As far as practice goes, I agree that a few practices in training are good and help a ton, however this is one of those things that I think you learn the most by doing it on race day as nerves, the swim, other people around, etc add to the pressure.
Last year a did a few early season sprints and 70.3s, by the 4th one my transition was second nature and I didn't have to think about anything, I just did it.
Wow - just checking back into this thread and some great ideas - certainly agree that this should be in the Wiki - also sounds like it might make sense to throw in a practice transition in the training program. I've done a number of times - just takes a few minutes after a training session and makes a difference.
This is another great information thread that makes being part of EN great....
I've done a lot of transitions, but never thought of a lot of this - thanks everyone. I guess I need to get used to riding without socks. On anything HIM or longer, I always wear socks on the bike - but it's slow with wet feet - even if they are rolled up.
One other question. For my only IM race, I wore bike shorts for the bike and changed to some DSS tri shorts for the run. Worked fine, but I was slow changing after almost 7 hours on the bike. For those that wear the same shorts all day, I'm curious what you use that would have enough padding for the bike, but not too much for the run. Maybe a different saddle would hlep - been thinking about that anyway.
A related story... I did my first (and only) IM wearing bike shorts over tri shorts. I had both on under the wet suit. (I had not understood how to deal with saddle soreness very well up to then.) It was all good on the bike, and my plan was just to slip the bikeshorts off and run in the tri shorts. I still think this is at least rational, but I don't think I need it any more.
However, what happened in reality is that I forgot about the bike shorts in T2 and ran the whole marathon wearing both the tri and bike shorts.
But, as others have noted above, having slightly less comfortable run apparel was the least of my problems. :-)
@ Bob- Like Mancona, I only ride in tri shorts. Just have to get used to it. Think after about a month of training it didn't matter to me anymore and I forgot about it.
Thinking about this all some more, I have a couple comments/questions that I admit are totally self-centered:
Glasses (any solution better than in the bag?)
William, I have attached my (sun)glasses to my bars with elastic bands, like below, and put them on in the first few miles of the bike. The elastic across the bridge has kept them attached over some very bumpy roads, so I'm pretty sure they would stay attached if you were to keep them there until you grab your bike.
Wow - just checking back into this thread and some great ideas - certainly agree that this should be in the Wiki - also sounds like it might make sense to throw in a practice transition in the training program.
I actually wrote most of the original post during the in-season last year, but held back posting it until deep into the middle of this OS for just that reason. There are so many other things to think about when the race is two weeks / two days / two hours away (are my tickets booked? what will i put in my special needs bag? is my bike tuned?) that the t-events would be very easy to overlook, or ratchet up the stress even further at a mondo-stressful time in the season calendar.
Posting now lets team members put this event in their calendars well in advance (hint, hint).
Not that I would bother...but...if I were going to change out of bike shorts after the ride I certainly would not put on tri shorts. Why would you do that? I have never run in tri shorts unless I am coming off the bike. Tri shorts have a pad and while are certainly not as bad as full on bibs to run in they certainly are not as comfortable as my run shorts. Just sayin...
@WJ - that is just funny, when did you realize that you had your bike shorts on? Also a pretty good example of why keeping it simple is a really good idea. Many folks lose some serious brain function a few hours into racing. Like science professors that do not notice they are wearing 2 pair of shorts [both with pads in them] at the start of a marathon. I for one have never managed to actually push the lap button each time I come to a mile marker in a marathon. Should be a simple task, cross the line, push the button. Got 23 once. Thank goodness for the folks at garmin solving that problem for me.
On a related note ever notice that how a few miles into a long run you and whoever can be cruising along, chatting, solving the worlds problems and then about 12 miles in the chatting stops and you are not smart enough to remember the way home? Worst part is that I can never seem to remember the resolution to that middle east peace thing I have come up with between miles 8-10 on many many occasions
Chris- I'm not sure I noticed I had them on until I finished! If I did, it was the least of my problems. This was pre-EN, and between being sick (and maybe too aggressive on the bike?) I had a 4:45 marathon.... To be fair, the legs on the bike shorts were longer than the tri shorts, so you wouldn't notice anything other than "that guy's running in bike shorts" unless you looked pretty darn closely!
And, yes, the bit about the absentminded professor is entirely true.
I usually have the autolap on my Garmin set to go at 1 mi, and I end up playing this game about how close "my" mile markers are to the course's... OK, so I know that's not a very exciting game, but as you say...on low brain function...
I try to minimize the number of moving parts in transition, and do everything I can while moving. Rather than sunglasses, I have a visor on my aero helmet, clip my shoes into the bike and ride without socks, so in T1 the only things I have to do are put on my helmet and grab my bike. To practice, I pretend that the garage is the transition area, with a "mount line" on the side walk. I run out with my bike, mount and go. Coming back, a slip off my shoes and run in from the "dismount line." I would be careful relying on tape or other markers in transition. More than once I have seen race officials remove such things. I count racks from the swim in and bike in spots. Even when the brain isn't working well, I can usually remember to turn left at the 4th rack.
I've always been a speedy transition guy; it just made sense. Free speed!
