Transition- tips for getting out quickly

donothoponpop

What the title says really... How do you get out of a wetsuit quickly? Do you leave your shoes clipped on the bike? High gear? Running shoes unlaced and neatly set in place? Any and all tips greatly appreciated.

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donothoponpop wrote: »

What the title says really... How do you get out of a wetsuit quickly? Do you leave your shoes clipped on the bike? High gear? Running shoes unlaced and neatly set in place? Any and all tips greatly appreciated.

For me vaseline on wrists and ankles help get the suit off quicker. Shoes clipped in on bike and elastic holding them in place although i am still sh1t at this. Left in a high gear and running shoes left tied and i just slip them on.
I noticed you done a brick today, shorten your stride, increase the cadence and you will get into your running quicker and the "jelly leg" feeling will dissapear quicker. All imo of course:)

Macanri

Hey boss, hope the trainings going well for you.

To add to JBs tips, here's a few more pointers:

Yes the bodyglide on the wrists, ankle area and on the shoulders help; but I have found that the best assistance with getting the suit off is when leaving thewater grab a hold of the neck of the suit at the front and pull it away from your body, and let a good gulp of water down the front. As you stand up and run in as you near the T1 area remove your the suit from the upper body. A good tip here is to have your cap and goggles in your hand. Then as your suit sleeve is been removed from your arm it will be turning inside out. Then let go of your cap and gloves and they will stay in the arm of the wet suit. So when you get to the bike the water you took in will now be at your ankles and as you take your suit off your legs, that extra water helps expand the suit and get it over your ankles more swiftly.

When at T2 you could do as I did in my first tri and dry your hair:o (I don't stop for that luxury anymore:rolleyes:)

As JB says shoes on the bike with elastics holding them in horizontal works well, but practice practice practice. If you have a turbo a good session is 10 x [1:00 with feet on the shoes, 2:00 with feet]. I would generally leave the gears in mid to low gearing so that monentum can be got going quicker. Also I find talc excellent for assisting wet feet slip into the shoes, both in the bike shoes and the runners.
On the way in from the bike remove your feet from the shoes about 300m out from T2 and put them on top of the shoes (left clipped in). Throw one leg off at the dismount line and run in to bike rack.

Running shoes with talc powder inside again (with lock laces if you prefer) (I am able to slip in my feet using my normal laces laced up). Having come off the bike try and keep your posture straight and shorten the stride for a while. (It's been a while since I have done a brick - Carlingford Aug 11 - about time I changed that!)

All the best in Valentia.

Have you signed up to any duathlons - it is useful to have gone through some of it in a race situation beforehand.

donothoponpop

Some great advice so far lads, cheers.

At the very least I know I've c30 secs saved on the hair drying;)

Macanri wrote: »

Have you signed up to any duathlons - it is useful to have gone through some of it in a race situation beforehand.

Doing Tinahely Duathlon before Valentia, so will practice what I can there. I'll try some trial changeovers in the interim.

MrCreosote

The less you have to do the better.

I put race belt on (if allowed) and gels etc in pockets before the wetsuit goes on. Bike shoes clipped and in a medium gear. Then it's just wetsuit off, helmet on and go for T1. The less you've to remember the less likely you are to forget. Same for t2- rack, helmet off, shoes on and go.

And it's worth checking out the first few hundred m of the bike to see where is easiest to get into (and out of) the bike shoes.

Otherwise practice, especially getting the wetsuit off.

zico10

You might have spent a lot of money on it, and my tip might seem like an appalling idea, but cutting the legs off your wetsuit from a few inches below the knee will make it much easier to get off.

pc11

If you wear socks, make sure you roll them half way up before the race, then they are much easier to get on wet feet. Stick your foot in and roll them up over your foot rather than pull up.

zico10

Don't wear socks!

Macanri

zico10 wrote: »

You might have spent a lot of money on it, and my tip might seem like an appalling idea, but cutting the legs off your wetsuit from a few inches below the knee will make it much easier to get off.

:eek:
Good luck with selling that suit 2nd hand though!

Oryx

I used to do the hat and goggles up the sleeve trick but you might be better leaving them on your head till the suit is off. Otherwise you have one hand already full and if the other sleeve sticks youre in bother, with both hands occupied.

Macanri

Oryx wrote: »

I used to do the hat and goggles up the sleeve trick but you might be better leaving them on your head till the suit is off. Otherwise you have one hand already full and if the other sleeve sticks youre in bother, with both hands occupied.

True, true. But.. you could take off the sleeve on the arm with the cap and goggles in it first, using your free hand.:p

911sc

zico10 wrote: »

Don't wear socks!

or if you want/have to wear socks, roll then up so it's easier to put them on wet feet.


Regarding hat/goggles...i think it's easier, simpler to leave them on until you reach your T1 spot, remove and drop in your bag. In any case, no time difference either way. Just make sure you don't take them off as soon as you come out of the water, many people still do that, and are stuck for removing top of wetsuit while moving towards T1.

tunney

Have your tea made and in a flask rather than fumbling about trying to boil a kettle and made a cuppa from scratch in T1

zico10

911sc wrote: »

or if you want/have to wear socks, roll then up so it's easier to put them on wet feet.

Of course, I forgot about the people who had to wear socks.

And if you want to pin your numbers on in transition and not at home, then using only two pins will be quicker than four.