Run Speed Sessions

Triathlon is an endurance event, no matter what distance you choose. From a one-hour to 17-hour race, you are asking yourself to race for a long time. This kind of racing take strength, it takes endurance, and most of all it takes a lot of conditioning. If you’ve frequently raced long and for a number of years it’s easy to get sidelined into only going slow, long, easy.

If you find yourself getting “slow,” remember there needs to be a certain amount of speed and power in your plan all year.

Here are some good run sessions you might include in your training to keep that speed up:

Downhill strides:

Warm up with 5 minutes walking then 15 minutes easy jog

Then go 1 minute on with quick but relaxed running, focus on turnover and cadence / 1 minute off can be walk or very slow shuffle jog. Repeat for 20 minutes total.

5 minutes easy

On a slight downhill, do 6 to 8reps of 30 seconds quick cadence strides, keep stride length short and quick, let gravity pull you to a fast cadence.

Cool down easy with 5 minutes walk/jog.

Uphill Set:

Pick a hill that is 4-6% in grade. Reps are between 45-90 seconds uphill intense, fast running (not bounding — quick cadence in good form). Jog back to the bottom for recovery.

Session 1: 6-10 reps of 45-90 seconds uphill hard with jog back to bottom easy for recovery.

Track Set:

4 x 100m strides building to fast-walk back

6x 200 at 5km race effort 1min rest

4 x 400 at 5km race effort on 90sec rest

800m strong 10km race effort

Finish with 10-15 minutes easy running after all interval workouts.

These are high quality, intense run sets. Always be careful to hold good form and start each rep with caution and build into it. Always warm up well and cool down well.

Get fit, be fast and have fun