Quantcast

Which leg will consume the most energy?

Artemis's picture
Posts
9
Member
504 days
started by Artemis on July 5, 2008

I'm currently training for my first sprint (Aug 2) and I'm wondering which leg will consume the most energy. I've been doing brick workouts (bike/run) for about a month, and while it's not the easiest thing I've ever done, I can still complete the race distance with some energy to spare. But when I start thinking about completing the swim before all that, I wonder if I'll have enough endurance to do all three. Do you experienced triathletes find the swim to be the easiest/least use of energy portion of the race, or most? I'm not the fastest or most efficient swimmer, but as long as I can get in a rhythm and not freak out, I'll be ok. Do I need to throw in some swim/bike workouts as well?

Sully800's picture
Posts
444
Member
794 days
Sully800 posted 1 year ago.

Swim should generally be the least. It is the shortest leg time wise, and triathletes generally don't push as hard during the swim in anticipation of the legs to come.

tsilcyc's picture
Posts
872
Member
1238 days
tsilcyc posted 1 year ago.

Artemis wrote:
I'm currently training for my first sprint (Aug 2) and I'm wondering which leg will consume the most energy. I've been doing brick workouts (bike/run) for about a month, and while it's not the easiest thing I've ever done, I can still complete the race distance with some energy to spare. But when I start thinking about completing the swim before all that, I wonder if I'll have enough endurance to do all three. Do you experienced triathletes find the swim to be the easiest/least use of energy portion of the race, or most? I'm not the fastest or most efficient swimmer, but as long as I can get in a rhythm and not freak out, I'll be ok. Do I need to throw in some swim/bike workouts as well?

When I race sprints, I find all three to be equally taxing as I am usually going all out. If you feel like you can push it, then go hard in all three. If you feel like pushing hard on the swim is going to be detrimental to the other two disciplines then go easy because you're only talking about a minute or two of gain.

Yes, you should swim-bike brick. Your body needs to adapt to switching blood flow to muscle groups. Bricks help with this. Swim-run bricks work well too.

-------------------------------------------------------------------
Check out my Log: http://www.felog.net/users/teamsln/query_log.aspx
Check out my Blog: http://www.felog.net/feblog/

Ironmom's picture
Posts
1117
Member
1087 days
Ironmom posted 1 year ago.

I think it's my left leg ;-)

Blue Skies, -Robin-
http://ironmom.blogspot.com/

Anton's picture
Posts
3890
Member
1723 days
Anton posted 1 year ago.

Ironmom wrote:
I think it's my left leg ;-)

Dammit! I wanted to say that this morning, early, but NOOOO I stopped myself ..."Everyone will say 'Anton's being a smart ass again' so I better not."
I the future, I will not resist!

"If e wishes to sweem in dangerous waters, oo are we to deny im?
-Chef Skinner
http://antonspath.blogspot.com

kylie's picture
Posts
5318
Member
1999 days
kylie posted 1 year ago.

Hahaha I love it Robin! And Anton, never hold back! A good laugh is always worthwhile :)

Miles of Life --- Powered by MarkyV

wirebook's picture
Posts
178
Member
835 days
wirebook posted 1 year ago.

"Which leg will consume the most energy?"

My first thought on reading the title was: "The one I suck at the most".

Technically speaking though - based on pure calories alone, it's likely to be the bike. Here's my calorie expenditures for Wildflower (Half):

Swim: ~500
Bike: 3060
Run: 1661

Even if you don't fully trust the exactness of the numbers - the rough ballpark should give you an idea.

jonovision_man's picture
Posts
709
Member
523 days
jonovision_man posted 1 year ago.

wirebook wrote:
Here's my calorie expenditures for Wildflower (Half):

Swim: ~500
Bike: 3060
Run: 1661

Even if you don't fully trust the exactness of the numbers - the rough ballpark should give you an idea.

Just curious how you came up with these numbers?

jono

iamtb13's picture
Posts
217
Member
586 days
iamtb13 posted 1 year ago.

Anton wrote:
Ironmom wrote:
I think it's my left leg ;-)

Dammit! I wanted to say that this morning, early, but NOOOO I stopped myself ..."Everyone will say 'Anton's being a smart ass again' so I better not."
I the future, I will not resist!

At least he didn't say his "middle leg"

Artemis's picture
Posts
9
Member
504 days
Artemis posted 1 year ago.

Thanks to everyone who offered constructive advice. Not being a strong swimmer, I was concerned the swim would take most of my energy and I wouldn't have much left over to finish the bike/run. But based on what most are saying, the swim should take the least effort, provided I don't go all out.

trigirltina2's picture
Posts
468
Member
508 days
trigirltina2 posted 1 year ago.

Then the key on the bike is cadence is high, so you have leg on the run. Run is uncomfortable at first till your legs get the point that you are running. Bricks will help you in both transitions.

wirebook's picture
Posts
178
Member
835 days
wirebook posted 1 year ago.

jonovision_man wrote:
wirebook wrote:
Here's my calorie expenditures for Wildflower (Half):

Swim: ~500
Bike: 3060
Run: 1661

Even if you don't fully trust the exactness of the numbers - the rough ballpark should give you an idea.

Just curious how you came up with these numbers?

jono

Sport Tracks generates them based on my Garmin data form the race. The swim is just a simple calculation though and doesn't take into account variables such as current (none in my lake though).

Sports Tracks is a free app you can download that allows you to pull in data from a variety of sports watches/computers/gps's, etc... Just google for "Sports Tracks".