Heather Fell: Fancy improving your overall triathlon time without
any training or additional requirement of kit, it sounds too good to be true, but it's amazing how
much time can be saved with a few tweaks to your transition techniques. We've got T1 and T2, so see
those as opportunities to shave off seconds, maybe even minutes, from your finish time.
[music] Your first transition begins
before you even get out of the swim. You want to start thinking about it, but also actioning it.
If you have an incredibly well fitting wetsuit, then it might be quite dry and tight to your
skin. It's a good idea to give a little flush, so literally grab the front of the neck and just
let in some fresh water. It doesn't sound very nice, but it will seriously help you when it
comes to getting off your wetsuit is it just lubricates it against your skin. Do it just before
you're getting out. Then once you're out, the first thing you want to do is take your
goggles up onto your head so you can see where you're going, leave them there.
Then concentrate on actually taking the wetsuit off the top half of your body. Get the zip
undone and peel it off your arms whilst it's still nice and wet because it should slide off
pretty easily, leave it around your waist, and now's the time to get your breath back,
think about where you're going, and this is the point when you can take your hat and goggles off,
keep them in your hand as you're running into transition and put them on the ground,
then the next thing is to get the rest of your wetsuit off.
Obviously, you want to get your wetsuit off as quickly as possible, and then it's on to the rest
of the kit. If you are going to be wearing socks, if it's a long distance event, or you're putting
your shoes on actually in transition, then, if you're a little bit wobbly, you might want to
sit down, especially if it's a longer distance race and do it all properly, it's up to you. Put
some talcum powder in your shoes and sometimes even in your socks will help you to get those
on quickly. Then on to the other pieces of kit. You've got positioning, think about your helmet,
your shoes, if you are putting them on in T1, and your race belt, for example.
Lie it out and imagine how you'd actually want to pick it up and put it on. Helmet, for example,
it's probably best to start with that because you want to get that done up and secure before
you touch your bike at all. For this you want to leave the straps out to the side so they're easy
and they're out of the way, but have it so that the actual front of the helmet is closest to you.
If you think about it logically, so you go down to pick it up, it'll come on this way,
the front will automatically be in the right place. You can either place it on your handlebars,
rest it on your bike, or have it on the ground in that position. If you're going to be using
sunglasses, then try and pop them actually into your helmet already so they're just on your head
ready for you to then put on whilst you're riding along. It's going to save you time. Same goes if
you've got a TT helmet, if the visor has that option of actually just placing it on the top.
You can sort yourself out once you've got out of transition and you're comfortable and out on
the road. Then your race belt, if you're going for a step in one, you're not going to be it or
having to do it up, then make sure you leave it in the right position, the same goes if you're
leaving it open, have the number facing away from you so you don't have to turn it around. It might
seem tiny, but these things will all add up. Then your bike, make sure you've left it in the
correct gear. For this you'll need to have checked what the slope is, whether it's going uphill,
downhill, or flat after the mount line and up to it and beyond. Make sure you're not going to be
having to grind out your gears and clunking through them, it's a chance when the chain
comes off and you're just going to make your things harder for yourself,
so make sure it's in the right gear. Bike computer can also be left on standby, so
as soon as you get going, you don't have to be flicking it on and turning it on,
you can just simply press Start. Finally, if you are going to be doing a flying mount,
then make sure you've got your shoes attached with the elastics to your bike, left at three and nine
o'clock so they're not going to hit the ground as you're pushing your bike out of transition,
and if you want more tips on that, we've got a whole video on how to do the flying mount.
Again, as you head towards T2, start thinking ahead and having a quick check-in with yourself.
For example, are you thirsty? It's far better to take a drink whilst you're on
the bike rather than stopping and wasting time in transition to have that drink.
Then you want to almost think about T1 in reverse when it comes to the order of which you're going
to remove things. If you do have a visor on your helmet, see if you can put that back on top.
If you are wearing sunnies, then just make sure that they're underneath the straps on your cycle
helmet, so you can leave them on as you take your helmet off, and you're going to be far quicker
getting out of T2. Once you've racked your bike, you can then take your helmet off,
and it's then looking at the strategy you've laid out already, so it's preparation that's
key in T2. Again, have things facing in the right direction, it's going to be easy to put them on.
You want to have your trainers facing away from you. If you're going to be wearing socks,
you might want to sit down. It's up to you if you've not already put them on, but make sure your
socks are laid out. If they're foot specific that the left is on the left hand side, the right on
the right, maybe even pop them in your trainers so they're open and ready to go. Then as for the rest
of the kit that you might be wanting, how much fit can you actually pick up and put on as you're
going so you can save some valuable time here? If you're going to be using your own nutrition,
make sure it's there ready easy to grab so you can be putting it in your pocket as you run out
of T2. Same goes for any sunnies or a visor, you can sort yourself out whilst you're running along.
You've probably gathered by now that organization and pre-planning
are key to having successful transition. First of all, go through it all in your head,
so you're imagining yourself going through T1 and T2. Then actually go through it in slow motion.
Once you've set it up, run yourself through as though you've just come out of the swim, you
don't have to do the wetsuit part, but you can do the rest of putting things on, or imagining you're
putting them on, and the same for T2. Hopefully, you will have ironed out any issues. It should
mean that everything is laid down in the order of which you're going to need to put it on. Remember
that when you come into T1, yes, you want to be as quick as you can, but if you make too much
mess or you throw things down, they could actually get in the way of your kit you'll need for T2.
You're slowing yourself down later on. Be methodical and you'll get there far quicker. Good
luck. Hopefully, you're going to be racing sooner you can put these tips into action. If you've got
any of your own individual tips that we have missed today, make sure you share those with us
in the comments section below. Give us a like if you've enjoyed it, and you can also follow us on
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