Ryan FinleyTriathlons are often considered one of the most impressive physical feats an athlete can accomplish. They are incredibly exhausting and require a lot of specific training in order to achieve success.
From the bike to the run to the water, one of the most challenging transitions of a triathlon is from the bike to the run. Luckily, we’ve put together a list of the best bike-to-run transition tips.
Mastering the Bike to Run Transition
Mastering the bike to run transition is all about practice and coordination. Even knowing this to be true, it can be difficult to execute at first. A huge mistake you can make in your training is focusing on the three aspects of the triathlon separately without developing your transition skills.
Use the five tips below to improve your transition. Doing so can ensure your run gets off to a smooth start so you can finish the race with confidence and power.
Practice Your Transitions in Training
The best way to master the transition from bike to running in a triathlon is to implement it into your training regularly. It’s not enough to simply practice your biking speed and training your running endurance; you must also practice the switch.
So, instead of biking one day and running the next, put the two together on a consistent basis. You should train how you want to perform. That means selecting one of your most challenging bike rides and adding a transition to a run once or a couple of times per week.
Use Low Resistance Before Transition
Another little tip you can implement to help your bike to run transition is utilizing the gear shift on your bike. You have likely been using a higher resistance on your bike to help you reach top speeds.
When you get close to the transition, the best thing you can do is lower your bike’s resistance. In doing so, you allow your legs to spin faster, which is a great way to loosen up those lower leg muscles that have been just itching to work up until this point.
As of this portion of the race, your quads have been doing most of the work. Having tired quads and muscles that are basically at rest is what can make this transition so difficult. By spinning a little faster, you can help circulate blood better and prepare those other muscles for their turn.
Start Stretching “Running Muscles”
During the biking portion of your triathlon, you spend a large portion of time using one set of muscles in your legs: your quads. Something that will have a huge impact on your transition will be stretching your running muscles before it comes time to run.
You can stretch these muscles a little bit in preparation for the running portion of the race while on your bike. Towards the end of the biking stretch, stand up off of your bike seat and ride for a few hundred meters in a standing position.
Riding like this for a little while will help wake up your running muscles, distributing blood flow from your quads to your hamstrings and calves. This little extra stretch will get your legs ready to move, so when you hop off, you’re not completely stiff.
Stay Focused
Between the action of hopping off a moving bike, the muscle exhaustion in your thighs, and the complete mental block threatening to take over, it can be easy to lose your focus during the bike-run transition.
The best advice here: don’t lose focus!
Long-distance runs and endurance activities are part physical, part mental. Losing your focus during a critical transition like this can cause you to quickly lose your footing and completely obliterate your transition.
Stay sharp in your mind and play through the transition movements in your head as you do them. A good triathlete will start thinking through the run motion several minutes before the bike portion is over.
When it comes time, think about nothing else but that move at the moment, and don’t let any distractions enter your mind.
Push Through Fatigue
Every athlete who has trained for or participated in a triathlon understands the kind of fatigue you feel, particularly in your quads, when you make that transition from biking to running. This happens because most of your blood is rushing to your thighs during the biking portion.
When you first hit the ground, it’s easy to want to give up right away. However, your best transition will happen when you push through the fatigue. Once you get into stride, that blood will start to redirect through your hamstrings and calves as you start implementing those muscles more.
Fight through that initial fatigue, and you’ll find your legs aren’t quite as tired as you thought they were. Doing this is going to give you a better transition overall.