I've carried this over to riding brevets. Just before I get to a control, I fuel up and make a plan. Once there, I get in, execute that plan and roll out. If I want to keep riding with the folks that I rode in with, I ride "piano", stuffing my face until they catch up, then it's game on! Eventually those guys wear out from so much intensity, while I've been loafing along, keeping the tanks full.
I'm not that fast, but this has me finishing in front of the vast majority of the field.
This is one of my favorite threads ever. It took me less than 10 minutes to read and I'm pretty sure that I just cut 10 minutes from my IM time. (with a little practice - got it Dave
Great thread. It very much reminds me of a concept I studied in my graduate work in Operations Research. It's called the Single-Minute Exhange of Dies (SMED) and is really designed to optimize the changeover of a machine on a production line from making one widget to making another. But I think it has absolute application in transition and gives a checklist of sorts to help you optimize the process. Wikipideia link listed below but the meat of the article are the eight key steps [direct cut and paste from wikipedia with my comments in brackets]: 1.Separate internal from external setup operations [internal tasks are those that are performed in the exchange, e.g. you HAVE to grab your bike in T1. external tasks are those that can be moved out of the exchange, e.g. put your shoes/sunglasses on while biking or have your number belt on during the swim] 2.Convert internal to external setup [move every task you can out of the transition] 3.Standardize function, not shape [determine the tasks you must accomplish, not necessarily the equipment] 4.Use functional clamps or eliminate fasteners altogether [rubber bands on shoes/pedals, gear in ziploc] 5.Use intermediate jigs [bike setup on rack, shoe position in T2] 6.Adopt parallel operations (see image below) [determine if/where you can do two things at once - spray sunscreen while running] 7.Eliminate adjustments [bike setup, running shoe comfort/break-in, sunglass fit, etc.] 8.Mechanization [in the pure sense this is N/A - we're in this to test ourselves not a robot - but I view this piece as rehearsal and practice.]
Jogging versus walking the aid stations. If you can still get in the nutrition, best to keep moving faster? And later in the marathon, gets harder and harder to un-walk mentally. thoughts?
@ Robin - I used to be a runner, not a walker, of aid stations. Once I started walking (prior to joining EN) is when my IM marathon times started to drop dramatically: 4:22, 4:15, 4:08, 4:03 over a four year period. I also began walking for 10-15 seconds every mile during my non-interval training runs. I found I actually went FASTER overall when I introduced walking into the training runs, going from, say, 8:50 miles down below 8:40 miles.
Here are some guesses I have about why this works. (1) My HR drops a bit, even with a short walk, allowing more blood to flow to my GI tract, so I can absorb more fluid and carbs - more hydrated, more fuel, less slowing down over 4 hours. (2) Using the muscles (and nerves) differently for a brief time allows them to "re-set", getting a little rest and fresher to go again. (3) Mentally, I get a little break and something to look forward to, keeping my head in the game.
With all the up and down @ St. Geroge, I strongly argue for giving your thighs a break every now and then, especially on the downhills. You'll hear Rich preach this gospel on the 4 Keys video and again at the pre-race talk.
@ Jennifer. Right. Had this info but not sure if this is the best approach for everyone. I still wonder about the mental advantages of keeping moving faster, especially at the end of the marathon. Hard to get going again once walking.
@Al. That being said, I'll have to go with all the empiric evidence and the experience of the experienced folks. .
Comments
Last year a did a few early season sprints and 70.3s, by the 4th one my transition was second nature and I didn't have to think about anything, I just did it.
Rember the key is to be smooth and relaxed.
This is another great information thread that makes being part of EN great....
One other question. For my only IM race, I wore bike shorts for the bike and changed to some DSS tri shorts for the run. Worked fine, but I was slow changing after almost 7 hours on the bike. For those that wear the same shorts all day, I'm curious what you use that would have enough padding for the bike, but not too much for the run. Maybe a different saddle would hlep - been thinking about that anyway.
A related story... I did my first (and only) IM wearing bike shorts over tri shorts. I had both on under the wet suit. (I had not understood how to deal with saddle soreness very well up to then.) It was all good on the bike, and my plan was just to slip the bikeshorts off and run in the tri shorts. I still think this is at least rational, but I don't think I need it any more.
However, what happened in reality is that I forgot about the bike shorts in T2 and ran the whole marathon wearing both the tri and bike shorts.
But, as others have noted above, having slightly less comfortable run apparel was the least of my problems. :-)
William
William, I have attached my (sun)glasses to my bars with elastic bands, like below, and put them on in the first few miles of the bike. The elastic across the bridge has kept them attached over some very bumpy roads, so I'm pretty sure they would stay attached if you were to keep them there until you grab your bike.
see http://i56.tinypic.com/2qbr761.jpg
I actually wrote most of the original post during the in-season last year, but held back posting it until deep into the middle of this OS for just that reason. There are so many other things to think about when the race is two weeks / two days / two hours away (are my tickets booked? what will i put in my special needs bag? is my bike tuned?) that the t-events would be very easy to overlook, or ratchet up the stress even further at a mondo-stressful time in the season calendar.
Posting now lets team members put this event in their calendars well in advance (hint, hint).
