Pacing Strategy Used During the Running Leg of

Elite Olympic Distance Triathlon:

Effective, but not Optimal?
Daniel J. Green1,2 and David G. Jenkins2
(Department of Physiology, AIS, Australia1; School of HMS, Uni. of Queensland2, Australia)
 OLYMPIC DISTANCE TRIATHLON

• Olympic Distance (OD) Triathlon involves a

1500m swim, 40km cycle (draft legal) and
10km run performed in sequential order
• Major events are
ITU World Cups,
held worldwide
over 10-16 events
each year
• Points used to
establish Olympic
eligibility
PACING STRATEGIES
• Fast start
• Even paced
• Slow start
PACING RESEARCH
• Computer modelling has
demonstrated the optimal
pacing strategy for events
over 4 minutes is an even
paced strategy (de Koning
et al., 1999)
• Triathletes competing in
an ITU World Cup race
have been shown to adopt
a fast-start strategy in both
the swim and run (Vleck et
al., 2006)
AIMS
• Compare pacing strategies
of elite triathletes during the
running leg of OD Triathlons
with 10,000m athletic
running performances, both
Championship races and
World Records
• Compare pacing strategies
of the run leg of successful
(top 50%) with unsuccessful
OD triathletes (bottom 50%)
METHODS: Triathlon data
• 8 elite OD triathlons between
2005-06
• Data collected at 4-5
locations during the run
• First data point located as
close to the 1km point as
practical
• Data collected ranged
between 48-100% of
competitors in each race
• 179 female and 226 male
performances were analysed
METHODS: Running data
• Kilometer splits
for 10 male World
Records set since
1988 (provided by
Ross Tucker)
• Kilometer splits
from the 4
previous male
and female World
Championships
10,000m finals
(IAAF website)
RESULTS: Triathlon

• Significant differences
(p<0.05) occurred
between successful and
unsuccessful triathletes
(bottom 50%) in 8 out of
36 male comparisons and
5 out of 36 female
comparison
• No systematic pattern
existed in the differences
identified
RESULTS: Men Triathlon
RESULTS: Female Triathlon
RESULTS: Male Winners
RESULTS: Female Winners
RESULTS: Running WRs
RESULTS: Running Champs
MAIN FINDINGS
• The pacing strategies of
elite OD triathletes differs
from 10,000m athletics
running performance in
both Championship
races and successful
World Record attempts
• OD triathletes appears to
be attempting to
capitalise (or minimise)
time differences starting
the run
FURTHER CONSIDERATIONS
• Elite OD triathletes do not
start the run leg at the same
time and thus there may be
additional psychological
considerations to consider
• Further research in a control
environment is required to
confirm even-paced is
optimal strategy for running
following cycling
SUMMARY

• Based on the findings of 10,000m

World Record athletic performances
and previous research, it appears that
optimal pacing strategy to minimise
10,000m is an even paced strategy
• If other factors previously mentioned
do not play a major role, then it is
possible elite OD triathletes could
improve their overall performance by
adopting a more even paced running
strategy
THANKS

• Australian Institute of Sport (AIS)

• David Jenkins
• Chris Gore
• Philo Saunders
 Male Top vs Bottom
Commonwealth Games 2006
Distance 1.05 2.55 6.05 7.55 10.00
Top 6 -5.85 ± 2.09 -1.68 ± 1.76 -1.30 ± 0.41 3.03 ± 1.20 3.54 ± 0.73
Last 6 -3.78 ± 0.95 -1.77 ± 0.71 -1.04 ± 1.40 4.61 ± 3.60 1.36 ± 0.98
p-value 0.01 0.44 0.35 0.15 0.00
Gamagori World Champs 2005
Distance 0.97 3.47 5.97 8.47 9.87
Top 17 -7.40 ± 3.58 -1.44 ± 2.14 0.83 ± 1.53 2.79 ± 1.62 1.21 ± 3.16
Last 17 -6.32 ± 5.19 -3.24 ± 2.55 1.21 ± 1.16 3.72 ± 2.66 1.34 ± 2.53
p-value 0.22 0.01 0.03 0.13 0.43
Geelong 2006
Distance 2.49 4.97 7.46 9.94
Top 9 -2.90 ± 1.20 0.61 ± 1.67 1.49 ± 1.52 0.81 ± 2.86
Last 9 -3.31 ± 1.69 0.65 ± 0.58 2.28 ± 0.80 0.37 ± 1.80
p-value 0.20 0.47 0.03 0.33
Hamburg ITU 2006
Distance 0.99 3.42 5.84 8.27 9.70
Top 22 -6.13 ± 1.43 -0.53 ± 0.69 0.79 ± 0.68 1.94 ± 0.76 0.49 ± 1.56
Last 22 -7.20 ± 2.89 -1.64 ± 1.96 0.89 ± 1.61 2.83 ± 2.27 1.46 ± 3.88
p-value 0.08 0.02 0.40 0.07 0.16