Transition training

[rocknrollgirl]

Good Morning All,
Well, I am getting down to it...race one is this Sunday. I have decided to spend tomorrow afternoon practing transitions. I found a great little lake about 30 mins from home, with a sandy beach and some nice dirt roads nearby. I plan to do my swim, struggle out of my wetsuit, hop on my bike, up the dirt road, transition, short run. Lather rinse repeat. I swam there on Saturday, and it is perfect.

Now...a question for the expericnced racers.

Do you keep a bin of water at transition to rinse off your feet?

And while I have you here...any tricks to getting a long sleeved full wetsuit off quickly?

[divingbiker]

Well, I'm certainly no experienced racer having done only one sprint triathlon, but I used a bottle of water to squirt on my feet to rinse them off, then dried them with a hand towel. It was much less of a hassle than a pan of water, since our transition area space was pretty tight, and it worked just fine.

[Tri Girl]

I do what divingbiker does. I lay my large towel (body size but folded many times to make smaller) down in my transition spot and set all my goodies on top of it. I have a big bottle of water to squirt my feet to clean them off and then dab them dry on the towel.

As for tips on getting out of a full sleeved suit- I can't help you there. Only a long john for me.


Best of luck this weekend. Are you nervous yet??? I can't wait to hear all about it!!!!!

[Wahine]

I don't bother with the water at all. I typically find that by the time I run to my transtion area my feet are dry enough to get 90 percent of the sand/gravel off, simply by wiping my feet off on my towel and bending over and quickly dusting the rest off with the free towel ends.

As for getting out of the wetsuit quickly, cover all the bits that tend to get caught with body glide - ankles to calves, wrists to forearms. Practice unzipping as you run toward the transition. If possible try to get your arms out on the way as well. Then get ready to drop on your butt on a grassy bit and if you have wetsuit strippers, they'll help you pull off the lower half. If you don't have stippers, I would still try to take the suit off on a grassy patch prior to getting to transtion area, it's easy to start knocking all that stuff over once you're in amoung the bikes. Especially since you're going to be the first one out of the water and all the bikes will still be there.

One other tip, if your feet get wet on the bike it's worth taking the extra time to change socks before the run. Wet socks are a recipe for huge blisters. It may not stop you on this race but would mess up your training for sure over the week or 2 following.

[rocknrollgirl]

Thanks Guys, Thanks Yoda....

What or whom is a wetsuit stripper?????

I will try the body glide today.

[crazycanuck]

At Ironman events they have volunteers to aid in the removal of your wetsuit. I am unsure of the rules and have never had this job yet but they can "assist" you..(need to check the rules in the Tech officials booklet..)

C

[tangentgirl]

I don't bother with the foot water thing, although I know very experienced racers who do.

It helps a bunch if you take off the first half of your wetsuit right after you get out of the water, while you're running towards transition. It comes off easier if it hasn't started drying.

[Wahine]

Thanks Guys, Thanks Yoda....

What or whom is a wetsuit stripper?????

I will try the body glide today.

What CC said. It's the most coveted volunteer position at a triathlon. Most big tris have em. I would guess that XTerra would but you should check with the race organizers. Meanwhile, practice as if you won't have one.