login
Free Speed - use transition to your advantage! (Page 2)
-
No new posts
|
 2008-08-12 9:49 AM in reply to: #1589480 |
 Alpharetta, Georgia Bronze member |  Subject: RE: Free Speed - use transition to your advantage!Someone mentioned "no washing feet, towels, etc." - what if you exit the swim on a sand beach? Do you just HTFU and do the whole race with sand in your shoes/socks? 90% of my races have had a sand exit. Only a few had the luxury of running through a dew-soaked grassy area afterwards, which eliminated most of the sand. But many of them left me with sand-coated feet. I used a water pan in a HIM distance, which I thought worked great but now this thread makes me feel like I was too elaborate with my set up. What say you? |
| 2008-08-12 10:34 AM in reply to: #1589480 |
Regular  77 | Subject: RE: Free Speed - use transition to your advantage! How about biking in your running shoes? I have both cages and clipless pedal setups. My first tri is this weekend and I was planning on biking with my running shoes to save time in T2. I don't have speed laces or what not so it would take a little bit to get out of my biking shoes and into my runners. Plus I figured the clipless doesn't offer that large of an advantage for a sprint. Just MO, Andy |
| 2008-08-12 10:49 AM in reply to: #1596803 |
Resident Curmudgeon 25290  The Road Back Gold member | Subject: RE: Free Speed - use transition to your advantage! lisac957 - 2008-08-12 9:49 AM Someone mentioned "no washing feet, towels, etc." - what if you exit the swim on a sand beach? Do you just HTFU and do the whole race with sand in your shoes/socks? 90% of my races have had a sand exit. Only a few had the luxury of running through a dew-soaked grassy area afterwards, which eliminated most of the sand. But many of them left me with sand-coated feet. I used a water pan in a HIM distance, which I thought worked great but now this thread makes me feel like I was too elaborate with my set up. What say you? The ones I've raced with a beach exit provided a series of wading pools coming into T1. Suggest that to your RD. Cheap, effective, keeps people from setting up their own personal bathtubs in the limited space available in transition. Remember too, that an HIM is different than sprint/Olympics. What I can tolerate for 25 miles on the bike is not what I would want to tolerate for 56. For instance, in the HIMs I've done, I've worn socks and sunglasses, and taken significant nutrition. I would do none of that in a sprint or Olympic race. Edited by the bear 2008-08-12 10:58 AM |
| 2008-08-12 10:58 AM in reply to: #1596803 |
Coach 10487 Boston, MA | Subject: RE: Free Speed - use transition to your advantage! lisac957 - 2008-08-12 9:49 AM Someone mentioned "no washing feet, towels, etc." - what if you exit the swim on a sand beach? Do you just HTFU and do the whole race with sand in your shoes/socks? 90% of my races have had a sand exit. Only a few had the luxury of running through a dew-soaked grassy area afterwards, which eliminated most of the sand. But many of them left me with sand-coated feet. I used a water pan in a HIM distance, which I thought worked great but now this thread makes me feel like I was too elaborate with my set up. What say you? I basically done that at most 70.3 races and with the run from the lake/ocean to T1 most sand goes away. The run from FL 70.3, Cancun 70.3, Clearwater 70.3 and Steelhead is very sandy but once you get to T1 it usually is either grass or asphalt and the sands wears off. I can't think of it right now but I *think* I might just wiped my feet with my hands very fast before getting my cycling shoes on. For running I always wear sucks so it is not a big issue.nice thread |
| 2008-08-12 11:00 AM in reply to: #1596803 |
| New Haven, CT | Subject: RE: Free Speed - use transition to your advantage! lisac957 - 2008-08-12 10:49 AM Someone mentioned "no washing feet, towels, etc." - what if you exit the swim on a sand beach? Do you just HTFU and do the whole race with sand in your shoes/socks? 90% of my races have had a sand exit. Only a few had the luxury of running through a dew-soaked grassy area afterwards, which eliminated most of the sand. But many of them left me with sand-coated feet. I used a water pan in a HIM distance, which I thought worked great but now this thread makes me feel like I was too elaborate with my set up. What say you? I just wipe my feet on a towel and bike with a little sand in my shoes, it is usually gone by the run. If really sandy, I squirt some water on them from my water bottle. Only done sprints so far, so I cannot say for longer course races. I also skip putting on a shirt (unless they are required) which, while bad for the rest of the racers, saves me a few seconds fumbling trying to get a shirt on my wet body (and no, I will never wear a singlet, that would be even more disgusting).
