Swim to bike transition practice

Practicing triathlon transitions on a windy (I mean really windy) sea front at Whitley Bay.

Camera work courtesy of VonSmallHaussen.

Category:

People & Blogs

Tags:

• traithlon
• transition

[KarlOnSea]

@ jcruff33 for the 5 seconds or so that it costs me, it's worth it, as it means my T2 time is faster (about 7-12 seconds stationary). I'm also never going to be in contention for a podium finish, so I'd rather all-but guarantee blister free feet, than risk a race of pain. My last race was a full IM in hot conditions. There were water sprays every mile on the run, and my shoes got soaked running through these. Without socks, blisters would have been a dead cert for me!

[KarlOnSea]

LOL - that could account for my dreadful swim times!

I find that running with the bike over my shoulder is faster and a whole lot more stable. I have a tendency to lean against the bike while running if I try to just push it along by the handlebars / saddle. With the cleated shoes, this can end in comedy slides. As for the faster bit - I usually overtake people on the run out of T1 or back in for T2, so there must be something in it!

[KarlOnSea]

Yep - fine for sprints, or Olympic distances, but not longer. I saw some really poor-condition toes at the end of my last race - a 1/2 IM in pretty poor conditions. I on the other hand, was wearing socks, and got to the end without any problems. Put it this way - socks cost 5-15 seconds to put on, and for me (I ain't never going to get on the podium!) that's a price worth paying.

[jlgc1]

mmmm this transition is really slowly

[KarlOnSea]

It's not the fastest, but it's pretty reliable, and beats most others onto the bike because of this.

Why not post yours as a video response, so we can see how it should be done ;-)

[Fragnatix]

why dont you put your bike shoes on your bike so that you will loose less time in transition? and i dont know the distance but in sprint or olympics, you dont really need socks, so just take the glasses, the helmet, and go on Transition in 7 second!

[KarlOnSea]

The main problem is that I have only standard road shoes - three straps on each, with the loop on the inside. I've tried having 'em on the bike, but it actually works out slower by the time i struggle into them. I've also tried without socks, but don't have toes tough enough - even on a sprint, I end up rubbing up some serious blisters across the tops of my toes.

[FPSoccerMC]

PSHHHHHHHHHHHHHWOOOOOOOAHHHHHH­HSSHPSSSSSSSSS



[jemenake]

My heart is in agreement with others about the socks being a waste of time, but my head says this. Where I live, even the super-short sprint triathlons have about 4-5 minutes between the 1st and 2nd place guys. The lesson here being that, if you're going to win, it's NOT because you saved 5 seconds on T1. Longer tri's will have an even larger gap between the winner and non-winners.

[Mnptn]

WTF nothing else 2 do ??

[SsomebodyTookMyName]

How much time do you loose by swimming in a long sleeve cycle jersey?

But mainly, what's the deal with carrying the bike to the mount line? Surely it's faster to grab the seat and wheel it there, and also take up less room whilst running through the bust bike racks.

[schwantz037]

socks cost time. Put some vas on the parts that might chaif, and some talcom powder in the shoe.