Triathlete jargon - The brick session

Jelly legs when you run off the bike?

If you have ever done a triathlon before you will likely have experienced that jelly legs feeling, sadly you never completely get rid of that feeling. But you can reduce it and get a little more used to it and this is where brick sessions come into training. Bricks, which combine at least two of the three triathlon sports in a single workout, prepare you for the changing demands of each sport and play an important role in your race-day success.

What happens when your legs feel like jelly? It's called blood shunting, when we swim we predominantly use arms so all our blood is pumping to our arms transporting blood and oxygen. Then, we come out of the swim and start running into T1 to our bike, suddenly we are trying to use different muscle groups and blood needs to be shunted to other areas of our body (similarly for T2 the bike to run transition). It's one of those things where practice makes perfect and over time, physiologically your body adapts through training.

So - make sure you have your transition set up and shoes ready to slip on just like race day transition! Even practice in your tri suit, it's best to test everything before the big dance.

Author – Head Coach Amanda Moore