The Time
Trials of Transitions
Training
for a triathlon is tough and after all your hard training hours, the last place
you’d want to lose time is your transitions on race day, which is why we’ve
provided a guide to help make your transitions a breeze on the big day.
Where’d
my bike go?
It’s
easy to lose your bike in the sea of other bicycles, but don’t stress the small
stuff. The easiest way to spot your bike on race day is to tie a balloon to
your bike, sure it’s a little cheesy, but you’ll be able to spot it in no time
after racing out of the water. If a balloon isn’t your style, try a bright neon
color towel of your choosing and place it on the seat of your bike, not as in
your face, but still easily noticeable.
Lastly, walk from the swim exit to your bike and count bike racks to create a mind map for where your bike is located. Do this a couple of times if necessary.
Lastly, walk from the swim exit to your bike and count bike racks to create a mind map for where your bike is located. Do this a couple of times if necessary.
Changing
room
It’s
best to wear an outfit (i.e. Triathlon shorts, Triathlon Suit) that can fit smoothly underneath your wetsuit, so you
don’t have to change in the bike area and your outfit is on right when you take
off your wetsuit. To make putting on your gear easier, leave your helmet face
up on your bike seat, so that your sunglasses can fit in your helmet. At some
races, you’ll see people bring buckets of dish soap and water next to their
bikes; we recommend you skip this step unless the water portion takes place in
the ocean. If you just ran on the beach to get to your bike, dunking your feet
in the soap water will quickly get off the stubborn sand, otherwise the bucket is
just another thing to eat up time and valuable space.
Running
in place
Once
you are ready to start the bike portion of your race, you might want to rethink
mounting your bike. A huge time saver is to have your bike shoes already
clipped onto the bike and then run with your bike to the mount line and hop on.
If the mount line is on a hill or immediately going to go into a hill, mount
your bike at the top of the hill. Practice safely running with your bike and
putting your feet in the shoes while you are pedaling on the bike before race
day to avoid injuries.
A
head start
Leave
your bike in an easy gear so you don’t have to pedal as hard in the beginning.
If you followed our tip above by having your bike shoes already attached, the easier
gear will also make the bike more stable when putting on your shoes, plus it’s
a good warm up.
Hit
the road
The
speed lives in the transition from biking to running. Have your hat with
sunglasses in it, you might want to change from your biking ones, sunscreen and
race belt. Put on the sunscreen and go. The other gear can be put on while you
run. It’s faster to put your hat and belt on while running then it is standing
still.
Practice
Makes Perfect
As
the saying goes the more you practice the closer to perfection you will be. It
may take a few races to find out what really works for you. Practice your swim
to bike transitions and then practice your bike to run transitions during
training. It’s best to know how you will transition before the clock is
ticking, so adding a day or two of transition practice to your training
schedule will not only help with the transition portion, but also help your
body get used to switching from swimming to biking and biking to running.
Lastly, envision how your set up will be on race day and how you will
transition. Running your transitions through your head before your race will
help you remember the fastest steps and help you remind yourself what you need
on race day.
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