Do You Really Need Brick Sessions for Sprint or Olympic Triathlon?

Brick sessions are an important part of Sprint and Olympic-distance triathlon training, helping athletes become comfortable with the transition from cycling to running. This article explains why brick runs don’t need to be long or hard to be effective, with short 10–20 minute runs often providing plenty of opportunity to practise the transition, establish running rhythm and control opening pace. It also covers bike pacing, cycling cadence approaching T2, transition skills, fuelling and hydration, swim-to-bike bricks, and how to progressively introduce more race-specific sessions. Most importantly, brick training should have a clear purpose rather than simply adding extra fatigue to your programme.

If you’re training for a Sprint or Olympic-distance triathlon, you’ve probably heard that brick sessions are essential.

But how many do you actually need? How long should the run be? And should you be running hard every time you get off the bike?

The answer is simpler than you might think.

Brick sessions are valuable—but more isn’t automatically better.

What Is a Brick Session?

A brick combines two triathlon disciplines back-to-back with relatively little recovery between them.

The most common combination is:

Bike → Run

And if you've ever tried it, you'll know why it's worth practising.

You can feel perfectly comfortable finishing your ride, only to start running and discover that your legs suddenly feel heavy, awkward and reluctant to cooperate.

Brick training gives you an opportunity to become familiar with that transition before you experience it on race day.

Why Bricks Matter in Sprint and Olympic Triathlon

For Sprint and Olympic-distance athletes, getting into your running rhythm quickly can be particularly important.

In a Sprint triathlon, you might only have 5km of running.

In an Olympic-distance event, you have approximately 10km.

You don't want to spend a significant proportion of that distance simply waiting for your running legs to arrive.

A well-designed brick teaches you how to transition efficiently, find your running rhythm and control your opening pace.

Your Brick Run Doesn't Need to Be Long

This is where many triathletes overcomplicate things.

If the objective is to practise running immediately after cycling, you don't necessarily need a long run.

Sometimes 10–20 minutes is plenty.

That can be enough time to experience the bike-to-run transition, establish your running mechanics, find your rhythm and practise controlling your pace.

Adding another 30 or 40 minutes doesn't automatically make the session more effective—it simply adds more training load and increases the recovery required.

Don't Race Every Brick

Another common mistake is turning every brick into a test.

You finish the bike and immediately want to discover how quickly you can run.

Instead, many introductory bricks should be controlled.

A short Level I or Level II run can teach you plenty about the transition without creating unnecessary fatigue.

As your fitness develops and race day approaches, selected bricks can become more race-specific.

The intensity should always be there for a reason.

Your Run Starts on the Bike

One of the most valuable lessons from brick training is that your run performance is influenced by what you do before reaching T2.

Ride the bike too aggressively and you may discover the consequences very quickly on the run.

Bricks allow you to practise appropriate bike pacing and learn how your cycling decisions affect your ability to run afterwards.

They can also help you experiment with your approach to T2, cycling cadence and transition routine.

Practise More Than Your Legs

A brick isn't only about adapting physically.

It's also an opportunity to practise:

• your bike-to-run transition;

• changing shoes and equipment efficiently;

• your opening run pace;

• race-day fuelling and hydration;

• your cycling approach into T2; and

• the equipment you'll use on race day.

The goal is to make race day familiar.

Do You Need a Brick After Every Ride?

Definitely not.

You still need to develop your swimming, cycling and running individually.

Adding a run to every bike session can simply create additional fatigue and running load without providing additional benefit.

Ask yourself:

What is the purpose of this brick?

If you can't answer that question, you probably don't need to add the run.

So, Do You Really Need Brick Sessions?

If you're preparing for a Sprint or Olympic-distance triathlon, I recommend including them.

But don't confuse important with constant.

You don't need every brick to be long.

You don't need every brick to be hard.

And you don't need to run after every bike ride.

Instead, introduce them progressively and make selected sessions increasingly race-specific as your event approaches.

Because triathlon isn't simply about becoming a good swimmer, cyclist and runner.

It's about learning how to put all three together.

Want to Learn More?

In the full article, I go into considerably more detail about how brick sessions work, how long they should be, pacing your bike and run, cycling cadence approaching T2, transition practice, swim-to-bike bricks, and when to introduce race-specific sessions.

👉 Read the full article: Do You Really Need Brick Sessions for Sprint or Olympic Triathlon?