Faster Triathlon Transition Times

[Source: East Coast Cycos newsletter in Tri-Rudy newsletter, October 9, 2009)
by Craig McGray

Many times, athletes wait until the week before the race to practice triathlon transitions, if at all. You need to practice now in order to have the fastest triathlon transitions possible.

One way to practice is to include transitions in your brick workouts. Set aside some practice time to work exclusively on faster transitions. This can be scheduled on an off or light recovery day. This works well because you don't worry about an aerobic workout that day and you still have trained some..

You can leave your shoes in the pedals and use rubber bands

Pro and Elite athletes leave their shoes in the pedals for the first transition (T1). After they exit the swim, they only have to put on their helmets, grab the bike and run out of the transition area.

They attach one end of a rubber band around the shoe or through the heel loop of the shoe, and the other end to a rear stay on the side of the bike. This is done in order to keep the crank arms and shoes from rotating and jamming into the ground. You will have to experiment to see which locations are best for your rubber bands depending on your shoe size and frame size.

The rubber bands will easily break away when you mount the bike and begin pedaling. At this point, your feet will be on top of the pedals. Slide your feet in your shoes once you are rolling at a good pace. Do not try to do this unless you are up to a good speed as you will wobble if you are going too slow and that is dangerous to both you and others.

Put your sunglasses on while pedaling
Instead of putting your sunglasses on in the transition area, put them on once you are rolling on the bike. If your helmet has front air vents, see if you can secure the sunglasses there. If your sunglasses will not stay secured on your helmet, fasten them to the top of your frame with a small piece of tape.

Use elastic laces and no socks
There are elastic laces available at most stores that stock triathlon supplies. Elastic laces allow you to easily slip your feet into your shoes, wasting no time to secure Velcro or old-style lace locks on regular laces.

Before you decide to race with no socks, do a few practice runs at home. Some athletes can run with no socks and not have a single blister. Other athletes will develop hot spots on their feet that eventually bloom into blisters.

On your test run, carry a lubricant such as Body Glide. When you feel a hot spot beginning to develop, stop and apply the lubricant to the shoe surface causing the hot spot. This is the same location you will apply the lubricant on race morning when you set up your transition area.

Use a flying mount and dismount
The elite racers are going as fast as possible at every moment during a race. They mount their moving bicycle with a flying mount, which looks something like a cowboy jumping onto a moving horse.

Before they approach the dismount line at T2, they remove both feet from their shoes and continue pedaling in a manner similar to when they began the bike leg. Near the dismount line, they swing one leg back and over the bicycle so it's behind the other leg on one side of the bicycle. At the dismount line they are off the bike and running to the transition area. This particular move is advanced and takes plenty of practice.

Use a movie camera
Have someone record your T1 and T2 in a practice session or during a race. Use a watch and time both transitions. After reviewing for ways to improve, do the transitions repeatedly until you think you have the fastest transition time possible.

Another way to improve transition times is to tape some of the top age-group and elite racers to see how they're doing transitions. You may pick up some additional tips that you can use to better your times.

If you're looking to get the edge on your competition without additional training, take a look at your transitions. Thinking about where you can save time during transitions is a fun addition to your training and it may even put you on the podium.