Sprint Triathlon Training

In bicycling, cadence refers to how many times the pedals spin per minute.  You can count your own cadence the same way you would count your pulse.  All you need is a stopwatch.  Count the number of times that one leg pushes down on the pedal for 10 seconds and multiply by 6.  You can count for a full minute if you like as well.  Here is a chart showing your cadence in revolutions per minute based on your 10 second count:

• 10    60 rpm
• 11    66 rpm
• 12    72 rpm
• 13    78 rpm
• 14    84 rpm
• 15     90 rpm
• 16    96 rpm

Will a faster cadence make me faster on the bike?

In the long run the object of sprint triathlon training or even Ironman triathlon training is to go faster on the bike while still having energy for the run.

Bicycling speed is a result of your cadence (how fast the pedals are spinning) multiplied by the “gear inches” or how far your bike travels with each rotation of the pedals.  If you maintain your cadence at 90 for example, and you want to go faster, you will need to use a harder gear. This requires training to teach your muscles how to push that harder gear without getting fatigued.  But it is the only way to go faster once you have reached your own top cadence.

Ultimately your speed on the bike comes down to just two basic components that you can control…your cadence and the gear you are using.  I hope that you can understand how training your body to use a higher cadence will help you go faster on the bike leg of your training.

What’s the best cadence?

There is no “best” cadence…it depends on your personal physiology, your training background and your performance goals.  Most people will have a naturally selected cadence, but that doesn’t mean this is your optimal cadence.   In my experience working with newer cyclists, or cyclists who are just getting interested in racing have a cadence on the lower side anywhere from 60 to 75 rpm, while more experienced cyclists tend to have a cadence anywhere from 75 to 95rpm.  Frequently people have the mistaken notion that they should be “working hard” on the bike which forces them to use a harder gear than necessary and slows down their cadence.

By shifting to an easier gear, the amount of force or energy required to push down the pedal is slightly less, enabling the cyclists to pedal slightly faster.  It’s not so much the faster cadence that is helpful, but the fact that you don’t have to push quite as hard with each pedal stroke.  For most people, this slight energy savings adds up over time and allows them to ride further and faster with less energy, not to mention being able to have a great run leg.

You can’t get something for nothing…

There is a slight tradeoff however.  Try this experiment.  Get on your bike on a flat stretch of road or trail.  Use the easiest gear available on your bike (the granny gear) which will be the smallest gear in front and the largest gear in the back. Now pedal as fast as you can for a minute or more.  Are your legs tired? THey should be…it takes energy to move the pedals in circles.

Now repeat the experiment in the hardest gear.  Your legs will be tired in a different way…it takes more forces to push the pedals in a harder gear.

So if both extremes make you tired, why is one better than the other?  Choosing a higher cadence uses requires less strength from the muscles and shifts the work effort to the cardiovascular system.  In addition with less forces used on the pedals, less force is transmitted to your joints.  Higher cadences are easier on your knees and hips which can make the difference between enjoying the bike leg and dreading it.

What cadence should I aim for?

A cadence of between 80 and 90 seems to work well for most triathletes.  With training, you will discover your own best cadence.  In general, I advise my athletes to use slightly easier gears in the beginning of their training in order to get used ot a higher cadence and aim for a goal cadence of 85-95 rpm.

95 is definatly on the higher side, but there is no harm in overshooting a bit to help reprogram your muscle memory.  At first it may feel foreign or very fatiguing.  This is a skill that needs to be trained just like any other physical skill. But once your become accustomed to a higher cadence, it will begin to feel more normal, and will actually become more efficient for you.

Feel free to leave a comment with any questions, comments or additions below!  Thanks,

Coach Suzanne

I have written a few articles for advanced sprint triathlon training, but get a lot of questions about beginning run training for the sprint triathlon distance.

If you are doing your first triathlon, or running is not your strongest sport of the three you don’t need to necessarily go out and run advanced or complicated interval workouts. Simple working on endurance and frequency of running is sufficient.

So how far do you need to be able to run in training in order to complete a sprint triathlon? How far should you be running in training?

We can divide the type of training you could do into two distinct types. One type is to approach the 5 k portion of a sprint triathlon as a breakthrough event. In otherwords, the day of the race will be the longest and furthest you’ve gone, either at once, or in any of the three individual sports. The other way to approach training is overdistance training. Most of my questions have come from people who are brand new to running, so let’s just focus on the “breakthrough event” method of run training.

If you approached the 5k as a breakthrough event, you would be running 2 to 3 miles at a time at least once or twice during the week. But even if 3 miles still feels like a struggle to you, you can make up for your current lack of endurance (don’t worry, it will get better) and substitute frequency.