|
| 2008-08-12 12:32 PM in reply to: #1589480 |
Elite 3088  Austin, TX Gold member | Subject: RE: Free Speed - use transition to your advantage! I've always preached the free speed aspect of transitions. Most of the following have already been made, but here are my keys: - Look for a spot at the end of the rack. I'll move a few rows further from the bike out to get one. You get more room and don't have to maneuver past other athletes. - Obviously, goggles and swim cap are off right at swim exit. Wetsuit is stripped as low as possible without inhibiting my ability to jog. - At the rack, pull the wetsuit down to my knees and then alternate stepping on it to get out. At the same time, I'm putting on my sunglasses and helmet. - Speaking of which, helmet is upside down on my aerobars, straps hanging to the outside. Sunglasses are inside already open. - Forget the towel, rinsing off, etc. You're soaking wet and are hardly going to fully dry. Besides, you're going to be sweating again in 30 seconds anyway. - If there's a lot of dirt or sand, use a water bottle to give a quick spray of your feet. Again, forget about drying. You won't do a thorough job and you're going to sweat into your shoes anyway. - Do not try to put on a shirt in either transition. Either go without or get a tri top and wear it for all 3 legs. Trying to put on any shirt when you're wet/sweaty is a pain. Make it a cycling jersey or tri top and you're just asking to get stuck with it halfway over your head. - Bike shoes are already on the bike for a flying mount. As said above, practice it, but learn how. - If you're going with your own nutrition (living off the course is a far better decision, but that's me), it should already be on board your bike or you. Unless you're doing something far out of the ordinary, anything you take along (gels, for example) shouldn't be much of a burden in the rear pocket of your tri top, so put them in before the swim. The fewer things you need to pick up and stow, the less time you spend in transition. - I don't wear socks for Oly or shorter. Practice to see what your feet/shoes can handle. If you have to wear socks, put them on before the race and roll them off. Then, you just stick your toes in and roll them on. No mess with baby powder and it doesn't matter if your feet are wet. - Learn to run with your bike with one hand on the saddle only. Hold the nose and act like you're trying to turn the saddle in direction you want to go. Once you get the hang of it, you can steer it very easily. You can also jog along with no fear of the pedals cracking you in the shin. Bonus factor: it looks cool. - Coming off the bike, take both feet out of the shoes, stand on one pedal and bring the other leg over to the same side. You can literally go from riding to a jog seamlessly right at the dismount line. This does tend to freak out the volunteers there, though. - Rack the bike, slip on running shoes, grab your hat and race belt and go. You shouldn't spend more than 10 seconds at the rack in T2. It should be closer to 5. Really, what else do you need to do there? A couple of edits. Edited by dgunthert 2008-08-12 12:35 PM |
| 2008-08-12 1:16 PM in reply to: #1596698 |
Master 1748 Port Moody, BC | Subject: RE: Free Speed - use transition to your advantage! the bear - 2008-08-12 7:20 AM rsmorgan - 2008-08-12 9:13 AM 1. Unbuckle helmet while running to T2. Seems obvious and silly, (most of you are probably shaking their heads saying no s**t moron) but I bet some people don't even think about it and fumble with the strap after racking their bike. Not sure how this saves time, particularly trying to do this while running full speed with the bike. I "fumble" less after having racked the bike. Regardless, we're talking microseconds of difference either way. Also, I have seen some races where the RD imposes a rule requiring helmet to be buckled whenever the bike is off the rack. This Isn't a USAT rule but some RDs do invoke it. They did in my race this weekend - I went from 2nd overall to 6th with the 2 minute penalty for undoing the strap before racking the bike, D-OHHH! |
| 2008-08-12 1:19 PM in reply to: #1596803 |
Master 1748 Port Moody, BC | Subject: RE: Free Speed - use transition to your advantage! lisac957 - 2008-08-12 7:49 AM Someone mentioned "no washing feet, towels, etc." - what if you exit the swim on a sand beach? Do you just HTFU and do the whole race with sand in your shoes/socks? 90% of my races have had a sand exit. Only a few had the luxury of running through a dew-soaked grassy area afterwards, which eliminated most of the sand. But many of them left me with sand-coated feet. I used a water pan in a HIM distance, which I thought worked great but now this thread makes me feel like I was too elaborate with my set up. What say you? I use a tupperwear container with water in it....I'll HTFU when I pass all the people making pearls in their sneakers cause they were 3 seconds faster than me in T1 and still have sand all over their tootsies! |
| 2008-08-13 4:16 AM in reply to: #1589480 |
