Olympic Triathlon Pacing Strategies
Learn how to structure your race pace strategy to optimise your potential in your Olympic Triathlon.
Formulating a realistic pacing strategy will maximise your chances of having a great Olympic distance race. Using this process will also make you a more consistent athlete, enjoying success race after race.
For most people, it's a 2 to 3-hour race, and your pacing strategy needs to reflect that. Don't think of it as three separate races - it's actually one continuous event.
Olympic Swim
During the first few minutes of the swim, you can find your place in the group and hopefully get in the draft zone of similar-level (or slightly faster) swimmers. After this ease back down to your target intensity and maintain that right through to the end of the swim. If you're a nervous swimmer, start off steady and stay out of harm's way.
There are several ways to pace yourself, including heart rate, pace and Rate of Perceived Exertion (RPE). However, from a practical point of view, using RPE (feel) works well - it saves you trying to look at your watch.
Check our Triathlon Race Pace Calculator to help guide your pacing strategy.
Olympic Bike
Getting the bike section right is key to a successful race. Sensible pacing will also help you run faster off the bike. Here are three common mistakes to avoid:
- Attempting to ride at a constant power output that is slightly too high.
- Riding in bursts, ranging from easy to hard - without realising.
- Riding too hard on the hills, often due to inappropriate gearing.
Use a power meter (if you have one) to pace yourself on the bike, with heart rate and RPE (feel) as backup measures. If you don’t have a power meter, just use heart rate and RPE instead.
Check our Triathlon Race Pace Calculator to help guide your pacing strategy.
Smart pacing throughout the bike leg will reap rewards on the run. Maintain your energy levels by paying attention to your nutrition.
Olympic Run
Given that an Olympic triathlon is a 2 or 3-hour race, don’t expect to set any personal bests for the 10 km run. Realistically you can expect to be 90 seconds to four minutes slower than you would be in a standalone 10 km run race. If you pace the swim and bike properly, you will be closer to 90-seconds than four minutes. Imagine you’re doing a standalone half-marathon, rather than a 10 km, and you’ll be nearer the mark in terms of pacing.
Check our Triathlon Race Pace Calculator to help guide your pacing strategy.
Using all three of the methods (RPE (feel), HR and pace) is best as none of them are entirely reliable in isolation. Many variables can affect them, such as wind direction, gradient and cardiac drift (an increase in heart rate due to heat stress). Just remember that the downsides of starting too fast are far greater than the downsides of starting too slow.
Fitness Tests
Ensure you base your Olympic Triathlon pacing strategy on real results from fitness tests done in the last 8 weeks. DO NOT GUESS!!!
Fitness Tests To Determine Your Thresholds
Your race success will be determined by how hard you went in the bike and swim sections - and your nutritional strategy. If you cycle too fast you will struggle to hold your pace on the run. If you pace the bike section intelligently and get your nutrition right, you can ride fast AND run well.
Further Reading
This article is based on Phil's blog: How to Pace an Olympic Distance Triathlon
Good Luck for your Olympic Triathlon!
Copyright MyProCoach™ Ltd © May 2018. All rights reserved.
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