Transition

Some people say that in Triathlon, Nutrition is the 4^th discipline, but Transition is definitely the 5^th! We often tend to underestimate the importance of “transition” from swim to bike (T1) and bike to run (T2), spending that time for just a breather wasting precious minutes and without structuring our race tactics. Let’s have a look at physiology, psychology, logistics, sequencing and workouts that can improve our speed in T1/T2.

Why should I improve my transition?

The shorter the race and the more important is to maximize efficiency of the “operations” in transition. But also in longer competition you want to be as fast and as organized as possible not to forget nutrition, sunglasses, hat and bib belt…

More efficient = Less waste of time

We measure triathlon performance by time, and I’ve seen so many athletes losing precious minutes just because they didn’t practice enough or because they didn’t think about it. 

Physiology

Imagine having spent the last hour lying face down and all of a sudden you stand up and run! Even if you haven’t been working out, and I am specifically referring to swimming an Ironman distance, your body is going to feel a trauma. First, human body needs some time to cope with the rotation from horizontal to vertical. It’s a matter of gravity and blood flow. Second, specificity of the athletic gesture that goes from the rotational  (arms) and pulsating (legs) movement of the front crawl, to the alternating movement of the walk/run to reach your bike and finally, to the rotational (legs) propulsion on the bike implies some time for the human body to adapt. These changes in mechanics can be trained with patience and time, because abrupt transitions can cost you injuries. Cramps, distortions, falls can be mitigated by integrating your race preparation not only with Sweet Spots, but also reviewing your transition skills. 

Psychology

Either you come out of the water first or last, spectators will be cheering loud! And when you dismount your bike to start the run they will be even louder.

If you want to get your heart rate skyrocketing, you can do it just with excitement feeling the adrenaline of those moments. Maybe it’s your first triathlon, maybe your family and friends are the spectators cheering for you, we know that in those two moments you will be dealing with something else than fatigue: a higher heart rate for your next leg.

Your coach has briefed you on the power/heart rate zones which you need to keep for your best performance, but you start pedaling/running and it’s just too much.

As a coach and athlete, there are two ways that I find useful to “control” this situation of psychological stress.

The first is to identify a power/pace/RPE which will allow you to get back the heart rate to the advertised Zone. Keeping a relatively high cadence at the beginning of both bike and run will make sure that the effort is more controlled, and it would be easier to “bring the heart rate down”.

The second is to visualize T1/T2. What do I mean by that?

Going to transition early is a sound procedure in order to review the route from the exit of the swim to the mount line and from the dismount line to the beginning of the run. By doing this you will get familiar with the surface you are going to run, with the place where your gear is located and the distances that you will have to cover in transition.

Doing this is a way to reduce surprises and things you can’t control.

Logistics

Hanging the bike

First triathlon you want to get on site and check in your bike early enough so that you can prepare everything following a precise checklist. You can look around to have an idea on how the other athletes are managing their assigned space.

If on one side seeing this picture is going to give you peace of mind…

Few hours later you may get a panic attack when the transition area is filled up with bicycles and people sprinting around! In this mess and lack of oxygen, it is imperative that you look in advance for some landmarks to retrieve your bicycle and run gear.

In local races, normally there is no racking a bike and run bag, and the space assigned to you is very limited and close by your bike, which should be hanged by the seat in a way that you can see the number on the rack (if present). If in doubt look around your spot and match your neighbour.

Space available

As mentioned before, space available changes races to races.

For IRONMAN brand races you normally have two different bags where you put the material which you need on the subsequent phase.

For example, coming out of the water you will find a Bike bag hanging at some numbered racks (get some reference points also there because they are really crowded), where you will put your bike stuff.

With those bags you normally access a changing tent where you can maneuver stuff out (the one you need for the next leg) and stuff in (the one you just used like wetsuit, swim cap,  goggles). I can recommend wearing the helmet  and the bib belt right away.

For short races, instead you will normally have to set your towel with the stuff on top, close to your bike.

Once you rack your machine you will see a small place on the floor, let's say, 40cm by 60cm. This is where you have to lay your stuff.

After a couple of triathlons I started placing the bike shoes on the pedals to be able to run through T1 and make a flying transition.

Also the Pros can have difficulties sometimes, so take it easy and take your time.

To make sure that the bike shoes will stay balanced without dragging on the surface through  the entire transition area I use the notorious elastic band hooked up on the rear wheel skewer.

As soon as you can jump on the bike you start pedalling with the feet on top of the shoes and after gaining some speed you wear them one at a time.

Note: this procedure requires a very good bike handling and shall not be performed for the first time on your first competition.

Nutrition

A special attention must be given to the nutrition aspect of the transition area.

For Half Ironman, Olympic and Sprint distances I like to stuff my bike with the exact amount of calories and drinks plus a small reserve. The design and the accessories of the bike will dictate the amount and the location of the fuel that you can carry. I don't put anything on the floor because I could forget about it.

Anyway you must be aware on what the organizers are providing just in case you drop something.

Sequencing

Sequencing your actions is the critical part to make time without fainting in transition. Some people find a good technique seating and recovering a little breath.

This is what I do.

You start the swim with cap and goggles (just one pair that is working fine will be ok!).

Out of the water I run to my picnic cloth still wearing googles and cap (I want my hands free), wear the helmet and bib belt, pick up the bike and go.

Coming back from the bike I remove the feet from the shoes 100 mt from the dismount line and enter the transition area barefoot.