Let’s say you can only run 20 minutes at a time. Or not even that, say 10 minutes at a time. Here’s what I would do…

Set up your “long run” day to try and run continuously as long as you know you can. During that long run day, you can break up the effort with 1-2 minutes of walking, and consider adding 50 percent of your run time with frequent breaks. So your long run day might look like this…

Warmup with 5 minutes of walking
Jog 10 minutes
Walk 1 minute
Jog 10 minutes
Walk 2 minutes
Jog 10 minutes
Cool down & stretch

Can you see how even if you can only run 20 minutes continuously, the workout above should be easily doable? I say make this your long day, because the above workout will take about 45 minutes when you include warming up and stretching.

On a different day of the week, do your continuous run of 20 minutes (or 10 or whatever your current continuous run is).

These two days will make up the heart of your run training. But to be best prepared while still minimizing injury you should try to add at least one if not two additional days of running.

Those two additional days could be any of the following:

1. Broken set #1: warmup, 10 min jog, 2 min walk, 10 min jog cool down
2. Broken set #2: warmup, 5 min jog slightly faster than normal, walk 1 minute, repeat 3 times for total of 20 minutes jogging.
3. Transition set: After your bike, walk briskly for 10 minutes, jog for 10 minutes back to your house. Cool down with another 2 minutes of walking and stretch

Hi everyone, this article is the 2nd half of a two part article covering the Jack Daniels “V Dot” method of run training. You can read the first part on triathlon run training here.

If you’ve read the first part of the article, you’ll understand a bit about the term “V Dot” and the method used to look up your running paces for different interval lengths and intensities.

Here is a link to a great website that will calculate your paces for you.  The only drawback…(if your 5k time is more than 30:00, it won’t work)  http://www.runbayou.com/jackd.htm

Here is a sample 8 Week Triathlon Run Training program based on a person (my sister in law) who’s V Dot is 54, based on a fastest recent 5K time of about 18:30 (wish I had her running genes!), and a decent endurance base of running 2-3 times per week. Her goal race involves a 4 mile run following a 20 mile bike.

Week 1 Solidify Endurance Base
Workout 1: E 3-5 miles
Workout 2: E 3-5 miles
Workout 3: E 5 miles

Week 2 Solidify Endurance Base
Workout 1: E 3-5 miles
Workout 2: E 3-5 miles
Workout 3: E 6 miles

Week 3 Solidify Endurance Base
Workout 1: E 3-5 miles
Workout 2: E 3-5 miles
Workout 3: E 6 mile

Week 4 Begin Tempo Training
Workout 1: 8 x 400m R Pace w/ 400jog recovery
Workout 2: 2 x 2miles@ T-pace 2 min recovery
Workout 3: 6 miles E pace

Week 5 Continue Tempo Training
Workout 1: 4 x 200m R pace/ 200jog recovery, 2 x 400m R pace w/ 400 jog recovery, 1 x 800 m R pace wih 800 jog recovery
Workout 2: 2 x 2 miles at T Pace with 2 min rest
Workout 3: Brick wokout 4 miles E pace following Bike

Week 6 Continue Working on Interval Training
Workout 1: 2 x 2 miles at T pace with 2 min rest
Workout 2: 2 x 1 mile at T pace, 1 min rest; 1 x 800 at I pace, 800 jog; 4 x 200 R pace, 200 jog
Workout 3: Brick workout 5 mile E pace run following bike

Week 7 Race Simulation Week
Workout 1: 20 min at T pace; 4 x 200 R pace, 200 m jog
Workout 2: 4 x 200 R pace, 200 jog; 2 x 800 I pace, 800 jog
Workout 3: Race Simulation Brick at venue if possible

Week 8 Race Week
Workout 1: 30 min T pace run (resist temptation to go faster)
Workout 2: Brick workout w/ 20 min Race Pace run (resist temptation to go longer)
Workout 3: Race

Breaking Down the Phases
This 8 week run plan is an intermediate level, but the basic ideas can be adapted to runners with more or less experience. The first three weeks are an Endurance Building phase. These are all done at her “E” pace which is slower than her 5K race time. During these runs, the body becomes more efficient at pumping blood to the muscles, utilizing oxygen for the energy to run, and teaching your body to be economical when running. In other words, you are teaching your body to not waste energy (you’ll need it to go faster!)

Tempo Training is a Staple of Triathlon training
During Week 4 we introduce the “T” pace or Tempo Pace. Tempo pace is somewhat faster than endurance, but still a pace that you can sustain for a prolonged period of time. You will feel like you’re working hard, but not quite at your 5K race pace. Tempo intervals are usually a minimum of 10 minutes long, and may be prescribed in terms of miles rather than minutes if you are running at a track. Tempo Intervals continue teaching your body how to adapt to aerobic energy demands and are even more efficient than endurance pace intervals for this process. The downside is that they make you more tired, and you may not be able to to back to back tempo days. Tempo sessions become a staple of training and are continued all the way through the last week of the program.

