Long Course Duathlon Run
2563
Member
1222 days
Anton posted 1 year ago.
First of all...Du's are harder than tri's.
You go hard right out of the box.
Look at last years results for your age group. Look at the front side run...compare times... do the same for the bike and the back side run. You'll see that the winners and those who place high up in an age group have front side and back side runs that are very close to each other time wise.
I hold back just a bit on the first run (maybe a few seconds a mile).Ease on to the bike but not for long then run as hard as possible... really red line the second run.
I'm doing VADU on April 1 another in July...Maybe. If you are trying to qual for worlds in Richmond this year...good luck. The competition in qualifying races is wicked intense. Been there.
"What would life be if we had no courage to attempt anything?" - Vincent Van Gogh
My Blog: http://anton.trifuel.net
34
Member
510 days
brock1234 posted 1 year ago.
Anton;63260 wrote:
First of all...Du's are harder than tri's.
You go hard right out of the box.
I can't think of any triathlon over any distance that you don't do at least the first 400m of the swim maxed out.
I would agree at a competitve level that duathlon's are harder 'to complete' - because of the fact you have 2 runs.
However, triathlon is a far far harder sport to get to a high level in, obviously because of the additional sport you have to master.
Mark.
2563
Member
1222 days
Anton posted 1 year ago.
Training for three sports is harder than training for two...granted. But the pounding of two is harder to take.
If, however, Du's were easier..more people would do them. There cheaper and shorter and...well, you only have to train for two sports. I have done every kind of on road multisport event there is from Formula One duathlon to Ironman and many of the du racers I know will tell you... Du's beat you up more and the competition is more fierce.
The tag line of one of the Trifuel regulars says something akin to The problems you have late in the bike start 200 meters off the beach. I've never, and know many real good triheads, who never max out on the swim...you've seen em too. They usually pass you on the bike or run. Maxed out for 400 meters of a swim doesn't even compare to 5K or 5 miles maxed out on a run...
Duathlon doesn't get it proper due (no pun intended) In the US.
Here it's the whipping boy of multisport...in Europe, Duathletes get recognized on the street and asked for autographs. I've seen it. I think a lot of triathletes have a hard time believing there is a sport that is harder.
"What would life be if we had no courage to attempt anything?" - Vincent Van Gogh
My Blog: http://anton.trifuel.net
34
Member
510 days
brock1234 posted 1 year ago.
When I think about a bit more, it really is an argument that can't be won.
The difficulty of a race really depends on your strengths. A runner is going to find it easy to have success in duathlons, while a swimmer will (generally speaking) in triathlons.
When I say maxed out in the first 400, I say it assuming your at the top end of the field, and are trying to hang with the top group. It's true that some swimmers cant bike or run (its the run they're crap at usually), but more often than not the triathletes I encounter run and bike just as good, or better, than their duathlon counterparts.
Like yourself I've raced over all distances and discplines (bar multisport), but the only distance a weak swimmer has any chance at a good place tends to be the Ironman (maybe half IM), unless of course your a superstar biker-runner.
Europe are great supporters of any sport, won't argue there.
Don't think of it as a poke at duathlons, they're cool events. But I have reasons for my opinion. Examples would be:
1. I can make our elite team in duathlon but can only just top 20 in our standard distance triathlon champs. I'm surprised to hear alot of the triathletes you know don't go hard in the swim. Most of the guys I have to race are cracking out 17-20min 1500's in the pool, so I doubt the majority of them are going anywhere near easy when racing (with that variance, most will be working hard to keep up with the top group, even if they're only going at a moderate pace - which is rare).
2. Our country's top duathlete Mark Bailey (hes been in the top 10 a few times in the elite race at world duathlon champs) raced a half ironman the other year, obviously was behind in the swim, but surprisingly still wasn't close to the top guys on the bike and run (To be fair though he can run sub 30 for 10k in the shorter ****, and Cameron Brown was there).
Like I said above, I guess how hard an event is going to be will, at the end of the day, depend on your strengths.
Mark.
2563
Member
1222 days
Anton posted 1 year ago.
I think you maybe right...doesn't all really depend on your strengths?
But, you hit on another aspect... Tri's are hip,the current cool sport to do...so you have many more excellent athletes show up and hammer at a tri than you do at a Duathlon. Perhaps ...it's a game of numbers...
We should ask the other trifuelers,if they avoid du's...why?
"What would life be if we had no courage to attempt anything?" - Vincent Van Gogh
My Blog: http://anton.trifuel.net
771
Member
1247 days
Jstyle posted 1 year ago.
It's not hip and cool thats why!
In all honesty I do tri's because they are better known. More out there and more to be competitive on. That and I'm a slow runner but we can just leave that out.
3818
Member
1498 days
kylie posted 1 year ago.
Anton;63292 wrote:
We should ask the other trifuelers,if they avoid du's...why?
I come from a running background and had never really swam, but I've never done a du. A big part of what got me into tris was making myself crosstrain as running everyday was beating up my joints more than I wanted. Plus, I have a love/hate relationship with the pool and those good days feel good. I also haven't seen as many of them offered in my area -- and that could just be that they don't advertise as much or as well. There was a duathlon and a 5k with the Redlands Tri here this year, but as that was my first tri ever in 2003 I wasn't going to do a du version instead.
Miles of Life --- Powered by MarkyV
I am doing my first Long Course DU in early April and have been doing tri's for a few years. My question is how do you approach the first run leg in a long course Du. This race is 5.7 mile run, 32 mile bike, 5.7 mile run. I can just see myself going out a little to hard on the first leg. Any tips, stories, or experiences?