For Sprint distances I go no socks, for Olympic ones it depends on the status of my feet.

Half and Full Ironman distances definitely socks in the bike bag for the ride and in the shoes for the run.

Sometimes you get there and you find your bike from far away, but some other times you have to be very focused to find it.

Remember your reference landmarks.

Setting up the transition area is a fun part of pre race. Spend some time there before the race start. Those moments won’t be wasted.

Workouts

Best time in transition without forgetting anything, comes with good practice during training not only in the competition phase, but throughout the entire training progression.

In the base and build phase your coach will prescribe a brick run just after a long ride. This is a good moment to review the above content and practice minimizing time from when you stop on the bike to when you start the run. You are now training on the physiology.

Approaching the racing season your workouts will be much more focused on multiple bricks, run to bike to run, where the main theme will be timing maximization under pressure.

I like this workouts to be done in group of few athletes.

At this link you will find two workouts which I have used as an athlete and I use now for my athletes.
Let me know what you think in the comments!
1% better every day

From “A” Race to “B” Race

You just smashed your “A” Race and adrenaline and endorphin levels are still skyrocketing. You are still celebrating your achievement with epic Instagram posts, but then, all of a sudden, your training buddy is posting #roadtoBrace. What?!? Already?!? It’s time to check your Training Peaks again.

It’s quite common to schedule some shorter distance races just after your main season competition. The logic with that is to capitalize on the current level of fitness and focusing a little more on speed and power. It's also a good chance to get away from those long boring endurance sessions on the trainer. Heart Rate spikes high, intervals at Tempo, all-out 50 mt in the pool!

But the psychology of Triathletes sometimes is completely different.

We feel justified to take one more day off, find excuses not to complete assigned workouts, complain about  injuries (which more often than not are psychosomatic) Welcome to the post A race blues. You’ve lost your focus and not entirely sure how to play it. That’s ok. And it's totally normal. It's part of the process.

The days leading up to our “A” Ironman are meticulously planned, your hydration, your rest, your training, your nutrition…the devil is in the detail and we’re making sure all that training comes to fruition with these details. The jokes about tapering triathletes are funny cause they’re true!!

Ironman, as we know, is pretty good in motivating you with just that three minutes video shown with loud music at the pasta party.

Your Coach has been playing a big part in helping you maintain that motivation. But now the main focus isn’t there. Now what? That’s done! And its business as usual. Training starts again. And that can be a challenge, for even the best out there.

First things First: Measurable goals

The first thing’s first. Go back to basics. What’s your why? Why do this? Why this race?

Peel back the layers and it all boils down to this: you signed because you want to be 1%better every day!

Setting new tangible goals and objectives is as important as being fit and strong.

Why? Measurable targets are actually great food for motivation. Motivation keeps you focused. Being focused leads to mental fitness.

Body and mind are working in synergy to lead to your best race, to the best race you can have that day.

“B” Race Targets Case Studies

For a beginner athlete (learning to train/training to learn) we are not going to talk about a time related target, but more about a skill related one. What do I mean with that?

In your previous race you have seen that you struggled to find the correct heart rate after the transition from the bike to the run (T2). It was advertised to stay in heart rate (HR) Zn3 from the beginning, but you ended in Zn4/5 instead and your run was miserable.

Your Coach is able to help you identify the root cause for that and tackle a plan to solve this issue. We know how much physiology is affected by the mechanics of the cycling transitioning into the run and how much, for example, a correct individual cadence both on the bike and on the run, can influence athlete’s performance.

The weeks leading to your “B” Race your training will focus not any more on long endurance workouts (you are aerobically fit already), but more on competition skills, executing more brick workouts, where you will gain more confidence on the dynamics and logistics of T2 itself. You will concentrate on not starting the run too hard in order to reach the HR target zone and build from that point. What we are going to measure in the coming race will be not only the time spent in transition area, but also the HR kept in the first 5/10 minutes of the run.

For an intermediate/advanced athlete (training to compete) it’s possible to talk about a time related target. What do I mean with that?

You know that your 5km run time is 20 minutes, but your sprint tri 5km run is 22 minutes. The quantifiable target is “improve my time in a sprint triathlon by reducing the time gap between run only and run in a triathlon competition”. This will be done by focusing on more tempo intervals in the weeks preceding the race inserting short, but intense brick workouts.

With these two case studies we can see that the beginner triathlete will measure his performance by analyzing the HR kept in the race, which led to a certain performance.

The intermediate on the other hand will have the unequivocal result of his time.

Note: Every race, every human is different every day. On race day weather could be different from previous year, it could be hot, it could be windy, your digestion could be messed up, maybe you didn’t sleep that much. These are all things that we cannot control.

Deal with things that you can control, things you trained for. Race the day you’re given.

Sometimes signing for a race with no guidance can lead to frustration. Maybe the time in life was not good, maybe the preparation from an open source internet plan was not enough for our expectations.

This is way is so important in triathlon have the help of an “outside” professional. Someone who is looking at you and is tailoring your training to your needs of glory and to your lifestyle.

This person is an expert in dealing not only with training plan, but also with athletes’ life drama.

This person is an expert in identifying with you new goals day by day and able to quantify your performance. This person is also able to look at your current training completely objectively, without the emotional investment the athlete has, and offer some guidance how to best tackle whats ahead.

This person is also able to trigger your motivation when you are bored and convinced that “IT CANNOT BE DONE”.

Yes YOU CAN!

Yes you can be 1%BETTER EVERY DAY.