Introduction
I never put much thought into transition strategy until this past weekend. Just go fast right? Run in, do your stuff, run out. It seems pretty basic. Watching the Willow Duathlon in New Boston, MI this past weekend I learned otherwise. In fact it seems I've been missing quite a bit. This was actually the first race that I've ever just watched in person and wow was it an eye-opening experience for me!! I'm definitely a newbie to multisport. With absolutely zero background in any endurance sports I started triathlon training about 9 months ago and since then have competed in 5 multisport events. So maybe my amazement is just a function of my inexperience. But watching the leaders at the Willow Duathlon (WD) go through transition was incredible!
Sure I'd practiced a bit, particularly getting my wetsuit off fast, and I definitely saw the benefit to leaving the shoes on the bike going into T2. But rubber bands for holding the shoes in place in T1?!?! Genius!! Now I think that I really need to put some hours into really practicing, flying mounts and dismounts in particular. The guy (Richard Swor) that led the whole race dismounted the bike going faster than I would have previously thought possible, he hit the ground at the dismount line at a full-on sprint...that just blew my mind.
My personal performance in the transition area is terrible, which is what prompted me to begin thinking about this. So take all of this with a grain of salt and if I say something incorrect feel free to correct me, this is about learning. I clearly have a lot of room for improvement so I've tried breaking this down into different components that I can work on individually. A little of what follows comes from my personal experience and quite a bit comes from what I observed at the WD.
Strategy
As with all parts of multisport training, I think that it is key to have a strategy for transition training and execution on race day. For me the key to the strategy will be simplicity. Trying to do too many things in the transition area was probably the biggest factor that slowed people down when I was watching at the WD. The leaders came into T1 dropped their running shoes, put on their helmets, and ran out to the to the mount line with their bikes in hand. None of them changed clothes, drank anything, ate anything, put cycling shoes on, put socks on, or any number of other things that I saw later athletes doing. The simple fact is: The less you do, the less time it will take.
Practice
Again, multisport is all about training and practice so that you can meet your goals on race day whether that's completing your first race, setting a new personal best, placing in the top 3 of your age group, or winning overall. It would be pretty foolish to attempt a multisport event without any training in the required disciplines. Unfortunately most people do not practice for transitions, which was clearly evidenced at the WD! Obviously you won't need to spend nearly as much time practicing transitions as you will swimming, biking, or running, but it's not something that should be entirely neglected. So once I have my strategy set for the transition area I will need to practice transitioning on a regular basis so that it becomes a natural routine before race-day.
Setup
Whether practicing or racing, the way that you setup the transition area can make a big difference. At the race this past weekend I noticed that the leaders of the race had the minimum amount of stuff possible around their bikes. They knew exactly what they would need and kept the rest of the clutter out of the way. No bags, no extra water bottles, no Clif bars, no extra socks, etc, etc. Helmets were waiting on the aerobars of the bike with sunglasses, cycling shoes were already clipped into the pedals and small rubber bands held the shoes in place for a quick mount. Everything was arranged such that they barely had to stop moving from when they entered the transition area until they left. From my own experience it is also key to memorize very carefully what rack you put your bike in, at some races you can even mark the rack by hanging a t-shirt off the end or by tying a balloon near your bike, but check with the race director before you do any of those things. Trust me it really sucks to forget where you racked your bike!!!
T1
Because triathlons are my primary sport I'll focus on the swim-bike transition. From my experience, as you reach the end of the swim you'll want to swim until your hands hit the bottom, then as you rise out of the water begin removing your wetsuit immediately, trust me it comes off much much easier if there is still some water in it, and whatever you do don't stop moving while you do this, keep running/walking the whole time. As you leave the water you should have your wetsuit down to your waist as you run up into T1. When you reach your bike you should have a towel to stand on to wipe the bottoms of your feet on. Some people also like to have a small bucket of water waiting so that they can rinse the sand from the beach off of their feet before getting on the bike. At your towel, pull the wetsuit down as far as you can quickly and then when only your lower legs and ankles are in the wetsuit you should step on it right next to your foot, grab your leg and pull it out quickly, then repeat with the other foot. I like to spray a (non-petroleum based) non-stick cooking spray on my lower legs to help them come out of the wetsuit more easily, many other people use products like BodyGlide in the same way.
Once your wetsuit is off grab your helmet off the bike and put it on, don't forget to clip it right away or you will get stopped as you leave the transition area. Put your sunglasses on and grab the bike off the rack. If you don't keep your shoes on the bike this is the time to put them on, don't worry about strapping them unless they are particularly difficult to do. Run out past the timing mat to the line where volunteers will tell you that you may mount the bike. I'm going to learn how to get on the bike with the shoes already mounted so I'll quickly describe that process. With the shoes already on the bike, you are running toward the mount line, once you reach the line you will step onto the top of the shoe closest to you and swing your other leg over the bike onto the other shoe and begin pedaling. Once you are up to speed and clear of the other athletes mounting their bikes you can then slip your feet into the shoes and strap them down (velcro straps really make this a lot easier).
T2
At the WD I noticed that all of the race leaders left their shoes on the bike coming into T2. To do this as they approached the dismount line they would unstrap their shoes, pull their feet out, and begin pedaling with their feet atop the shoes much like they did leaving T1. This seems like the best way to handle the shoes in T2 because I noticed many other people struggling to unclip from their pedals, slipping on their shoes, swerving into other athletes, falling over, etc. As one guy said to me "it's like there are a ton of drunk cyclists on expensive bikes playing pinball in a confined area with no awareness of what is going on around them."
Most of the race leaders also dismounted on the fly, as they approached the dismount line they would swing one leg over the back of the bike so that they were balancing on one pedal, then they would brake to a running speed and as the hit the dismount line they would jump off the bikes at a run as they entered T2. Once they were back in the transition area they quickly racked the bike, pulled the helmet off and dropped it on the ground, grabbed their running shoes, pulled them on, and started out on the run while clipping on their race belt with bib number attached. Simplicity and smoothness in action is just beautiful!
Conclusion
This little writeup is a little like an academic theory paper for me. I think that I have a fairly sound strategy to move forward with in practice but only race-day results will tell. One confounding issue is the fact that my observations and strategy center around racing like a pro, which I am not. In a perfect world things would go the way that I have them laid out above, I wouldn't feel like crap coming into either transition and I'd just be able to fly through them with minimal hassle rather than greedily using them as a chance to rest and catch my breath. But I the way I look at it is like this: There is no way I'll ever swim, bike, or run like a pro, but what is there to stop me from transitioning like one? One person commented to me on an online forum that he beat 7 people in a Half-Ironman distance race simply because his transitions were faster than theirs, that is not insignificant!! Another way to look at it is: Which is easier, shaving 30 seconds off your transitions or 7-9 seconds off your 5k race pace? Personally I think that it will be much easier and less painful to get faster at transitions. Oh and if you get a chance go check out a local multisport event, cheer the athletes on and see what kinds of things you can learn from watching them race (including the race through transition!).
Below are a few links to useful YouTube videos about transitions:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v
Friday, May 9, 2008
Transition Thoughts
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