In general, professionals train differently than amateur athletes. The typical age-grouper gets a few hours a day to train for an event and they typically fit in a good run or bike ride. It's harder to spend as long swimming because travelling to the pool eats into training time. By contrast, pro athletes will train in two or more disciplines almost every day. Beyond the extra work in those specific disciplines, they get a better feel for what it's like to hit the bike after a hard swim, or get off the bike and go into a run. They develop familiarity with their fatigue levels. This is invaluable experience going into a race.
Most age groupers know what it feels like to swim hard, bike hard and run hard. And when they go into a race, that's exactly what they try to do. What they discover is that they swim or bike too hard, and it winds up causing them to run very slow. They have a hard time gauging their energy expenditure against what they have left in the tank. A professional has a strong sense of that, and they come into a race with a solid plan. They don't just swim, bike and run; they swim into the bike, bike into the run, and run into the finish. Everything flows together into a single event: a triathlon.
More: How to Maintain Your Speed Through the Run
Studies have indicated that there are beneficial pacing strategies for each leg of a triathlon based on its distance. But again, these are only observed trends within groups of athletes. The data likely applies to everyone, but to be your absolute best you have to learn the specific values within yourself. A good way to start doing that is to break your training sessions into multi-disciplinary events. Don't just train on one discipline each day. Take the time to plan those brick workouts and swim-bike sessions to get a feel for what it's like to go into the next leg fatigued.
Don't fool yourself into thinking that you're "losing time" by changing equipment between disciplines, either. Remember that if you plan it to resemble actual race conditions, then instead of losing time you'll gain it during transition. Take the time to practice these skills. Learn when to back off your pace so that you finish strong, and reduce the time you spend getting back on the move. There's speed yet to be found, but you've got to dig into your mindset to find it.
More: Cerebral Fitness: Mastering the Mental Game
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