I have stupidly entered Grizedale duathlon in two months time. It was a New Year’s Day spur of the moment entry and now I need to get my ass in shape in two months.

So who has done one and what did you do to train for it? It’s 6.5km trail run, 24km bike, 6.5km trail run. I’ve run a marathon before, and done a 12 hour bike race as a pair before, but they were both a few years ago. Any tips?

Just do a few runs after a cycle. It will be a shock for the first minute, then gets better.
Good luck!

You just need a few race simulations as part of your training, go for a ride then a run immediately afterwards, when you start the second run it is normal to be unable to feel your legs for a mile or so, just keep running!

Last year I too signed up for a duathlon with only 8 weeks to train, despite the fact that I hadn’t run seriously since the school athletics team (almost 40 years ago).
Training consisted of just being able to run 5k in one go. The bike ride was no problem.
Happily I achieved my aims of 1)Finishing, and 2) Not coming last.
Oddly I seem to have signed up for it again this year . . .
Training currently consists of intervals on the bike and 5k on the treadmill as fast as I can.

Two words. Brick training. It’s the one thing most people struggle with. Can only be compared to getting off a bike and running with someone else’s legs. Someone who is not very good at running.

Not this…

Just do a few runs after a cycle. It will be a shock for the first minute, then gets better.
Good luck!

…this

Two words. Brick training. It’s the one thing most people struggle with. Can only be compared to getting off a bike and running with someone else’s legs. Someone who is not very good at running.

I did the Kielder Duathlon in December (probably the same people who organise the Grizedale event – ‘High Terrain’?) and found it hard going, and thats supposed to be the easy one. Like most things in life you’ll only get better at the disciplines by practising. My advice would be to concentrate on that second run…its a killer.

What is brick training!?

Pick a wee loop, ideally from your house, maybe a mile or so cycle, back to the house. Quickly off bike into running shoes and do a half mile run. And repeat, til you get comfortable going between the two.

Rule 42.

My kids entered me into the iceman duathlon for Christmas. They figured that I like biking, I like running, so it would be a nice present. And I had a whole month to train.

Unfortunately, I managed to strain my knee during a run just before the new year, and so I’ll be competing it with little or no training.

10k run, 18k mtb, 5k run.