Triathlete Dad

You’ve made it through the swim, and the bike, and now you’re running to the finish line. By now, your legs may be a bit fatigued from the bike. To help you get across the finish line, you need to save your legs. Here are some tips to help you:

In the same way that I explained that it is better to pedal faster on the bike, rather than slower, take a smaller stride when you’re running. A short stride allows you to use less of your leg muscles to push yourself forward.

Have you ever watched a race with two runners neck-and-neck coming up to the finish line? What usually happens is they start to match the strides — and then one tries to get ahead by taking a bigger step. This runner falls behind, because they are not using their energy efficiently.

When you over-stride, your lead foot goes out in front, and your body falls behind. Then, you need to work harder to not only get your leg up front, but you also need to pull your body forward too. Stay upright — if you start bobbing, you know you’re stride is too long. Your head and back should be up, straight and no bobbing.

Just like my to you to pedal in circles during the bike, the same goes with running. When you run, your feet should be making a circle, power your feet up and around. Think circular, not horizontal-forward. Here’s a quick test, count each time your right foot hits ground; if you are less than 15 steps in 10 seconds you need to speed up your leg turnover and be sure to shorten your stride. This may take some getting use to, but in the end you will be faster simply by being more efficient.

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Tags: running, triathlon //