Kettlebell snatches progressed my sprint-triathlon time by 6.5%.

Same race as last year, but 7 minutes faster. What the heck is that about?

Event	Year			% Improvement
	2023	2025	2026	2025 → 2026
Swim	19:16.7	21:59.3	17:18.2	21.3%
T1	04:46.2	04:31.6	03:46.7	16.5%
Bike	35:21.5	33:38.8	35:01.5	-4.1%
T2	01:08.2	02:36.5	01:09.9	55.3%
Run	27:56.1	29:44.9	28:56.3	2.7%
Final	1:28	1:32	1:26	6.5%

I had good motivation to improve, too. Last year I came in 2^nd to last out of my friend group. This year, middle of the pack, 4^th out of 8, I’ll take it.

I’ve been doing this sprint triathlon for 4 years now. Each year I have a little less time for training as our family adds more children. Plus weightlifting and jiu-jitsu are my real training passions (don’t want to show up to the race a frail coward), so cardio is one of the first things to fall by the wayside. But I really didn’t want to come in at the bottom of the pack again.

Pavel’s “Quick and Dead” program seemed like it might solve my cardio vs. weightlifting dilemma.

M/W/F mornings are for jiu-jitsu. Tue/Thu mornings are when I can get a full training session in before work, and Sat/Sun I can usually sneak something in before the kids wake up.

So here is how I mixed it in 12 weeks out:

• Tuesday training session – warm up, core, Q&D protocol, finish with handstand push-ups & pull-ups, and dips & chin-ups.
• Thursday training session – warm up, core, KB swings (20 sets of 5), bike & run. Squats & lunges if time permits.
• Saturday training session – Q&D.
• Sunday training session – bike & run.

So what is the quick & dead?

There are two different ways to run the Q&D, one with push-ups/swings and the other with snatches. I went with the snatches, using a 24kg/53lb bell.

To run the snatch protocol, you start a timer and do 10 snatches as fast & powerfully as you can. Rest until the beginning of the next minute, then 10 more as fast & powerfully as you can. Then rest until the top of the minute + 2 more minutes. So, each round of 20 + rest ends up taking you 4 minutes. 5 rounds of this come to 20 minutes in total.

I found it to be a great routine to keep my heart rate up and develop my cardio without showing up sore to any of my other training sessions.

What will I do differently next year?

Knowing I won’t be getting more time to train, the one thing I would start sooner than 12 weeks out is incorporating running into my routine to build a better foundation for the last leg of the race. Next year I plan to run the AXE program 24 weeks ahead of the race and some zone-2 style running to build a strong foundation before picking up speed 12 weeks out.

P.S.

Photos from the day below. We use this race as a mini-reunion for this friend group. Highly recommend it as a fun way to stay connected. The sprint triathlon is a short enough distance that people can commit to it without dedicating too much of their free time to it.