Triathlon Technique Secrets: Unlock Free Speed to Go Faster With Your Existing Fitness
As busy amateur triathletes, we are always searching for new ways to optimize our performance and make our limited training time as effective as possible. But did you know you could boost your speed and performance without cramming extra training miles into your already-packed schedule, buy the latest expensive gadget, or choke down some influencer’s new supplement?
You don’t need to buy into fads or sacrifice your sleep to get season-best results. All you need to do is train smarter and incorporate specific tactics into your approach. You can unlock significant "free speed" in triathlon by tapping into better strategy, improved technique, and mindful race-day execution.
In this blog, we’ll break down specific opportunities to tap into “free speed” in the swim, bike, and run and highlight practical triathlon tips for maximizing your performance by leveraging better technique, terrain management skills, and pacing strategies.
Three Keys to Free Speed for Triathletes
Let’s dive in.
Swim Smart: Open Water Swimming Tactics
The swim leg can often feel like the great equalizer in triathlon, but hidden within your technique are opportunities to avoid common speed-sapping pitfalls – and get ahead of the pack. The key is in developing your open-water skills, most of which you can practice right in your local pool.
Better Sighting to Swim Straight
Sighting is one of the most overlooked open-water swimming skills. You can be the fastest swimmer in the pool, but if you’re zigzagging your way through a race or slowing down every time you sight, you’re losing valuable time – and energy. Here’s how to fix it:
Refine your sighting technique so the movement doesn’t interrupt your body position or stroke rhythm. You should sight frequently (about every 4-5 strokes) to avoid getting off course. That means sighting several hundred times throughout an event—don’t let little inefficiencies stack up.
Incorporate sighting drills into your pool training, where you practice sighting and maintain your stroke rhythm. Place a swim buoy (or other easy-to-see item) at the end of your lane, or pick out an object on the pool deck, like a sign or chair, to use as a static object to sight.
Practice in open water to develop spatial awareness and environmental adaptation. Ideally, seek out a variety of water conditions—chop, calm, current—to build your confidence and practice your skills in different conditions.
Build an Open-Water-Specific Stroke
Many adult-onset swimmers are taught pool swimming techniques that don’t translate effectively to open water and triathlon swimming. You typically can’t “glide” through open water the way you can a tranquil lap pool. A triathlon-specific swim stroke is often shorter, has a higher cadence, and is adaptable to variable conditions. Whether you are training in the pool or open water, you want to consider this when getting race-ready.
Pro tip: The ability to breathe to either side of your body is an excellent example of adaptability in your swim stroke.
Factors like wind/chop direction or sun position can make breathing difficult on your “preferred” side, potentially slowing you down. Learn to breathe comfortably to either side to maintain a smooth rhythm regardless of course conditions.
Maintain Focus by Counting Strokes
Long open-water swims challenge your concentration (and create anxiety for many athletes), leading to inconsistent form and rhythm. Prevent this by using stroke counting to maintain steady effort and consistent pace, helping you swim faster and more efficiently. Buoys are typically spaced at even intervals, so aiming for an even number of strokes from one buoy to the next is a great way to keep your output steady and speed high.
Master Terrain Management for Faster Bike Splits
Your bike fitness is important, but how you apply your power to the course makes the biggest difference in boosting your speed and overall triathlon performance. Terrain management is about understanding how to climb, crest, and descend hills efficiently and navigate headwinds, tailwinds, and crosswinds with confidence.
Accelerate Over the Crest: Many triathletes lose momentum by relaxing immediately after a climb. Instead, invest in your speed by building power over about 5 pedal strokes as you crest the hill, smoothly transitioning into the descent. While it only takes a few seconds to execute, this momentum saves crucial seconds over every hill – potentially translating to minutes in savings over a course. (Make this even more efficient by improving your standing form!)
Stay Low and Smooth in Headwinds
Don’t let headwinds sap your motivation – or your strength. Instead of trying to “muscle” through them, shift into a lower gear, maintain a steady cadence, and maximize aerodynamics by staying low and controlled. Your effort should increase slightly but remain sustainable. Smart cycling through headwinds conserves energy and maintains speed.
