Pushing yourself on race day

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2005-06-27 12:43 PM

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Littleton, NH
Subject: Pushing yourself on race day
How much harder do you push yourself on race day?  I don't want to go crazy and burn out too early, but I don't want to pace myself too conservatively either where I'm coming in last place either. 


2005-06-27 1:15 PM
in reply to: #184588

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Expert
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Iowa
Subject: RE: Pushing yourself on race day

I push hard, but I know my limitations, as Dirty Harry would say. You have to know your abilities. In a sprint, for example, top contenders will go all out in every leg. The same can be said of olympic distance as well. Anything longer than that and everybody is doing some pacing of some kind on the bike or the run, or both.

For people just trying to complete a tri though, they might find it necessary to pace in one or all of the legs of a sprint. This is where it's important to know yourself. Are you a 1:30/100 swimmer, or a 2:00/100 swimmer? Can you hold 20-22 mph on the bike for 15-25 miles, or are you more likely to ride 15-16 mph? Are you a 30 minute 5K runner, or a sub-20? Knowing these things will help you determine how hard you should go, and how long you can hold a hard race pace. Good luck!     

2005-06-27 5:37 PM
in reply to: #184588

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Germantown, MD
Subject: RE: Pushing yourself on race day
On the bike and run I try to find that point where either my legs feel like they can't take more than 30 sec at that level, or I feel like I'm going to puke, and then I back it off just a tad. Seems to work pretty well for sprints and oly's.

If this is your first tri, I would suggest holding back a little. You will be able to go faster than you have in training (assuming you've already completed at least race distance in each sport) without too much more effort just due to race adreneline. If you want to hammer and test yourself, try doing it on the last half of the bike and the run. Swim at an easy pace (unless you're a competitive swimmer, then ignore me), do the first 1/2 of the bike at your typical training pace, start to pick it up over the second 1/2, and then run like there's no tomorrow!
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