Kenj - triathletes in training CLOSED (Page 9)

I don't have any pics of my transition either, but that's one area where I am consistently FOP in my races.  (I wish I could be FOP in something more significant... like swimming, biking, or running!!) 

Anyways, Kenj already gave a lot of the tips I would have shared.  I don't use socks for any triathlons (did my HIM without socks and was totally fine).  But the big thing is to practice as your are going to race!  Also, I practiced my bike to run transition at the end of almost every bike ride.  I would lay out my running shoes on a towel before my ride, pracitce slipping my feet out of my biking shoes while the shoes were still clipped in at the very end of the ride, pedal with my bare feet on top of my shoes, and then quickly 'rack' my bike and put my running shoes on standing up. 

I can't say it enough, but practicing all of this a lot will make your T2 blazing fast.

As far as T1, I also strip my wetsuit down to my waist as I am running to the transition.  Once I get to my bike, I rip the suit down (forcing it inside-out) as far as I can.  Then step on top of the top of top part of the suit pull one leg out, switch, and do the same thing with the other leg. 

I have my helmet and sunglasses sitting on top of my aero bars.  My bike shoes (I don't have tri shoes) are un-velcroed and I quickly slip my feet into them.

Hope that helps.

Ken has some great tips above.

I love transitions one of my favorite parts of the race. Practice, practice, practice and your transitions will be quick and smooth. 

For most races heres my setup:

• I have a 1'x2' piece of artificial turf for a mat.
• Next goes my race belt w/ number.
• Next my hat.
• On top of that my running shoes - I wear socks and I roll them down and dump some pure cornstarch baby powder in the socks to help them to slide on.

That's it!

A couple things to note:

• Always be moving in transition never stop.
• Do anything you can out on the race course. 
• Drink water out on the course not in transition. Same for energy gels.
• Practice taking your feet in/out of your bike shoes - Leave the shoes clipped on your bike. This takes practice but is easy to do. You can rubber band your shoes so they stay in place in T1.
• Have your wetsuit halfway down your body before you get to your bike. Take your goggles off and place them in your cap and pull the whole bundle into your wetsuit sleeve. It will stay there and be well protected.
•  
• Body glide everything! - I use it on my shoes so my feet slip in easy.
• If you have aero bars place your helmet on them and your glasses in the helmet. When you get to your bike pull your wetsuit down to your ankles. Use you feet to step on one leg of the suit and pull it off that way. While doing that put your glasses on then helmet. When you helmet is on your suit should be off. Grab you bike and go.
• For T2 I just try to put my socks and shoes on as fast as possible I grab my race belt and visor and put them on as I run. Make sure that the race director  is ok with you only having a number on for the run sometimes they want it on for the bike leg. If that's the case another trick is to tuck it under your shirt before the swim. You then pull it out when you get on your bike.

PS I have nicely formatted word checklist that I made for a sprint/oly length race. PM me your address if you want a copy.

For those of you who don't have bike shoes and are thinking about buying them I would seriously consider buying tri shoes right off the bat. They are made for tri's and have a lot of great features specific to the event. It makes certain things really easy.

PS - I didn't mention this before but I never wear socks on the bike well only wear them in cold weather that is....

memorize where you rack your bike!!!! I will go over the route before the race (from swim entrance to bike rack and from bike entrance to bike rack) - if you don't there is a good chance that you won't remember when getting out of the water.

Also if you have wedding rings that are even a little loose - leave them at home!  I always forget and am scrambling to find hubby at last minute for him to take them.  Talking to a guy next to me at my last tri when I remembered and he said he had lost 2 rings during the swim portion of previous tris - ouch!

Everyone is adding some great transition tips!  I forgot this one from Robin though, made that mistake once!!  From that race on I find a land mark at both ends of the rack my bike is on. 

I'm also using a custom plan from BT. The only thing I have different is that I have 4 bike with 4 run and 3 swim.  Sometimes I take a day off but most of the time I do a little something everyday.  I just go by how my body feels.  Although sometimes it seems my body always wants a rest on run days.  But I think that comes more from me not liking to run yet.  So I do a lot of doubles.  With my work most of my work-outs are early in the morning and then later in the evening.  As far as the run/bike doubles are concerned, I do much better with a bike/run than I do with a run/bike.  Hard for me to get my legs going on the bike after a good run.

