Negative splits during HIM

My thoughts on the subject, and others may differ:

I have heard and experienced quite the opposite.  And research certainly does NOT support it.  Negative split in an amateur athlete almost always = holding back too much and not running your ideal race.  Meaning, you would have raced faster if you did not try to negative split the race.

And unless you are in seriously strong shape there is almost no way you will negative split the run and bike in a HIM unless you are totally sandbagging the first half of each.

The best races (not at the front of the pack in the thick of going for the win where holding back to stay with someone or a pack and then going for it in the last few miles) are done with an even or slightly positive split in general.

You want to be able to run well off the bike so it is critical to pace the bike within your means and stay on top of your nutrition.  Don't worry about trying to go faster on the 2nd half of each discipline.  Worry about maintaining a pace that from your training you know will allow you to come off the bike and run consistently.

depeding on the person.. If you train to race like that, you should be able to race successfully like that. My old coach had me training to do so and it fit my race strag, after since I was trained for it, and run went well.
Long rides and runs done as normally blocks reach the next block pick it up, you current fitness dictates how much you pick it up. but in the long run, the second half isnt that much faster, but most people train it for the run, since out of tranistion you do want to be at running hard..thats for the last few miles.

you can try in training and see how you feel off the bike

Huh???

I'm having a hard time understanding this post ....... more from a grammatical standpoint than anything else.

On the bike perhaps more than the run, I can imagine it on certain courses.  I've only done two HIMs so far, but the bike courses were similar in that both were single loop courses that were extremely rolling-to-outright-hilly in the first half and relatively flat for most of the second half.  Esp. if you were starting out conserving energy a bit through the first half rollers, I could certainly imagine negative splitting at least one of those two courses.

I didn't...but I can imagine it...    

Alot of race excution plans will call for the first 30 mins easy (for you) on the bike and build throughout the bike. This would result in a negative split on the bike. I don't think it really needs to be your goal. I'd focus more on making sure you don't nuke your bike in the first hour while you're amped trying to ride with guys/gals that are out of your league.

The run is similiar, especially the first few miles out of T2 can be taken easy and then build into your race. I would much rather hit the line saying I took mile 1-3 too easy then explode at mile 11-12 and have to shuffle or walk to the finish.

You know - I'd really like to see the research on negative-splitting a Triathlon.  The research I have seen tends to look at world records where almost every long distance running world record has been set while running even or negative splits.  Anything specific to triathlon?

Can it be done, yes. Would I suggest it, no.

I negative split my last HIM's run. Two loop course. The bike course is extremely hilly, and that day there was a head wind. I hammered the entire bike, and blew up my legs. I can out of T2 and my legs were destroyed, completely destroyed. After the first lap my run volume finally caught up, and I was able to press the pace. Oddly enough, the second lap felt better and was faster than the first. I finished 6th OA.

As for a race plan, I would not suggest planning on it. Granted, you will more than likely come out of T2 a bit slower until you run out that rubber feeling. From there, you can press the pace. If that is the case, then you will more than likely neg split the run. Basically, that will be the same idea on the bike. After coming out of T1, you will start a tad slower working into your bike pace. That to "should" create a neg split on the bike.

However, as others have stated I would aim to have an even split/pace over the course.

sorry will re-write later, I was just eating bfast and had not had my coffee..

In my experience for a single event (ie, bike time trial, 10k run, OWS race etc) the best results are a relatively even speed for the entire event.   Some of the very first events I did with little to no experience it was easy to over exert my self over the first 1/2 of the event and would really struggle on the second 1/2 of the event, this is because I didn't have the experience to know what pace I could hold over the distance.  Now that I am more experienced and have a better idea of what speed/distance I should be able to maintain I can start off the event with a particular pace in mind that I should be able to hold over the entire event.  about 1/3 to 1/2 of the way through the event I will re-evaluate that pace and see if I can push it a little harder or not.  The last 1/3 of the event EVERYTHING should be left on the course.   I have found that my most even paces result in the best times but there are so many other factors at play that I can't prove any results.

If you add to this concept in a triathlon I would agree that as you go through each transition it usually takes your body a little while to adjust to each event and get warmed up to riding or running.  This could create an opportunity to negatively split an event but I don't think this is the goal.

My point is only that I have found that the better I understand my expected pace for each event the better I can monitor my pace so that I can keep it as stable as possible.  I don't want this to be construed as "holding back" at the begining of an event, only picking an appropriate pace that I can hold for the whole event.

Michael