is confident and strong enough in both cycling and running there is a third step, combing the two into one smooth, seamless transition which is vital for success in triathlon. Learning to comfortably move from a hunched over biking position to an upright running position can be tough, especially at first, however, you can teach your body to adjust to this transition. Below are a few ideas to incorporate into your training that will help this process.
The T-run: After a long bike ride practice a quick transition and go for a short 10-30min run at a nice relaxed pace. Have your run gear laid out in advance and spend less than 5 minutes in transition, the faster the better. This will help your body become more accustom to the dramatic difference between cycling and running.
Neuromuscular conditioning: After your body becomes adjusted to comfortably running off the bike try incorporating some very short busts of speed into your T-run this helps to develop the Neuromuscular connection and allows the brain to better and more accurately control the muscles. Example is 20” sprint, 40” easy running begin with no more than just a few of these and gradually increase the number.
Nutrition: The 4th and mysterious component of triathlon is very important for a solid run split. There is no way to eat as many calories as you are burning while running so we have to make sure the tank is full before we get off the bike. As a result practice race day fueling on the bike and complete a T-run where you continue your nutrition protocol to see if your stomach is able to handle it.
Recovery!! This is important for all aspects of triathlon, not just running, however, running tends to be the most damaging, especially when we are in a pre-fatigued state from cycling. As a result hydration, calories and supplements are vital to all triathlon success, however, especially after a T-run off the bike.
After the race many people asked me why I came all the way to Raleigh, North Carolina for the Duke Liver ½? Well, the truth is I am living with some friends down here in Durham, NC doing some “heat acclimatization” and my final build up for Kona. The 50-60 degree weather of Vermont is just too much of a jump to Kona’s 90 degrees. But I digress, onto the race report!
The race was put on by SetUp Events and they really did a great job. They had done some publicity before the race saying that I was coming down to race “fresh off my win at Ironman Lake Placid.” As a result I was a marked man on the course, but at the same time everyone knew who I was and were all very supportive. I had a great time during the race, but an even better time after the race meeting people. Thank you to the entire North Carolina triathlon community for being so welcoming.
Since I came for the heat, obviously on race morning it happened to be 50 degrees. During the race it was sunny and in the mid 70s, basically perfect race day weather! I was hoping for it to be 95 and humid just to practice racing in the heat. I’m sure I was the only one who was hoping it to be disgustingly hot!
I did not even bring my Helix wetsuit on this trip expecting the water to be well above 78 degrees. However, because of a few cooler days before the race it was a wetsuit legal race, measuring in at 77 degrees. I had decided regardless of water temps to wear my Blue Seventy Point Zero as I have yet to wear it in a race and wanted to before Kona. The water level in Jordan lake was about 2 feet lower than normal due to the drought most of North Carolina is experiencing this summer. As a result the swim was an out and back instead of the preferred triangle shape course. To add to this there was a pretty strong headwind creating a very rough and choppy swim particularly on the way out. As a result my swim was significantly slower than I was hoping and a little further back, 30mins, 8th place and 5 ½ minutes behind the leader.
After a quick T1 I headed out onto the bike. This bike course is absolutely beautiful through rolling farm land with a few small climbs and very few cars. At one point during the race there were about 10 wild turkeys in the middle of the road, at the time I was traveling about 30mph and had to swerve and fortunately avoided them, needless to say this experience was a little scary! The rest of the ride was pretty uneventful. I was working pretty hard and found a great rhythm until the last 10 miles when the slightly rougher road and head wind began to make it a little tough. I pushed through and finished 2nd off the bike in 2:19.
I cruised into T2 just as the leader was heading out onto the run course. After another quick transition I began my pursuit about 2 ½ minutes down.
This run course is two loops on a series of hilly, dirt and grass trails located in New Hope State Park. This run course is hard, but very beautiful and peaceful through a forest and overall a really enjoyable run. I began the run with several tight muscles and twinges after a solid bike, but after a mile or 2 I began to loosen up and found my stride. I caught up to the leader at about mile 4 and kept up the pace because there were some very talented athletes in this race that I knew would keep the pressure on. I finished the run in 1:22.
I finished first overall in 4:13 which I was told is a new course record. This was a great confidence boost and measure of my fitness heading into October and I’m getting very excited! Lastly, I really like this area of the country and the triathlon community is pretty impressive. There is a chance I may move here next year…we’ll see! J
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Thanks!
Alex M-M
www.alexmmtri.com
