I am doing my first Duathlon next week as an arm injury has croked me from swimming. It's a short course 4km, 16km, 4km, winner tends to do it in 50mins, I am hoping for around 55. Any advice on what heart rate range to work inside as I don't know how to pace the first run???
Personally for that distance a race I wouldn't use heart rate. My heart rate would be high and I just don't need to see those numbers when I race. Becomes more of a mental block then anything.
For pacing the first run, run as hard as you can hold it for a 4k race. Ignore the rest of the race. Pretend you're not going to do it. Then get on the bike and bike as hard as you can for 16k. You'll have just enough time probably to recover from the first run. Then turn around and do the same thing you did for the first 4k
I wouldn't worry about HR either for a race that short. I don't think it would be a good metric. I would however take a little off on the first run and focus on negative splitting the second to make sure you don't redline too early.