You can't tell me transitions aren't important. At IM Wisconsin this past September I came out of the water in 531st place ( 1:10:00 swim)
When I got on my bike I was in 400th place. I would have to bike and run awfully fast to past those kind of numbers.
It is well worth taking the time to practice and visualize how you plan on proceeding through both T1 and T2.
Not that I would bother...but...if I were going to change out of bike shorts after the ride I certainly would not put on tri shorts. Why would you do that? I have never run in tri shorts unless I am coming off the bike. Tri shorts have a pad and while are certainly not as bad as full on bibs to run in they certainly are not as comfortable as my run shorts. Just sayin...
@WJ - that is just funny, when did you realize that you had your bike shorts on? Also a pretty good example of why keeping it simple is a really good idea. Many folks lose some serious brain function a few hours into racing. Like science professors that do not notice they are wearing 2 pair of shorts [both with pads in them] at the start of a marathon. I for one have never managed to actually push the lap button each time I come to a mile marker in a marathon. Should be a simple task, cross the line, push the button. Got 23 once. Thank goodness for the folks at garmin solving that problem for me.
On a related note ever notice that how a few miles into a long run you and whoever can be cruising along, chatting, solving the worlds problems and then about 12 miles in the chatting stops and you are not smart enough to remember the way home? Worst part is that I can never seem to remember the resolution to that middle east peace thing I have come up with between miles 8-10 on many many occasions
And, yes, the bit about the absentminded professor is entirely true.
I usually have the autolap on my Garmin set to go at 1 mi, and I end up playing this game about how close "my" mile markers are to the course's... OK, so I know that's not a very exciting game, but as you say...on low brain function...
To practice, I pretend that the garage is the transition area, with a "mount line" on the side walk. I run out with my bike, mount and go. Coming back, a slip off my shoes and run in from the "dismount line."
I would be careful relying on tape or other markers in transition. More than once I have seen race officials remove such things. I count racks from the swim in and bike in spots. Even when the brain isn't working well, I can usually remember to turn left at the 4th rack.
I've carried this over to riding brevets. Just before I get to a control, I fuel up and make a plan. Once there, I get in, execute that plan and roll out. If I want to keep riding with the folks that I rode in with, I ride "piano", stuffing my face until they catch up, then it's game on! Eventually those guys wear out from so much intensity, while I've been loafing along, keeping the tanks full.
I'm not that fast, but this has me finishing in front of the vast majority of the field.
1.Separate internal from external setup operations [internal tasks are those that are performed in the exchange, e.g. you HAVE to grab your bike in T1. external tasks are those that can be moved out of the exchange, e.g. put your shoes/sunglasses on while biking or have your number belt on during the swim]
2.Convert internal to external setup [move every task you can out of the transition]
3.Standardize function, not shape [determine the tasks you must accomplish, not necessarily the equipment]
4.Use functional clamps or eliminate fasteners altogether [rubber bands on shoes/pedals, gear in ziploc]
5.Use intermediate jigs [bike setup on rack, shoe position in T2]
6.Adopt parallel operations (see image below) [determine if/where you can do two things at once - spray sunscreen while running]
7.Eliminate adjustments [bike setup, running shoe comfort/break-in, sunglass fit, etc.]
8.Mechanization [in the pure sense this is N/A - we're in this to test ourselves not a robot - but I view this piece as rehearsal and practice.]
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Single-Minute_Exchange_of_Die
I have consolidated these tips into a wiki entry labeled "Transitions (Free Race-Day Speed)"
Let me know if I missed something important.
Another area for semi-free time:
Jogging versus walking the aid stations. If you can still get in the nutrition, best to keep moving faster? And later in the marathon, gets harder and harder to un-walk mentally. thoughts?
http://members.endurancenation.us/Resources/Wiki/tabid/108/Default.aspx?topic=Race+Execution+(Ironman)
@ Robin - I used to be a runner, not a walker, of aid stations. Once I started walking (prior to joining EN) is when my IM marathon times started to drop dramatically: 4:22, 4:15, 4:08, 4:03 over a four year period. I also began walking for 10-15 seconds every mile during my non-interval training runs. I found I actually went FASTER overall when I introduced walking into the training runs, going from, say, 8:50 miles down below 8:40 miles.
Here are some guesses I have about why this works. (1) My HR drops a bit, even with a short walk, allowing more blood to flow to my GI tract, so I can absorb more fluid and carbs - more hydrated, more fuel, less slowing down over 4 hours. (2) Using the muscles (and nerves) differently for a brief time allows them to "re-set", getting a little rest and fresher to go again. (3) Mentally, I get a little break and something to look forward to, keeping my head in the game.
With all the up and down @ St. Geroge, I strongly argue for giving your thighs a break every now and then, especially on the downhills. You'll hear Rich preach this gospel on the 4 Keys video and again at the pre-race talk.
@ Jennifer. Right. Had this info but not sure if this is the best approach for everyone. I still wonder about the mental advantages of keeping moving faster, especially at the end of the marathon. Hard to get going again once walking.
@Al. That being said, I'll have to go with all the empiric evidence and the experience of the experienced folks. .
Thanks.