For most long-distance triathletes, the run is the discipline they dread most. Not because they can’t
run — they can. But because by the time they reach T2 after 90 kilometres or 180 kilometres on the
bike, the damage is already done. The legs are shot. The tank is empty. What follows is not a run. It
is a shuffle. A survival exercise. Something to endure rather than race.
The run doesn’t lie. It is the most honest discipline in long-distance triathlon — a direct reflection of
every decision you made in the swim, on the bike, in your nutrition plan, and in your training in the
months before race day. You cannot fake a good half marathon or marathon off the bike. You have
to earn it.
This guide is about exactly that. It covers everything that separates the athletes who run well —
controlled, progressive, strong through the line — from those who fall apart at kilometre five of the
run and spend the rest of the race negotiating with their own legs.
Whether you are lining up for your first 70.3 or your fifth full Ironman, the principles are the same.
The execution changes slightly by distance — and where it does, this guide tells you exactly how
