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Swim to Bike Sky High HR
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Hoping for a little advice - in the past couple of races I have done my heart rate has been extremely high getting on the bike from the swim. It has made the bike pretty uncomfortable until I manage to get the HR down, at which point everything starts to feel more normal. I raced an olympic last weekend and tried to make a conscious effort to swim the last 500m or so as easy and relaxed as possible...but as soon as I hop on my bike and look at my Garmin, BOOM, hr is at 185 (lactate threshold is 160).

Is this normal? Am I going way too hard on the swim? Anyone else experiencing this and if so, I'd appreciate any advice on how to manage it. HR files are attached.

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Re: Swim to Bike Sky High HR [gd28] [ In reply to ]
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That's pretty normal. This isn't necessarily an exertion thing. When you're swimming your body makes an adaptation to allow more blood/nutrients to go to your arms and upper back. When you stand up, your body has to undo this rather quickly. Even the pros look like crap when they first get out of the water. I was right by the swim exit at ITU Chicago last year for the pro women and every one of them had a distinct "uh..." look in their face when they stood up.

Personally I've found that switching to a six beat kick (I normally have a two-beat kick if I'm wearing a wetsuit) and relaxing a bit with my arms in the last hundred meters helps a bit.
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Re: Swim to Bike Sky High HR [gd28] [ In reply to ]
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I'm older (50 in the rear view mirror) and I've learned to avoid HR spikes because the matches seem to cost more when I burn them now. I've also learned in my old age that water is generally at the bottom of hills , so the first few miles of most bike courses involves a climb. If you are trying to get up to race pace there, you are fighting gravity while you do.

I focus on waking up my legs at the end of the swim with a more energetic kick, and I also generally walk from the water to the bike...

Another thing to be careful with is taking in any food in T1 - that can draw blood to your digestive tract which further starves your legs when they are calling for more O2. I like to get out and stabilize my HR and take some calories in after that - around the 3-5 mile mark.

I'm not a podium threat, perhaps the eventual winners appreciate my careful transition, but I have always finished and usually in a time I'm satisfied with.

" I take my gear out of my car and put my bike together. Tourists and locals are watching from sidewalk cafes. Non-racers. The emptiness of of their lives shocks me. "
(opening lines from Tim Krabbe's The Rider , 1978
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Re: Swim to Bike Sky High HR [gd28] [ In reply to ]
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Yes, it is a normal physiological adaptation - your body is going from floating in water and using arms (blood and body fluids in the arms/upper torso) to standing/biking upright on land (gravity) pumping the legs (fluids/blood goes from arms/torso to legs, this would cause you to pass out if your HR didn't go up at the same time).

As others said, don't eat/drink in T1. Walk/jog, do not run full out. Take it easy for a few minutes on the bike and let your body settle down and adjust.

Two wheels good. Four wheels bad.
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Re: Swim to Bike Sky High HR [DrTriKat] [ In reply to ]
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Totally normal. I myself and I advise all my athletes to not eat or drink anything for 10-20 minutes until they feel "settled in" and relaxed somewhat. That goes for all distances and means that in a short sprint tri, I don;t recommend drinking anything at all, other than maybe a few gulps towards the end of the bike. In Olympic, you'll be lucky to get in 1 bottle of sports drink.


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Re: Swim to Bike Sky High HR [motoguy128] [ In reply to ]
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Thanks for the responses, do you do anything power wise to manage this? Would you recommend taking it easy to get the heart rate down faster or immediately going for your target power and just live with the high heart rate longer?
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