Intervals Increase the Intensity of Your Workouts
Interval and Repetition paces “I” pace and “R” pace are even faster than Tempo, with “R” pace (repetition) being the fastest. How fast? Not quite all out sprint fast…slower than that. But these are paces that you could not sustain for a prolonged period of time (more than a few minutes). These paces help your body increase it’s “VO2 Max”, or the maximal amount of oxygen that your body can use. Remember, triathlons are endurance events, and are fueled primarily by oxygen.

You Can’t build your Triathlon Foundation without Bricks!
Note that bricks are also in the plan…my free training guide discusses bricks if you’ve never done them before, or don’t know how to go about setting up a brick workout. (Download my free guide by signing up in the box up there to the right!)

While this type of training with well defined paces for Endurance, Tempo, Interval and Repetition may be new to you, it is based in years of information collected by Jack Daniels as he worked with runners. Dr. Daniels has coached many, many outstanding runners and knows how to get the best out of each of them, so give his method a try if you are looking for a way to increase your run speed.

Got Questions? Leave a comment and let me know! Not on my mailing list? Sign up over there on the right!

Rememeber, A Day without Sweat is a Day without Sunshine!

Coach Suzanne

Have you already completed your first Sprint Triathlon? Are you a good runner and want to know what type of training to do to improve?

Most Sprint Triathlon Training plans available online are for beginner or first time triathletes and contain little information on how to get faster. If you have a background in running, especially if you enjoy doing 5 or 10k runs, then you are in a great position to start focusing on improving your run times for your next sprint triathlon.

Olympic Running coach and physiologist Jack Daniels has developed a method of assessing your run fitness based on your most recent race times, for example, your most recent or best 5k or 10k time. By comparing your race time to a table, you can find out your training index, a number he refers to as “V Dot”.

Where the Term “V DOT” comes from
The name “V Dot” comes from exercise physiology studies in which the actual amount of oxygen your body is using is measured using sophisticated equipment that measures your body’s production of oxygen and carbon dioxide during exercise. Using the results of his testing from thousands of athletes, Dr. Daniels created a reference table which allows the amateur athlete to estimate their own oxygen uptake or “V Dot” value.

The benefit of knowing this number is that it allows you to plan appropriate interval training for your run training schedule without having to spend money on expensive lab testing. Instead you use the times from your recent 5k or 10k races to find your “V Dot”  and then simply look up the training paces in order to plan your training.

It’s really not as complicated as it sounds. I am going ot use my sister in law as an example. A naturally gifted runner, she recently began running and soon entered her first 5K race. This went so well, she entered a 2nd and 3rd 5k, and won her age group! Up to this point, she had just gone out jogging and running on a random schedule whenever she could fit it in.

Case Study: Mother of Two Training for First Triathlon

Now she would like to maximize the time she spends running so I helped her out by finding her “V Dot” and giving her some workout suggestions for the next 4 weeks to prepare for her first triathlon.

Her best 5K time was 18:30. By consulting Dr. Daniels “V Dot” tables (available in his book “Jack Daniel’s Running Formula” as well as several online sources), I determined that her “V Dot” was about 54. Out of context, then number 54 doesn’t mean much. But by cross referencing the tables in his excellent book, we find that her training paces for running are as follows:

You’ll notice that as the paces get faster, there is no guidance for longer intervals. For example, why is there no mile pace for a Repetition or Interval intensity ? The idea is that as the intensity increases (ie as you run faster), you will not be able to sustain that pace for as long a time period. Running at your Repetition or Interval pace for longer than 4-5 minutes is extremely difficult and physiologically stressful, and therefore not necessary.

By running faster paces for shorter periods of time, you improve specific aspects of your cardiovascular and skeletal system allowing you to race faster. So it’s OK that there is no mile pace for “Repetition” pace. We will only do repetitions of 200 to 800m.

Designing a Training Plan is an Art

So the real art of designing a training program is what to do with these paces, and how to integrate them into a training plan while planning for rest, recovery and minimizing risk if injury and over-training.

The second half of this article will include the actual 8 week Sprint Training Plan for the running portion, so stay tuned. If you would like more information and pricing on personalized Triathlon Coaching, visit my main Coaching website, Steel City Endurance

Got Questions? Leave a comment and let me know! Not on my mailing list? Sign up over there on the right!

Rememeber, A Day without Sweat is a Day without Sunshine!

Coach Suzanne

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