Pro tip: Be especially mindful of your head position. Avoid popping your head up like a meerkat – instead, sight down the road through the tops of your eyes, keeping your head low and neck in a neutral position.
Use Gravity to Your Advantage on Descents
One of the biggest mistakes triathletes make is coasting too much on downhills. This is where you can capitalize on gravity’s gifts – don’t waste tehm! While you don’t need to pedal hard, staying engaged in an aerodynamic position and using a smooth, efficient gear can help you carry speed into the next flat or uphill section. Avoid using downhills as opportunities to sit up or fall into poor form. It’s also critical to actively practice your descending skills so you can comfortably and confidently take advantage of the terrain.
Bonus: Our coached video bike sessions help you unlock speed by developing critical skills including climbing, cadence and gear optimization, managing headwinds/tailwinds, and so much more. Check them out FREE for 10 days.
Use Strategic Walk Breaks and Hills to Your Advantage on the Run
“Whatever you do, just don’t walk.”
Those are common words of advice to many triathletes – but they can actually slow you down.
The run is where fatigue sets in and form declines. But with strategic pacing and terrain management techniques, you can actually run faster by integrating planned walk breaks and terrain management.
Why does this work? Because short breaks help you reset form before it falls apart. They also provide variance in your rhythm, which can help reduce muscle fatigue. This means you can run faster, with better form, more frequently – resulting in a better run split.
Rethink Walk Breaks…
Walk breaks are not a sign of weakness. They’re a strategic tool. Instead of walking only when forced, go on the offense. Plan short walk breaks from the start, before you ned them, to maintain your pace and form for the entire run. And don’t stroll – these should be brisk “power walk” breaks. Elite athletes have used this approach to win at the highest level, including the IRONMAN World Championships – and our own athletes regularly incorporate them to set PRs, qualify for the Boston Marathon, and earn slots to Kona and Nice.
Protip: Experiment with walk breaks in your training. Head out for an hour-long run at 7/10 effort, without looking at your watch during the session. The following week, repeat the same route but incorporate 30-second walk breaks every 6-8 minutes or so. How did your pace – and perceived effort – compare? You might be surprised by the results!
...But Never Walk on Downhills
When integrating walk breaks, do it where the speed penalty is lowest—on uphills or at aid stations you were already planning to stop at. Walking downhill wastes the free speed gravity offers.
Use Hills Wisely
Uphills: Increase effort slightly, but don’t overdo it. Focus on pushing off the big toe.
Downhills: Lean forward, keep your cadence quick, and let gravity do the work.
Flats: Maintain a steady, controlled effort and manage your energy wisely.
The Big Takeaway: Smarter Triathlon Training Beats More Hours
Success in triathlon isn’t just about how fit you are—it’s also about how well you use that fitness. Too many triathletes focus purely on training volume or metrics but ignore race-day execution:
Swim: Improved sighting and open-water stroke technique save precious minutes.
Bike: Terrain management boosts your cycling speed without additional watts.
Run: Smartly planned walk breaks and effective hill strategies help you run stronger, avoid hitting the wall, and achieve faster run splits.
The key is to practice these strategies during training actively. If your training is solely about building your FTP or base fitness, you’re leaving performance – and speed – on the table.
At Purple Patch, we bake technique and strategy into our training process via coaching cues, video tutorials, and specific guidance written right into every session. That’s how we helped qualify over 100 athletes to IRONMAN and IRONMAN 70.3 World Championships in 2024 alone – and thousands over our 15+ years of coaching.
Even if podium finishes or Ironman World Championship qualifications aren't your goals, incorporating these smarter strategies enhances your triathlon experience, helping you achieve your personal best and enjoy racing more.
As a time-starved athlete, it also ensures you get more out of every hour you do spend training.
Curious about how our coaching approach, community support, and structured training plans could transform your triathlon performance? Book your free consultation call here.