Long course triathlon typically refers to half or full ironman triathlon races.
These races involve a swim, a cycle leg and then a run, they could take between 4 and 16 hours depending on the event and the person.
In long course triathlon, there are a couple of traps that catch most people, at some time.
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Go “too hard” with your training really far out from an event
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Go too hard in training on race week before the event.
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Go too hard on the bike leg.
As the race gets longer, success depends less on speed at any one point in time (like the bike leg), and more on the ability to strategically “manage” the body, energy systems and physiology for the duration of the event.
Whatever stage of our project we are in, it pays dividends to look both ahead and behind.
What’s around the corner?
What do we need to watch out for?
What does success look like here?
What is the “hard part?”
Are we missing something?
Ultimately, in the triathlon, we cross the finish line at the end of the run.
It might look and feel great to be smash the bike leg as hard as possible, but it’s hard to win a race with this strategy* and it’s easy to lose it.
*It is possible of course, but only for exceptionally strong cyclists.
