Let's talk transition speed. I have fast transitions and they are my favorite part of the race, but think I can be faster. In every triathlon that I've done this year in which the splits have been timed, I have always beaten at least one women by less than the amount of time that I put on them in transition. Twice they have been in my age group. My transitions are already pretty up there (they always rank higher than anything else that I can do and my combined T1+T2 times are often very close to race fastest), but I know there is still room for improvement.
Strategies and one big tip:
*** BE MINIMAL. In my spot, all I have is my bike with shoes attached, helmet, run shoes, race number belt. That is it. I put my bag outside of the fence so its out of the way. Do you REALLY need anything else?
:44 T1 including full wetsuit removal, :27 without. My strategy for this was to RUN through the transition, have the top of the wetsuit already off by the time I get there, take two pushes to get it down to mid calf, then take the rest off with my hands, put on helmet (with is either on the ground or on my handlebars open side up so I can tip it onto my head depending on the height of the rack), grab the handle bars (bike is racked seat in) and run across the mount line...
:29 for T2. Shoes off before I hit the dismount line, dismount at running speed, run to spot, rack bike handlebars in, helmet off, shoes on, grab # (sometimes visor too) and run.
Things I could learn that might make me even faster:
*Take off the last bit of the wetsuit by stepping on it with my feet so I can put on my helmet simultaneously
*Run with my bike holding it by the seat (not the stem or handlebars)
*A flying mount that will conserve momentum. I get on the seat without touching the pedals, but I have to slow to walking speed.
*Clip/Unclip the helmet chinstrap one handed while running through transition rather than stopped on the rack (yes this is usat legal, I just looked it up)
Let's talk transition speed. I have fast transitions and they are my favorite part of the race, but think I can be faster. In every triathlon that I've done this year in which the splits have been timed, I have always beaten at least one women by less than the amount of time that I put on them in transition. Twice they have been in my age group. My transitions are already pretty up there (they always rank higher than anything else that I can do and my combined T1+T2 times are often very close to race fastest), but I know there is still room for improvement.
Strategies and one big tip:
*** BE MINIMAL. In my spot, all I have is my bike with shoes attached, helmet, run shoes, race number belt. That is it. I put my bag outside of the fence so its out of the way. Do you REALLY need anything else?
:44 T1 including full wetsuit removal, :27 without. My strategy for this was to RUN through the transition, have the top of the wetsuit already off by the time I get there, take two pushes to get it down to mid calf, then take the rest off with my hands, put on helmet (with is either on the ground or on my handlebars open side up so I can tip it onto my head depending on the height of the rack), grab the handle bars (bike is racked seat in) and run across the mount line...
:29 for T2. Shoes off before I hit the dismount line, dismount at running speed, run to spot, rack bike handlebars in, helmet off, shoes on, grab # (sometimes visor too) and run.
Things I could learn that might make me even faster:
*Take off the last bit of the wetsuit by stepping on it with my feet so I can put on my helmet simultaneously
*Run with my bike holding it by the seat (not the stem or handlebars)
*A flying mount that will conserve momentum. I get on the seat without touching the pedals, but I have to slow to walking speed.
*Clip/Unclip the helmet chinstrap one handed while running through transition rather than stopped on the rack (yes this is usat legal, I just looked it up)