Tri Class #6: Transitions

Last night wasn't incredibly physical, but I learned alot. We had to bring all our gear for all three sports. When we got there, they had a bike rack set up on which we placed our bikes and arranged everything else next to it. Then we went over to a "starting point" and put on our swimming caps and goggles. I felt rather silly putting on swim gear when I'm no where near water, but it turned out to be a useful thing. It's very easy to forget taking them off!

In waves of people, we were sent to do the swim to bike transition. So you are barefoot (I wore slippers, it was muddy) and wearing your swim stuff. You strip off the goggles, etc as you jog over to your bike. Then pull on the bike shoes, then the helmet and whatever else you are using. Then we had to grab the bike, jog over to the starting area, get on, ride a loop, come back and then do the bike to run transition and jog over to the starting area. We did this twice. My first run through was pitifully slow. As I was doing it I realized that I didn't have things set up well. The second time, with lessons learned from the experience and from the coaches, it was much smoother. For the first run through, I was either last, or second to last (I'm not sure). For the second, I was second. Big improvement.

You really have to think about how you arrange your gear. Initially, I had placed my helmet on my seat, but it takes time to reach over to get it, and then you have to fumble with the straps. For the second run through, I placed the helmet upside down on top of my running shoes with the straps hanging over the sides of the helmet. That worked much better.

I also had issues with my running shoes. For the first time, I had left them as I normally do, slightly loosened. That's no good because you almost have to sit down to put them on. For the second, I loosened the laces a lot and spread the mouth of the shoe as wide as I could get it. I also pulled the tongue up so it was out of the way. This was much easier to get in to, I could almost step right in without using my hands. Now I still have to deal with tying laces, but I'll get those little plastic things soon so that won't be an issue anymore.

The bike shoes had problems too. When I went to pull them on quickly, the straps came out of their holders/grommets. I'll need to look into adding something to the ends of the straps so they can't slip through.

One of the coaches showed us his transition. It took about 15 seconds. He had his swim gear off before he reached the bike. He put on his glasses, helmet, and number belt, and then took off with the bike. I started to go, "hey, he didn't put on shoes that cheater," when he hopped on the bike and I realized the shoes were attached to his pedals. He put them on as he rode. Very slick. I think if I tried that, I'd eat it pretty bad. After the transition practice, one of the girls was trying to do it, and it looked like a very painful learning curve. Her feet kept slipping off the pedals while trying to mount at the run, and she would bang her shins. Owweee.

After we finished this, we put all our gear away and then went for an out and back run for a total of 45 minutes. After jogging a few minutes, I realized it was myself, a coach, and another fellow alone, in front of the pack. A little while after the turn around point, the coach goes "on a scale of one to six, with six being all-out effort, what's your current effort?" The other guy and I both say around 3. The coach responds, ok, try take it up to at least a four. Crud. I was hoping for an easy run. We really pushed it the rest of the way back. I about died for the last few minutes. I know that sort of thing pays dividends down the road, but sometimes you just don't want to do it.


Below is my OCD listing of gear and how to lay everything out and how the transitions should go. I want to be able to just print this out and use it as a checklist for race preparation.

Clothing/Gear:
Pony-tail holder
Tri-shorts
Swim suit top
Bike/Run shirt
Biking glasses/shades
Running hat
Watch
Socks (heavily dusted with baby powder)
Running Shoes
Bike Shoes
towel to stand on and dry off feet
towel to lay everything out on
bottle for rinsing off feet
baby powder for dusting socks
sunscreen
body glide
food
water
bike (duh)

So here's the order (likely will be revised):
Arranging everything:
Lay out towel for everything to go on
Put running shoes furthest back, spread them as wide open as possible with the tongues held by laces.
Set body glide next to shoes
Set Gu next to shoes
Put hat and number next to shoes
Put helmet upside down on top of shoes, arranging straps
Open glasses and put in helmet
Lay shirt over the helmet
Put bike shoes in front of run shoes
Dust up socks with baby powder
Lay socks over the bike shoes
Lay towel/rag for feet in very front
Place water bottle for rinsing feet next to second towel

Swim:
cap
goggles
tri shorts
swim suit top
watch
LOTS of sunscreen

Transition 1: Swim to Bike
Remove cap and goggles while running up the beach
Rinse feet with water bottle and dry on towel
Put on more sunscreen
Pull on running shirt
Pull on socks and bike shoes
Put on glasses/shades
Put on helmet

Transition 2: Bike to Run
Remove helmet
Remove shades
Take off bike shoes and pull on running shoes
Tuck Gu into shorts
Roll on body glide
Add sunscreen
Put on hat
Put on number holder/waist-band

TODO:
get those little things to fasten laces quickly so I don't have to fumble with tying them.
get glasses/shades for biking
get waist band for number