Maximising Your Season: How to Plan for Success

It’s like trying to navigate a minefield whilst being suffocated in a neoprene straight jacket.

You arrive on race morning, spend 20mins prepping your equipment and your bike so BAM… You can shoot out of transition like lightning McQueen and yet you find yourself out of the swim and absolutely lost! It’s like a tornado arrived in transition before you and nothing is recognisable!

Here are a few of our Top Transition Tips to make the process less stressful…

1- Familiarisation 

Once you have your bike racked, walk yourself through the transition area. Note where you will enter to collect your bike after the swim- SWIM IN. Where do you leave with your bike to start the cycle- BIKE OUT. Is BIKE IN the same place that you left from? And where do you RUN OUT…

2- Count the racks and plan your route

It might sound completely bonkers to “plan your route” through what may well be a rather small transition area, however it really will help you find your equipment and get out of transition with your bike as quickly as possible! Once you’ve walked yourself though transition and your sure you know which direction you’re headed, count how many rows you should run past before turning and counting how many racks you should pass before finding your kit! The result?! You’ll look like Sherlock Holmes on a mission!

3- Recognisable 

In transition, you are only allowed to keep the equipment you need for racing. Bike, helmet, trainers etc. no big boxes or bags will be permitted to be left… So how do you make your area stand out from the rest I hear you ask… Well, how about leaving your equipment laid out on the ground beside your bike on a pink towel covered in flying rainbow coloured unicorns? If the unicorns are too much, feel free to swap the towel for something different, but remember you do want to stand out!

4- Don’t panic 

Last tip… Don’t panic!! When you are in transition going through the motions of wetsuit off, helmet on etc.. time feels like it’s running away from you quicker than Usain Bolt at the Olympics… Chances are, your not quite as slow as you feel so simply take a breath and stick to the plan! After all, this is the part of the triathlon you’ve walked and talked yourself through already!!