The Triathlon Brick: Why It Matters and How to Nail It 🧱
At Royal Triathlon, we believe brick workouts are one of the most powerful, underrated tools in triathlon training. If you've ever jumped off the bike and felt like your legs were made of concrete, you've experienced why bricks matter. Here's what they are, why you should be doing them regularly, and how to structure them for maximum benefit. Oh, and let’s not forget—bricks are just good fun! 🥳
❓ What is a Brick Workout?
A brick is a workout that combines two triathlon disciplines back-to-back, most commonly bike-to-run. Less often, you'll see swim-to-bike bricks, but the focus for most athletes is the bike-to-run transition because it's where your body feels the most awkward—and where time can be lost (or gained) on race day.
💡 Why Brick Workouts Matter
🧠 Neuromuscular Adaptation: Your legs need to learn how to switch from a high-cadence, seated cycling pattern to a load-bearing, upright run stride. Bricks train that specific neuromuscular transition.
💪 Mental Toughness: Bricks simulate the fatigue and awkwardness of race day. Practicing them teaches your brain that running off the bike is normal.
⏱️ Pacing Practice: Many athletes go too hard on the bike and blow up on the run. Bricks help fine-tune your effort so you can finish strong.
🍌 Fueling Strategy Testing: There’s no better way to test your nutrition plan than under real race-like fatigue.
📆 How Often Should You Do Bricks?
For beginners, once every 1–2 weeks is plenty. As you get closer to race day, adding a short brick after one or two weekly rides can dial in that transition skill. Experienced athletes training for longer distances might do 2–3 brick sessions per week.
📋 How to Structure a Brick Workout
🚴♂️🏃 Simple Short Brick (Beginner Focus)
45–60 min aerobic ride
10–15 min easy run off the bike
🏁 Race-Pace Brick
60–90 min bike: include intervals at race pace
20–30 min run: build effort or practice race pace
🔁 Brick Simulation Day (Long Course Focus)
2.5–3.5 hr bike with fueling practice
30–60 min steady-state run
🏊♀️🚴 Swim-Bike Brick (Less Common but Useful)
2000–3000m continuous or interval swim
Quick change, then 60–90 min bike aerobic or race pace
🔄 Multi-Brick Session (Advanced or Fun Group Workout!)
30 min bike into 10 min run (repeat 2–4 times)
Great for practicing transitions and staying mentally engaged
✅ Brick Tips for Success
👟 Lay out your run gear before your ride to save time
🧘♂️ Keep the transition fast but controlled—no need to sprint
🐢 Start your run very easy and let your form settle
🎽 Practice with the gear you’ll use on race day
🥪 Train your gut: eat and drink on the bike as you would in competition
🏅 Final Word
Bricks build confidence, resilience, and race-day readiness. They can be short and simple, or long and structured. Either way, they’re essential—and let’s be honest, bricks are just good fun! 😄
At Royal Triathlon, we incorporate bricks into most of our athletes’ plans—and we’ve seen firsthand how they improve both transition times and overall performance!
