Protect the run by resisting the first-lap surge
Across 14 elite Olympic-distance races and 725 male athletes, the first run lap was typically faster than the later laps. Overall placing was most strongly associated with run performance, and more even run pacing was associated with better run outcomes.
The long-course translation is conservative: arrive at the run able to control the opening kilometres, use a rehearsed effort cap and evaluate the bike by what it leaves for the run. Practise this in bricks so the correct opening pace feels familiar when transition excitement is high.
These were elite men racing draft-legal Olympic-distance events, so the exact lap pattern cannot be copied to an IRONMAN or 70.3. The observational analysis shows association, not the result of a pacing intervention. Read the context in the PubMed record.