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Written by Administrator
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Thursday, 14 August 2008 15:26 |
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I remember preparing for my first triathlon and thinking it was only about swimming, biking, and running. Little did I know that in between the disciplines there's something called "transition". Fortunately for me at the time, I had the bare minimum in order to complete the event. My bike had toe clips so I was able to bike and run in the same shoes and I didn't run with water or a hat either. But let's recap the event as I recall it. I finally made it out of the water and was completely disoriented to the point where I lost my transition spot. After running around confused, I finally found my stuff. I put on my helmet, shirt, running shoes, and sunglasses and off I went. When I returned, I lost my transition spot again. I found it a little faster this time; I dropped off my bike and was off on the run. I have no idea what my transition times were then but I can tell you they were not impressive.
The race I'm referring to is a local sprint series that occurs three times in the summer. I've gone back several times since then and my transition times are about 60 seconds for each. Last year I did the event twice. I haven't been a sprinter for years but I wanted to see if I could break an hour again. I showed up half prepared and really just thinking it was an easy race and I'll just do my thing and it'll all be fine. I didn't break an hour that day and I was pissed. I signed up for the next one and I started mentally preparing for it.
The first thing I did was get rid of my socks and water pack. I use these for long course but I don't need them for short course. I did replace the water pack with a plain water bottle due to the small water cups they use on the course. I decided it would be quicker to just pickup a bottle and run than it would be to put on my pack. This is a fast race and I know we're only talking seconds... but it's those seconds that will get me under an hour.
On my second attempt at going under an hour, I was mentally prepared and executed my plan exactly how I imagined it. I came in just under an hour and although it wasn't my fastest time, I attribute some slowing down to age and long course racing.
Transition is free time waiting to be taken so let's go over some things that will allow you to capture that free time.
- Practice makes perfect. One of the reasons why people lose time in transition is because they only do it on race day. If you want to get good at transition, setup your stuff as if you were racing and go through the steps. Put on your wetsuit, hose down on the front lawn and GO!
- Location, location, location. If allowed, pick a spot in transition that you can easily find. I've seen people use balloons, flags, and ribbons to mark their location. Do whatever you need to do to find your bike. When picking a spot, one that is closer to the exit is better because it's easier to run without your bike than it is with your bike.
- Keep it simple - do not complicate transition. Only bring what you will need and this goes for clothing as well. Find a skin suit or a two piece and you will not need to change clothing.
- Put whatever you can on your bike or on your body. I have a Bento Box on my bike and a DeSoto 5 pocket skin suit which I stuff with food before I enter the water. If allowed, wear your race number under your wetsuit, it's just one less thing to fiddle with when coming out of the water with cold hands.
- Put your bike in the correct gear for getting out of transition. The sprint I mentioned above starts on a hill. The wrong gear will have you falling over. I've even seen veterans make this mistake.
- Make a final check of your area before the race begins. You never know what has happened when others try to squeeze in. I'm usually early and one the first to rack my bike. I typically stand guard in order to ensure nothing occurs in the remaining hours until the race begins.
- Body Glide is your friend. Use it liberally on all of your body parts that need to be lubricated in order to remove your wetsuit easily.
- Upon exiting the water, while running, I immediately reach for the rip cord in order to unzip my suit and peel it down to my waist. I remove my goggles and swim cap while locating my transition spot. If available, use the wetsuit strippers. They will get that suit off a lot faster than you will.
- I wear socks. I roll them in order to get them on while my feet are wet. You can practice this and get the correct method down in a few tries.
- My bike shoes are on the ground and opened. I have a single strap Velcro shoe which allows me to completely open the shoe. I can literally put my foot in the shoe without hands and you can do so while putting on your helmet.
NOTE: You can do what all the cool kids do by putting your shoes on the bike pedals but if something goes wrong, you could lose a lot of time. These people are usually out of transition faster but you're normally passing them as they are fiddling with their shoes on the road. You can decide what you want to do.
- Do not tie your shoes in transition. They make elastic laces, lace locks, and various other contraptions for avoiding this time consuming process. I personally use lace locks and I just slip on my shoes.
- When entering T2, put on your running shoes and grab everything else and put it on while running. There's no need to stand there putting on your hat, water bottle, or whatever you have.
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Last Updated on Thursday, 14 August 2008 15:31 |
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