Tri Coach: Transition Area

One of the most confusing things for new triathletes is the transition area. Since this question came up this week, I thought I'd break down a typical transition area here and give some pointers.

The first thing to know about transition areas is that the space you have will be small. It's best not to make it look like a garage sale with gear and clothing sprawling all over the place. Even if you get to the transition area early and set up with plenty of room, chances are that the racks will get progressively more crowded as the start of the race nears, and your spacious area will shrink to about the size of a decent hand towel. So just bring what you need, and leave the rest in your gear bag. Apply your sunscreen and your glide, your lip balm, hair tyes, and anything else you might need, put them away and just bring the basics to transition.

This is a photo of how I set up my own transition area at most races. I bring my nice bright green towel, and fold it until it's just about as wide as my bike's handlebars. This ensures that it takes up the same amount of space as the bike racked on the opposite side of the bike rack from me. If everyone racks their bikes on alternating sides of the rack, that's as much space as you will probably get.

My cap and goggles obviously go with me to the swim start, so I lay them out right in front. Next are my biking shoes, with velcro straps opened and loose. Note that bike shoes can also be clipped onto your pedals, but new triathletes probably don't need to worry about giving that a try right off the bat. If I choose to wear socks in a longer race, I will scrunch them all the way up until they are very compressed, and lay each one carefully inside a shoe. That way when I get to the shoes I can just stick my toes inside the sock and pull it up quickly over the foot.My helmet is beside the shoes, and I like to keep my sunglasses inside the helmet with the earpieces open and pointing up. That way I grab the sunglasses and put them on, smash the helmet on my head, buckle the strap and I'm off.

In the back of the transition towel is the running gear. My shoes have lace locks on them, and they are pulled open and ready to jam my feet into. On top of the shoes is my running hat, with the bill facing toward me, ready to just pop onto my head. On top of that I've placed a race number belt with my race number already clipped into it. Note that in some races (not very many any more) you may be required to wear a race number on the bike. In that case, I lay this on top of my bike shoes, and put it on with the number on my back. When I get to the run, the number is required to be in front so I just spin it around. In most races though you only need the number for the run. So you can pin it to your shirt or singlet, or you can use a number belt and just put it on for the run. My number belt happens to have some little elastic loops for sticking gels into, so for a longer race I can load it up with a couple of gels ahead of time.

That's it! There's not a lot of stuff in this transition area, which means no fumbling around when I'm in a hurry in T1 and T2 of the race. Before I go to the start line in my wetsuit, I stop and look at the transition area. I go to the chute where I'll be entering from the water and walk towards my rack, noting where it is in the area (it's five racks to the right from the entrance, or it's seven racks on the left). Though you will see it recommended frequently, please resist the notion of bringing a helium balloon and tying it to your rack so that you can find your bike. I was at a windy race this June where several people on my rack had done this. The balloons where all blowing horizontally, getting tangled in other peoples' bikes and gear, and bopping other triathletes in the face as they tried to transition. Trust me, you can remember that you are five racks on the left without a balloon.

As I do my run-through, I mentally see myself running in from the swim. I see myself unzipping my wetsuit as I run (not taking off my cap and goggles first, as that ties up your hands). Once the wetsuit is unzipped and stripped down to the waist, then I take off my cap and goggles and have them in hand as I approach the transition area. Now I approach my own area, and I see myself stripping off my wetsuit, putting on my bike shoes, my sunglasses and helmet, and unracking my bike and taking off.

This is a good time to practice taking your bike off of the rack and make sure that all goes smoothly. Make sure you don't have any brake levers or shift levers that will catch on the rack, make sure you've racked it in such a way that you can get it off easily. I was at a race recently where the woman on the rack next to me had racked her bike by rolling it under the rack and hanging her seat on the rack, but facing the wrong way (away from her own transition area). So she would have to roll it out backwards, catching her handlebars on the rack to get it out. Unfortunately, she could only get it off the rack by turning it almost sideways, a feat that was not possible once everyone else's bikes were racked. I pointed this out to her in the transition area before the race and thankfully she had time to change it. But she would've had an unpleasant surprise if she'd run up from the swim only to find she couldn't get her bike out without knocking over everyone else's!

After I take my bike off the rack, I make sure I know which direction I'm going out of the transition area to get to the bike course. Then I come back and re-rack the bike. I visualize myself making the bike to run transition. I mentally put on my race belt, my hat, and my running shoes. Again, I make sure I know which way I'm running out of the transition area to get to the run course. Learning these things ahead of time saves confusion in the middle of the race (you will almost always see race volunteers having to re-direct some hapless athlete who has tried to bike onto the run course or run the wrong way out of transition).

Phew! That seems like a lot, but by laying out a simple transition area, by making sure your bike is racked safely in a position that you can easily remove it from the rack, and by mentally practicing your transition and knowing where you'll be going, you will be on your way to having smooth and effective transitions in your race with a minimum of panic and confusion.

Trunk Transitions

Let's say you need to practice transitions, but you don't have someone to stand guard over your precious bike while you run. You could do it in your garage but it's too crowded (or like me, you live on a big hill and don't feel like doing hill repeats!). One solution is the Trunk Transition. Drive to a location where you can easily bike/run (I choose a parking lot that's adjacent to the bike path), and lay out your transition gear in your trunk or the back of your minivan, SUV or truck. For me, I just fold the back seat of the van flat and then I can even roll the bike right in there while I'm out running. Then I do a set of three reps of 10 minutes on the bike and 5 minutes running. When I'm done, I've gotten a quick 45 minute workout with 5 transitions. This is a great workout to throw into the beginning of your taper!

Speaking of which, I'm packing up for the first Sprint of the season this weekend. The thing I'm most excited about is the fact that our unending unceasing ridiculous dumpings of torrential rain are actually supposed to stop for a couple days and the weather will be nice. Hallelujah! We have gotten more rain the 1st three days of June than we normally get all month. No kidding! I went to take the dogs for a walk in the forest down by the river today and THE ENTIRE FOREST IS UNDER WATER. I wish I'd had my camera. It looked like a bayou with trees sticking out of the water. Wild.

In any case, I've got my checklist out, and am packing things up and checking them off as I go. I feel really really good about this race. I feel rested, tapered, trained, like everything feels just right. So I'm very excited! And I have some first-time triathletes to cheer on and I'm even more excited for them. I think I've decided to wear the Pointy Helmet of Speed even though I feel like a dork wearing it and it's a sprint race. But sometimes it's a windy course, so it might help me out just a little bit. Oh well, if you don't look like a dork sometimes in life, you're not really living.

Triathlon's Gift to Me

The scene was familiar: gear bag on one side, clothes and equipment spread all over the living room, checklist in hand, thinking over all the details of the quick transitions to be made.... the only difference is that I'm getting ready for my daughter's dance recital. Or should I say three dress rehearsals and four recitals in three different locations with six costume changes each! At eight years old, she's not really ready to handle the mass of hair, makeup, costume, and accessory changes herself at the fast pace she'll need to. Most of the girls on her dance team are several years older than her, but I'll be back in the dressing room helping her make the transitions so she can have her glorious nights on the big stage, something she looks forward to all year.

















By nature I'm not the world's most organized person. One of triathlon's many gifts to me has been to help me figure out how to sort, pack, check off, practice, and organize myself in situations like this. It's funny how many skills transfer from this sport that I love to the rest of my life. Discipline, tenaciousness, organization, good sportsmanship, the influence of triathlon helps all other aspects of my existance.

And today, it lets my daughter shine.