RACE YOUR FIRST DUATHLON IN JUST 8 WEEKS!

IN JUST 8 WEEKS! If you want to race strong on the duathlon circuit this off-season you need to get cracking with this training plan. Dermott Hayes is your run/ bike/run coach

Duathlon time already? Well yes if you want to reach that run/bike/run finish line, in say October or November, in style. You may have already started putting your wetsuit away for the off-season, but still want to stay in shape and target some multisport races. And the ideal way to continue racing is to switch focus to the duathlon circuit and, in turn, maintain top-end run and bike fitness.

Well-conditioned athletes will continue to train through the triathlon off-season and stay focused with occasional races. And a duathlon, being of a similar total duration, is even considered by some to be harder than triathlon!

The expected level of training history coming into this plan is that you’ll have completed a sprint-distance triathlon, or a stand-alone 10km run and 40km bike. This means that you will have a knowledge of the distances and duration of training sessions to come. With the omittance of any swim training, it means more time for the run, and the performance of any duathlon is very much dictated by how the run goes, so the volume of run sessions is more significant than in any triathlon plan. The plan ensures that in both bike and run training there’s a balance of stamina and speed, with the inclusion of longer aerobic training as well as shorter, higher-intensity interval style sessions. After all, the only way to race faster is to train faster.

A key indicator of a wellexecuted duathlon is the ability to pace the first run right so that you have enough energy for the final 5km; get it wrong and it can be like treading through treacle.

As with all triathlon plans this will include brick sessions, but here they’re varied between runbike, bike-run, and run-bikerun. The longer brick sessions are a great chance to fine-tune your race pace (referred to as RP). There are also regular multibrick sessions with a high number of bike and run efforts to allow for greater speed focus and lots of transition practice. These multi-brick workouts are better completed indoors if possible to allow for super-fast transitions.

So ditch the wetsuit, get ready to boost your running and hit that duathlon like a pro!