Olympic distance sits in the hardest pacing window: long enough that an aggressive bike steals the 10K, short enough that leaving watts on the bike costs minutes you cannot claw back on the run.
Race pacing targets for Olympic are swim 100% CSS, bike 85% FTP, run 100% FT — check our test protocols to measure your current fitness.
Pick Olympic in the Race Simulator for swim, bike, and run targets. The predicted split feeds Nutrition Strategy (no swim fuelling; 50 g/h bike, 30 g/h run defaults for Olympic).
Distance
The Distance
- Swim1,500 m
- Bike40 km
- Run10 km
Lactate management and the bike-run switch decide places — restraint on the 40K is the skill.
Swim
Swim — Race Rhythm, Not a Sprint
At 1:30–2:30/100m, the swim is roughly 23–38 minutes. Target 100% of your CSS or a few seconds per 100m slower — working, not survival.
- Start: Olympic mass starts can be rough — do not panic; seed honestly and find your rhythm in the first 400 m
- Drafting: legal and valuable — feet or hip at 1–2 body lengths
- Sighting: every 8–10 strokes; poor lines add 50–100 m
T1
T1 — Deliberate Speed
~90 seconds matters in a ~2:15 race. Rehearse wetsuit off, mount, helmet — jog out of transition; ease into the bike until breathing settles.
Bike
Bike — 40 km at 85% FTP
This leg decides the race. 85% FTP average — harder than 70.3 (80%), sustainable for ~60–90 min.
T2
T2 — Move With Purpose
Rack, helmet off, run shoes. Jog from the rack — transition time is on the clock.
Run
Run — 10 km at FT
WattX uses 100% of FT as the run race pacing target. That is genuinely hard off the bike — not all-out 5K, but a true 10K effort after 40 km cycling.
First kilometre
Start below pace-target out of T2 and settle into target race pace.
Km 3–7
Controlled-hard — the competitive section. Discomfort is expected even if the bike was paced correctly.
Final 2 km
If the race was paced until this point, this is the opportunity to run a negative split.
Projection
Example Projection
Example thresholds: CSS 1:50/100m, FTP 240 W, FT 5:00/km
Plug your CSS, FTP, and FT into the Race Simulator.
Systems
Supporting Systems
- Training Zones — Olympic build mixes threshold and VO₂ with endurance
- Bricks — race-pace bike-run rehearsals in peak phase
- Race Analysis Explained — compare actual 85/100 execution to plan
Olympic racing rewards discipline on the bike and patience on the first run kilometre — which is what WattX race pacing targets are built for.