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 90% FT — check Threshold Testing 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-to-run switch decide places.
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. It should feel like work, 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
Ninety seconds matters in a race of around 2:15. 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 when the road is flat — 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 90% FT
WattX uses 90% of FT as the run race pacing target. That is the open 10K pace slowed for the bike — still hard after 40 km, and slower than a standalone 10K.
First kilometre
Start slightly slower than target out of T2, then settle into race pace.
Km 3–7
Controlled-hard — the competitive section. Discomfort is expected even if the bike was paced correctly.
Final 2 km
If you’ve paced well so far, this is where you can 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 — check whether you held 85% FTP and 90% FT
Olympic racing rewards discipline on the bike and patience in the first kilometre of the run. WattX race targets are built for exactly that.