Everyone knows that a proper training routine is one of the key factors to success when it comes to Race Day. It ensures you are prepared for the challenges ahead and performing at your best.

Most triathletes are familiar with Brick workouts. Triathlon is one of the most physically demanding sports there is, mainly because it is three separate disciplines combined. A triathlete cannot be fully prepared for a race if they just focus on one discipline at a time per workout. Cycling after a swim is not the same as cycling on its own, and the cycling leg of a triathlon directly affects the way you run.

Brick workouts help the body adapt to this type of physical exertion but training the body to handle the aerobic, muscular and anaerobic demands that you will feel during the important parts of a race.

Brick sessions can be used through your preparation for a race, just the intensity and duration should be altered depending on where are at. Below are examples of Brick workouts during each stage of prep.

Foundation Training

This is where you begin to build up the endurance for race day. These should be long, low-intensity efforts, well below your maximum efforts:

• 2-hour endurance ride (medium pace)

• Short transition (5 to 10 minutes)

• 30 – 45-minute endurance run (medium pace)

Preparation Training

Now that you have built up the endurance and aerobic capacity, it is time to improve your sustainable speed or power. At this stage of preparation, you want to begin to increase the intensity by incorporating race-pace efforts and high intensity intervals:

• 30 minute cycling warm up

• 4 x 10 minute cycle slightly below race pace with 5 minute easy spin between sets

• 30 minute build run increase your speed each 10 mins to reach race pace for last 2km

• 30-minute cool down cycle

Specialised Training

This is where you begin to peak towards race day. You have done all the hard work leading up to race season, all you have to do is increase your race-specific fitness. The workouts during this phase of training will primarily be focused on speed and power:

• 30 – 45-minute cycling warm up

• Race Simulation TT effort at race pace for a distance approx 70% of your race: so if training for a Half Ironman your TT effort would equal around 60km 

• Race Simulation Run at goal race pace for 50 - 70% of race distance 

Brick workouts can be an effective tool to use when it comes to race day preparation, when utilized properly. So not to burn yourself out before the race, try to adhere to two brick workouts in the two phases, then back it off to one workout during race season.