I have been having the white background problem in Internet Explorer, but not in Firefox or Safari. It's almost as if IE is not loading or recognizing the style sheet.  Also have had some problems lately just posting on BT in general.

Thanks, Firefox fixed it.  Not sure what the problem was with IE - it was only this forum and not others on BT?

Transition tips - I agree - LEAVE WEDDING RINGS at home or any type of jewelry.  I have a 102-year old wedding diamond ring. My fiance would be utterly po'd if I lost it at sea.  :-) 

The only problems that I'm having is putting on my cochlear implants.  It takes a bit to get the magnet onto the coil on my head.  Then putting the helmet on can sometimes pop the coil off. Since I have two sprint triathlons coming up, I'm going to try to leave the CI off until T2 and put it on while I'm running. It'll be easier that way, but I will not be able to hear anything at all during the bike. 

This type of thread is useless without photos. 

Here's a photo of my transition set up. Feel free to critique. The only thing is missing is the socks. I have ankle length socks that is very easy for me to put on while my feet is wet. It feels really weird not to have socks on for bike and run. However, I'm willing to try to do without it for the bike.   I have not yet mastered the flying dismount or mounting on the bike with the shoes on. I don't think I want to for the Las Vegas triathlons because all the transitions starts on a hill, and it takes a while to finally get top of the hill in order to find some flat area to put in feet. I will try to practice taking my feet out leaving the shoes on though.   Helmet is on the ground because my bike is so small that at all my triathlons, the wheels do not touch the ground, so the bike is "swaying". I've had my helmet fall off my bike.  IF the front wheel can touch the ground, then I will put the helmet/sunglasses on the clip-on aero bars.  The extra water bottle is there for JUST in case. Pour water on my face, my feet if it's sandy/rocky.  Belt and hat is under my running shoes so they don't blow away, once I get the running shoes on (haven't had the chance to put on speed laces yet), I will grab the belt/cap and put it on after I get out of transition.  You can see my CI in my running shoe. So what do you guys think?

Your transition tips are all great.  Especially know where the bike is.  Keep the towel simple and small.  I also like the tip about eating and drinking on the course.  Took me a couple of LONG transitions in the beginning to understand that.  Going to practice the shoe in the clips thing. On grass  

As for two a day workouts.  Most of my days are two a days.  Never two hard ones back to back.  Hard bike?  Easy run or easy swim.  Hard run?  Easy bike.  My kettle bell days are on my run days and  leave my legs alone with the weights as much as I can. 

That's good about Firefox, not sure why it would just be this forum...perhaps all the posts are blowing up the internet!

Glad you had a great time Yvonne!  Yes, travelling has gotten to be a hassle!

I had the same problem with my work computer, wound up loading Firefox to fix it although I could probably also upload the newer version of IE.  Home computer is fine.  I had a couple of the threads load up that way, it is weird.

No issues with your transition set up DJ.  I know you don't have aero bars so that is the right place for your helmet and glasses.  I like it as your set up is fairly simple. 

Meulen - 2012-04-11 5:59 AM I'm having the same issues with IE. It's only with a few threads on BT though. this being one of them.

Come to the dark side....use Google Chrome. :-)

I picked Chrome over IE because it seems like I always have issues with IE. Picked Chrome over Firefox because for some reason my laptop hates it and I screwed up somehow deep in the files no matter how well I delete everything to reinstall. 

I like Chrome because it's much more easier to use, and the layout is very simple and non-cluttering. 

Did you tell them on the BT Support Forums?

Speaking of weird stuff...

Anyone else have issues with using an Ipad when posting? I noticed some really weird formatting issues. It eliminates paragraph returns and last time it eliminated periods. 

The irony is that I've had to fix the errors with my droid phone.....

PS - I use chrome!

Woohoo! Just downloaded Google Chrome...what a difference! And all this time with IE, I thought it was just another challenge to follow along!!!

I have seen that as well, not sure if there is a fix for it or not.  I view this a lot with the Ipad but don't make lengthy posts with it because of that.  The auto fill spell checker adds an added challenge as well!