Master 2665 The Whites, New Hampshire | Subject: RE: Free Speed - use transition to your advantage! I have extremely tender feet, so it is socks and a water bucket all the way. No tri is worth the blisters from either sand/dirt or no socks, and I dunked my feet while getting my helmet and glasses on, so no extra time there. So here's a question for you: wearing a wetsuit is widely considered to buy you time in the water. Yet it takes time to get out of. I can run a heck of a lot faster when I'm not unzipping and pulling arms out, and of course, I don't have anything to strip out of. Has anyone sat down and seriously considered if the time saved in the water is negated by the time in transition? Obviously, I'm not talking about wearing a wetsuit for the frigid factor, I'm only talking about people who wear it for speed in the water. Obviously this would be directly connected to length of swim. I wonder where the break point is? |
| 2008-08-13 6:22 AM in reply to: #1599443 |
Champion 9407 Montague Gold Mines, Nova Scotia | Subject: RE: Free Speed - use transition to your advantage! Slugger - 2008-08-13 6:16 AM I have extremely tender feet, so it is socks and a water bucket all the way. No tri is worth the blisters from either sand/dirt or no socks, and I dunked my feet while getting my helmet and glasses on, so no extra time there. So here's a question for you: wearing a wetsuit is widely considered to buy you time in the water. Yet it takes time to get out of. I can run a heck of a lot faster when I'm not unzipping and pulling arms out, and of course, I don't have anything to strip out of. Has anyone sat down and seriously considered if the time saved in the water is negated by the time in transition? Obviously, I'm not talking about wearing a wetsuit for the frigid factor, I'm only talking about people who wear it for speed in the water. Obviously this would be directly connected to length of swim. I wonder where the break point is? I would expect that if you wanted you would be able to toughen your feet with starting with some short sessions without socks. However, if you want or need to wear socks, there is no reason that with planning it should slow you down that much; the key is to have a plan and keep things simple. As far as the wetsuit, although you could probably run marginally faster without a wetsuit and without pulling it down as you exit the water these differences are going to be minor. Depending on the distance of the run, I would expect that the most a well practiced athlete would give up would be 2-3". In transition, getting out of the wetsuit should take no more than 5" which means that if during the swim an athlete was 10" faster per 100m then the suit was worth it. Depending on your strength in the water, a wetsuit should cut off at least 3"/100 so if the swim is longer than 300m, it should be a benefit to wear the wetsuit. Shane |
| 2008-08-13 6:47 AM in reply to: #1599443 |
Champion 9060 Charlottesville, Virginia | Subject: RE: Free Speed - use transition to your advantage! Slugger - 2008-08-13 5:16 AM I have extremely tender feet, so it is socks and a water bucket all the way. No tri is worth the blisters from either sand/dirt or no socks, and I dunked my feet while getting my helmet and glasses on, so no extra time there. So here's a question for you: wearing a wetsuit is widely considered to buy you time in the water. Yet it takes time to get out of. I can run a heck of a lot faster when I'm not unzipping and pulling arms out, and of course, I don't have anything to strip out of. Has anyone sat down and seriously considered if the time saved in the water is negated by the time in transition? Obviously, I'm not talking about wearing a wetsuit for the frigid factor, I'm only talking about people who wear it for speed in the water. Obviously this would be directly connected to length of swim. I wonder where the break point is? yep same here, I have to wear socks. rolling them up as in the transition video posted here works great. Most numbers I have seen (e.g., posts on people opinions...) is that unless you take all day to get your wetsuit off you will gain more in your swim than you would by not having to strip the wetsuit. |
| 2008-08-13 8:21 AM in reply to: #1589506 |
Master 2491 | Subject: RE: Free Speed - use transition to your advantage! the bear - 2008-08-08 9:28 AM gsmacleod - 2008-08-08 8:12 AM In order to improve T1 and T2 times, an athlete must simplify, be organized and have a plan going into the race. In addition, practicing either the entire transition or individual parts of it (i.e. getting out of a wetsuit quickly) will pay dividends on race day. Great post, nice to illuminate the performance gains necessary to compensate for slower transitions. I did want to add my 2¢ in the form of that one word "simplify," as I see too many triathletes bringing too much and attempting to do too much in transitions, especially in short course races. In my sprint transition bag I pack:
That's it. Bike shoes stay on the bike, running shoes are on my feet, helmet is on my head as I usually ride my bike in from parking. Nutrition and hydration is preloaded on the bike. In T1, place goggles and cap in my bag, put my helmet on, grab the bike and go. In T2, rack the bike, quickly slip into shoes, grab cap and race belt and go. There are no socks, no sunglasses, no washing of the feet, no nutrition taken, no sitting down in either transition. Simplified, planned, organized and practiced.
