How to Pace a duathlon

Not an expert, but I have done a few duathlons.  As far as I am concerned, they are harder than tris.  Your legs get a lot more of a workout  and they have the biggest muscles in your body.  So, you replace a fairly easy swimming segment (well not easy, but less physiologically stressful) with a more difficult run.  I'd tend to do the first run at an easier pace, hit the bike the same way I was planning in the tri, and then adjust the pace on the last run depending on how my legs feel.  With 10K to run on the last leg, you have enough time to kick it up and make up some serious ground on the field that may have gone out too hard on the first run.  By the way, in every du I have done, everyone goes out hard on the first run.  You can't let them just run off with the race, but you don't have to worry about losing the race on that leg either.  Keep in touch with them, but don't worry about who gets to T1 first.

Your T1 transition will be different, practice it.

Greg

Yea the drenching we've had here in the NE lately has also changed my tri into a Du for tomorrow. Yuck as I'm a stronger swimmer than runner (weakest for me). Not looking forward to this one and havn't considered the reverse T2 (for normal tri) aspect in T1. Never done a du (for the reason I'm not a fan of the run so why would I put myself thru more pain).

I've thrown my projected time out the window for this one...just hoping to enjoy it.

Good luck!

I ran my first duathlon about a month ago, 5k-19k-5k.  Warm-up was just jogging around and loosening the legs up every way I could.  High-knees, kicks, side to side, some strides, and what not.  Basically like for a running race.  Seemed to work well as I could go strong from the start, normally a slow starter.

I had planned to go just under threshold since I hadn't done much running due to injury, but wound up doing both runs at threshold.  Felt I had a little more pace left in me, but knew I went hard.  Great for the hard workout I intended it to be, but probably had 5-10 sec/mile better if I wanted to really race it.  Pace for each run was within 1 sec of the other.

Hammered the bike, was working on tolerating higher effort.  Seemed to do about right.  Wound up with an average a couple watts from roughly estimated FTP.  Found the run off the bike was noticeably less difficult than previous sprint tris even though the run takes at least 6 min longer.  Guess I need more swim work?

How would you run an Olympic? Since the bike and 2nd run aren't that different from it.  Run one will likely be 5k or so.  How about going for your 2nd run pace in the first run as well?  Should be close enough and you can adjust as you go.  Especially in the later segments.

Do you have some type of speed lacing on the run shoes?  I use Xtenex and was in and out for each no problem.  I used socks to help with this too.  Might have been my best transitions yet!

If the 1st run is going to be shorter than the 2nd run (to try to keep the total duathlon time similar to if it had been the originally scheduled triathlon),  pace both runs exactly as you planned to pace your run leg before.  If the 1st run leg is going to be equal to the 2nd run leg in distance, then back off both paces slightly as the total time of the duathlon will be longer.

Your goal in a duathlon is to slightly negatively split the two runs, but try to keep the pacing very consistent between the two.  You want even effort.  That is what I heard some duathlon national champion tell David Warden on an episode of Tri Talk I listened to and it makes sense.

I've done a few and find them a lot of fun, especially because I am a runner. Likely they will substitute a 5k for the swim. One thing I noticed is that people come blasting out on the first run. Since your event was supposed to be a tri maybe people will be better at pacing. I did a du last week and everyone was passing me for the first mile, even though I was running 6:55 and my normal race pace is more like 7:25. So I just slowed it down a bit to around 7:20 and sure enough people were burning out after the first mile. Transitions will be faster since going from running to biking shoes and grabbing the helmet is pretty quick.

I'd run at the same or just slightly faster than your normal race pace. Spin as you come off the bike and keep in mind your legs will be a bit more tired than if you'd swam. Depending on the heat you'll probably be a lot  thirstier too, since you'll sweat more on two runs. I usually drink Gatorade  or something similar in T1 and have a gel on the bike.

edit: forgot to wish you luck! Have fun and be safe. This flooding is insane.