Bit late for this weekend's tri but would be good to get some specific tips on improving the run leg, in relation to coming off the bike (not falling off of course ). As a novice, all I have been thinking about and trying to practice so far is....
- keeping the amount of running similar to a 10-21k program
- doing brick sessions once every week or two, 5-6 of them, (but only 15-20mins after ride)
- trying to get the cadence up for last 500m of the bike e.g. coming in at about 95-100, and not pushing hard then
- taking in some CHO in the 1/3 of bike
- trying to do rapid little steps for the first 1k run
- going pretty hard for the first 2k to wake the legs up, then backing off a bit to conserve fuel

biggest hassle i've had to date is cold feet after the ride - feel like i'm running on wooden stumps - and how hard to go for that first period.

if there is a link to answer this, would be great thanks
cheers
PH

Hi Peterhorse, Everything you are doing is OK. Just remember, in the excitement not to blow up on the bike leg and leave enough for the run. I presume you are in a comfortable setup on the bike, as this can make a huge difference as to how you feel on the run, at least at the beginning.

I don't know about going hard for the first 2km of the run as this depends on the above.

And be aware of the temperature (heat) as you don't notice it as much on the bike due to the movement of air around, until you start running, at least thats what I find.

Also, in transition try using a lightly oiled shoe horn to help you put your shoes on, I find it helps with the wet feet getting in to the shoes, especially if your not wearing socks

Good Luck

I run off the bike at least twice a week. I have a 4km circuit that I always do. The legs get better the more you do it. I try and think of getting the foot off the ground as soon as it hits early on and i transition into a more normal run quite well doing that. Also, don't worry about the run at all until after the first kilometre. Don't think about it on the bike, when racking, when putting your shoes on, running out of transition, not at all. Get to kilometre 1 and then give it some thought. You will see that it is all much better than you expected. You are not going to feel flash off the bike no matter what so give it some time instead of getting rattled by it. i like the idea of little steps too. I run faster early than I feel I want to hold as it is easier to slow down that to speed up.

My transition tip (slightly off the topic of your question) is to do a walkthrough of the transition area before the race.

Before a triathlon, once I have set up my bike, I do a recce of the transition. I walk from the entrance into the transition area after the swim, to my bike to the 'bike exit', then checking out the 'bike in' to bike rack route, and finally the route to the 'run exit' and a little way beyond.

This walkthrough identifies the bottlenecks and knowing the route is helpful when I have my 'race head' on.

Training wise try doing transition intervals. Such as 5-6min on the bike hard (VO2max type work) with a 600-1000m run straight off the bike. Take 5-10min easy recovery and repeat for a total of 3-5. It works very well to retrain the switch in muscle firing efficiency for the bike-run transition.

Im going to have a go at that those too - sounds like a great way to get more benefit for less time, as its really only the first km of the run that is being targeted for a brick anyhow. And so you get 3-5x the benefit.