Running Vs. Triathlon Running

Running after riding a bike is different from running on fresh legs. Prior activity makes you feel heavy-legged and uncoordinated when you start running. Nobody runs as fast after a hard bike ride as he or she does in a standalone run. But some triathletes lose less running performance off the bike than others. For this reason, the best runners are not always the best triathlon runners.

Consider the examples of Greg Whiteley and Hunter Kemper. Whiteley was an outstanding college runner. At Brown University he won an NCAA Championship title and was a six-time All-American. His best 5K time was 13:26. Kemper was a solid but unexceptional college runner. At Wake Forest University he earned All-Conference status once. His best time for 5K was more than a minute slower than Whiteley’s...read more....