Sign Up for Singapore Duathlon Now!

To call triathlon a challenging sport is stating the obvious. Right after you sign up, you are expected to ready yourself on the date of the race. You will either get yourself running or biking or doing both the next day or get the help of coaching services to prepare your mind and body for it. This usually takes months of conditioning and strengthening your body. You improve your skills in the three sports -swimming, biking, running - and aim to secure a strong finish. Somehow, engaging in other sports is too much or out of the question. Your plate is already full of workouts leaving no room to try anything else.

However, common expert advice during off-season encourages you to engage in some cross-training. Get into other sports so as to also develop your strength in triathlon sports as a result. What if you do that (engaging in other sports) during the season and even take it as your ultimate workout, doing it once just to see how far your body (and legs) can go. You probably by now know where I'm heading - yes, why not try duathlon to improve on your triathlon skills, in particular, your skills in cycling and running.

This sport has always been treated as a lower multi-sports race compared with triathlon as many consider it fairly easier considering it only engages two sports (cycling and running). But this assumption proves to be wrong, especially if we are going to base it from triathlete’s testimonies who have tried duathlon once. They say duathlon proves to be harder and a more challenging sport than triathlon due to the fact sandwiching cycling between two running sessions make a heavy toll on the legs. You are either dehydrated or your legs lack glycogen (‘fuel’) that they become heavy and fatigue when you reach the last running phase – yes we know, you also experience it in triathlon but duathlon is harder since there are two running segments.

A Little History

Duathlon is a multi-sport distance racing involving, cycling and running. The race is typically segmented where you need to run, then cycle and run again. These sports fairly gained popularity during the ’70s when it was developed and this continued until the ’80s. It has produced for example two world champions like Ai Ueda of Japan and Rob Woestenborghs of Belgium.

But during the ’90s, it failed to continue its rise in popularity to stand side by side with triathlon, which then had been gaining followers all over the world. This was mainly due to a lack of sponsorship. Sports buff could hardly see and even catch it on TV – another reason why it lost steam in gaining more enthusiasts.

Yet, as of recent development, there is a rebirth of duathlon in the 2000’s thanks to the effort of USA Triathlon, the U.S. multisport racing national governing body. Because of these, there are now many duathlon races being held in the state, and the world is also catching up in this resurgence.

Duathlon is a Fantastic Sports for Triathlon

Considering duathlon only engages two sports, cycling and running, this can greatly improve your triathlon goals in many aspects. Duathlon can teach you how to zone in on your cycling and running exclusively, and this can prove even harder since your legs in the last running segment will encounter lots of issues. Besides this, duathlon can help you in perfecting your transition (which many considered as the Fourth Event) and lastly, getting an ultimate brick workout to benefit your triathlon aspirations.

Addressing the Bike-Run Transition. This is probably one of the hardest segments of duathlon that can greatly influence how you perform in your next triathlon race. By the time you reach the third segment, you will experience the challenge of bike-run transition. This is the time when it is hard to run since by this time your body is already glycogen-depleted thus making your legs unresponsive or heavy. This is the time when there are no more ‘fuel’ in your body to make you run fast. Another thing is hydration may have set in that it is already taking a toll on you. Lastly, the adjustment you need to do from biking to running takes time for your neuromuscular coordination to catch up. You want to run but your legs still have its mode to cycle. All of these can be addressed by engaging in a duathlon since your body will get familiar with this experience.

Ultimate Brick Workout. As triathlon training usually entails you to do a brick workout, duathlon can be the perfect real-race workout for you. You will engage yourself in a long duration of cycling and run that can test your actual endurance. Here you will definitely learn why doing a brick workout is called the ultimate way. In the process, the recovery time for you to adjust from biking to running will shorten – though you also have to be careful as cramps normally happen during this stage so listen to how your body works.     

Perfecting the Transition. Every duathlon or triathlon involves several events, but those who try this race agree that the transition between each segment is the Fourth Event. You fail in this transition phase and you lose valuable time clock in the race. At the same time, succeeding in mastering and perfecting this stage shaves off a lot of time in your race. When running in duathlon, you get to practice in an actual race, this important phase to the smallest detail.

Conclusion

As we are thinking about other sports that can benefit your triathlon goals as a result, joining a duathlon comes to mind. This multi-sports race involving cycling and running may look easier compared with triathlon, however, testimonials from veteran and seasoned triathletes state otherwise. You may even develop yourself in the end as a stronger triathlete when you put yourself in actual duathlon race - what with mastering the bike-run transition, getting the ultimate brick workout, and perfecting the transition phases.

So start signing up for the next Singapore Duathlon now!