This was timely advice for me. Keeping it simple allowed me to take over a minute off of my T1 time in my last race, compared to the one previous, as well as 12 seconds in T2. Thanks, folks, for the great advice. |
| 2008-08-13 8:26 AM in reply to: #1589480 |
| over a barrier | Subject: RE: Free Speed - use transition to your advantage! Just to stress the importance of Transitions this weekend's aquabike I raced, I won my AG because of Transitions..... I came out of the water 1 SECOND ahead of 2nd place finsisher, I had a 17 SEC faster T1, and he posted a 11 SEC Faster bike split. I won the ag race by 6 secs because of smoother T. |
| 2008-08-17 8:51 AM in reply to: #1589480 |
| Subject: RE: Free Speed - use transition to your advantage! longer T time --> longer rest --> better recovery to start again --> race faster ?
shorter T time --> shorter rest --> not so good recovery before starting again --> race slower ?
|
| 2008-08-17 9:11 AM in reply to: #1608577 |
Champion 8936 | Subject: RE: Free Speed - use transition to your advantage! Vrindavan - 2008-08-17 8:51 AM Transitions aren't for recovery. They're for moving from one discipline to the next. If you're suffering because of a lack of recovery, that's a pacing problem.longer T time --> longer rest --> better recovery to start again --> race faster ?
shorter T time --> shorter rest --> not so good recovery before starting again --> race slower ?
|
| 2008-08-17 9:39 AM in reply to: #1589480 |
| Subject: RE: Free Speed - use transition to your advantage! >> Transitions aren't for recovery
i know, but what did they spend doing in those minutes ? |
| 2008-08-17 11:34 AM in reply to: #1608615 |
Elite 3088 Austin, TX Gold member | Subject: RE: Free Speed - use transition to your advantage! Vrindavan - 2008-08-17 9:39 AM >> Transitions aren't for recovery
i know, but what did they spend doing in those minutes ? Letting other people pass them? |
| 2008-08-17 11:45 AM in reply to: #1589480 |
Champion 9600 Fountain Hills, AZ | Subject: RE: Free Speed - use transition to your advantage! Race belts are worth the small investment of time and money. My Transition area is a small towel with my running shoes and visor. My bike is racked and my helmet sits on the aero bars. In my helmet I put my sunglasses and race belt. My bike shoe's are clipped in, held in the upright position by thin rubber bands. That's it. Any nutrition for a longer race is already on the bike or on the course. I do put baby powder in both my bike shoe's and running shoe's the day before. |
| 2008-08-18 8:19 AM in reply to: #1589480 |
Extreme Veteran 739 Westlake, OH | Subject: RE: Free Speed - use transition to your advantage! I just wanted to post my results from this weekend made with just 2 changes. Oly Tri in June
Oly tri sunday:
Positions giving time savings of 1:20:
Changes made:
|
| 2008-08-18 1:55 PM in reply to: #1589480 |
Elite 4564 Boise | Subject: RE: Free Speed - use transition to your advantage! I'd also like to add my further proof here. I did a y Not Tri two weeks ago and won the beginner division.
Division: Male Beg Overall
As you can see I beat him by 53 seconds on the swim and he beat me by 14 seconds and 70 seconds on the bike and run. In the three actual events he beat me by a total of 31 seconds but I beat him by 38 seconds in T1 to his 1.5 seconds on T2 giving me the victory by 5 seconds. |
| 2009-05-11 1:53 PM in reply to: #1589506 |
Veteran 187 Northern Virginia | Subject: RE: Free Speed - use transition to your advantage! the bear - 2008-08-08 9:28 AM Great post, nice to illuminate the performance gains necessary to compensate for slower transitions. I did want to add my 2¢ in the form of that one word "simplify," as I see too many triathletes bringing too much and attempting to do too much in transitions, especially in short course races. In my sprint transition bag I pack:
That's it. Bike shoes stay on the bike, running shoes are on my feet, helmet is on my head as I usually ride my bike in from parking. Nutrition and hydration is preloaded on the bike. In T1, place goggles and cap in my bag, put my helmet on, grab the bike and go. In T2, rack the bike, quickly slip into shoes, grab cap and race belt and go. There are no socks, no sunglasses, no washing of the feet, no nutrition taken, no sitting down in either transition. Simplified, planned, organized and practiced. I just finished my first race. This was one of my favorite threads and posts in prepping for it so I wanted to give it a bump for others. I figured I wasn't going be superfast, but there was no reason I couldn't run through transition. I hit the beach running and zipped through T1. I mounted and dismounted in shoes because the mount line was on a hill. I tried to keep it simple like the bear and felt like it worked very well. Thanks to all for the good suggestions and awesome resource here on BT. The best advice I can give is to read this thread, practice your transitions, and don't walk. T1 1:49 1/46 in Novice Men 38/342 overall men T2 1:09 5/46 in Novice Men 90/342 overall men |
|
|
|
|
View profile
Add to friends
Go to training log
Go to race log
Send a message
View album
CONNECT WITH FACEBOOK