TTT #22- Practice Your Transitions!

The mount/dismount line of a triathlon is the scariest most exhilarating spot to stand for spectators. If you want a true adrenaline rush or love action sports- forget UFC fighting or The Hunger Games- just watching a triathlon transition will give you all the gore and near death experiences you crave.

There's something about being in a horizontal position for twenty minutes to an hour with our face underwater surrounded by 1000 other thrashing mammals that makes us completely disoriented when we emerge from our aquatic environment. Transitions are the "4th discipline" of triathlon. The clock doesn't stop for us to tie our shoes and put our helmet on so why don't we practice these things? We practice swimming, biking and running for endless hours and even though the transition is a very small part of the race it still directly impacts our time.

Other than helping you go faster on race day practicing your transitions will help things go smoother and cause much less anxiety when you're in the heat of the moment. We've all SEEN this guy at the races but do you want to BE this guy?

When you practice transitions you want to mimic the experience and equipment you will have on race day. Set up your transition just like you would race morning in a grassy field or your driveway. Like I talked about a few weeks ago, your goal is prepare for what you will encounter on race day. Run through your entire swim-to-bike transition, mounting the bike and getting up to speed as quickly as possible. Many people forget to check what gear their bike is in when they start so practice in some different combinations to find what allows you to accelerate the fastest. If you're doing an Ironman race then I'd suggest putting all your stuff in a plastic bag and shaking it around then practice withdrawing the items and putting them on your wet body as fast and and smoothly as possible. The key to a good transition it get things right the first time. So practice being smooth and you will be fast. 

Whether you do a flying mount with your shoes clipped on the pedals already or run in your bike shoes doesn't matter- practice it. Will you have large water bottles sticking out from behind your saddle that make mounting different on race day? Practice it. Practice running with your bike, steering it around cones and mounting and dismounting quickly.

T2 is similar (and much easier I think) but if you will change socks or put on sunscreen then practice that. 

My dad has a funny story from when he did a sprint triathlon back in the early 2000's. He is a pretty good athlete so even though he didn't train much his splits were all middle of the pack and he had a respectable time- with the exception of his transitions. I was appalled when I saw his T1 was something like 10 or 12 minutes long. "What were you doing in there dad?!" I asked. "Eating a sandwich or something?" "Actually, yes," he replied. He said he'd gotten to his bike, toweled off his entire body, changed out of his wet shorts into some dry biking ones, sat down to put his socks and shoes on, put on sunscreen and yes, eaten a sandwich. Wouldn't want to be under fueled for that 12 mile bike ride!

Note: this is not an actual picture of my father

In his next race my dad dropped 6 minutes off his time, not by training any more but just by making his transitions faster and smoother! 

When I was younger I used to set up transition in my driveway and recruited my brothers to hold a broomstick as my bike rack. I'd practice ten times in a  row, recording my split each time and figuring out where I could drop tenths of a second. I practiced it so much and have raced for so long now that I don't really have to think too much about it. My body just knows what to do. 

While the guys below are pretty darn good you can see there's still some room for improvement. (Like Crowie making sure he knows where his bike is).

A few weeks out from their first race of the year I have all my athletes set up a transition area like I described above. Then I have them do very short repeats of 1/2 - 1 mile on the bike followed by a 200-400 meter run. Then they repeat that over and over again. Not only are they able to practice their transitions multiple times but it's a great speed workout to make sure the muscles are all firing leading into race day.

Practice your transitions and you WILL go faster on race day. I promise!