Transition - Practice makes perfect

Kia Ora guys,

I hope all is well! Everything is great in my book and we have started the build to ironman with 7 hours on the bike in the weekend with only 6 weeks until race week I can feel the excitement fuel my body as I have booked accommodation, a week off work etc.

This week I would like to help some of you with transitions which were a request after my Instagram post last week where I posted the fastest T2 time at the NZL long distance champs.

Now to get it started answer me this question: How many hours of swim practice would it take to lop two minutes off your swim time? Or how many hours of running and hours of cycling would it take to do the same? Probably hundreds, maybe even thousands especially when it comes to swimming.

A lot of us are so focused on the three disciplines of swim, bike and run that we forget that PB' or race positions can be gained or lost in transition. Now I know transition practice isn't as fun as anything else, but it is a good investment of your training time and before you know it you have a set routine and are faster than ever before.

I'm going to throw one of my best mates Tim Ford in the spot light right now purely because it is one of my most memorable races I have ever had and was fortunate to turn around right as he crossed the line and we had a man love moment ah-ha, so below are our race times from Sunshine Coast 2014 where we had an epic race.  - Happy birthday to Tim by the way whose birthday was on Wednesday the 18th Jan!

Going off the above times I'm fortunate I had the transitions I did, I only came across the line in front of Tim by 39 seconds and after reviewing the above I made up 1.15 min on him in in transition.. Now keep in mind this is over two years ago and Tim is an ace at transitions (He was only 1 seconds behind me at Taupo 70.3)

Something that I love to follow is KISS which stands for "Keep It Simple Stupid" which makes me grin every time I think of it.

T1 - I like to make sure I have everything on my bike so that I don't need to worry about anything in particular just get my wetsuit off, helmet on and go. One key point with T1 is I suggest you practice having your shoes clipped in and running with your bike holding the seat, then with your hands on the bars while moving jump in the air onto the seat and slip your feet in the shoes and get going. I never do my shoes up tight for a km or until I feel comfortable to ease off and do so this easily saves you 30+ seconds expect ally in a cold swim where your hands are hard to manage.

T2 - When I am 500m from transition I undo my shoes and then with 250m I slip each foot out on top of the shoes and continue to cycle, when I am almost at the line I then left one leg over the seat, keeping my weight centered for balance and then right before the line I jump off, hold my seat and run to where my gear is.

Once I have racked my bike and taken off my helmet straight away I put on my socks (Which are open and in my shoe so I don't need to think. I then grab my race belt and hat which usually has my glasses, nutrition and anything else I need in side and start to run. I put my race belt on and everything else while I am running, this saves me easily 10+ seconds if I was to stand there and put it all on.

My key bit of advice is give it a go, see what works for you and get into a routine, it's easy not to practice and worry about it on the day but, transition is something that you shouldn't have to think about, so go on, get out there and give it a go.

Until next time remember, practice makes perfect 👊

Robo