here are 10 ways to get through t1 and t2 in the shortest ... · in triathlon and has since...
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BECOME FASTERBy Freddy Lampret
Here are 10 ways to get through T1 and T2 in the shortest t ime possible:
The ti t le of this art icle seems l ike a ‘too-good-to-be-true’ sales pitch,
r ight? Yet, there really is a way to shave minutes off your Ironman t ime,
without having to do any training what so ever; nai l ing the transit ion.
Looking back over the progress of my swimming performance over the
years, i t took me almost 10 years of hard training to shave off a single
minute off my 400m swim time. This translates to an improvement of less
than 10 minutes over the course of an Ironman swim.
The same principle applies to the bike and run; hard work and tedious
effort is required in order to become faster. Yet, by simply planning well ,
you can gain an advantage over your competitors by gett ing through
transit ion in a f lash.
Af ter races, I o f ten chat wi th ath letes to f ind out how thei r day went .
Usual ly, there is someone who ment ions that they spent too long in T1
or T2. The whole process of get t ing cycle bags and run bags that
have to be handed in or hung up for T1 and T2 seems to present an
opportuni ty for people to waste t ime. I have known people to inc lude
2 di f ferent sunscreens, d i f ferent sunglasses wi th d i f ferent t in ts , food
and beverages, b icycle spares, nutr i t ion for b ike and run legs,
opt ions of v isor or hat , arm warmers , cyc l ing jackets , cyc l ing gloves,
deodorant , to i let paper, spare socks and once I even heard of a guy
who packed boi led eggs and meat bal ls in h is t rans i t ion bag! I t is the
norm for people to spend too long in t rans i t ion. The biggest t ime loss
I have heard of in any race was 45 minutes by a f r iend of mine who
could not f ind h is b icycle, and in addi t ion to extensive t ime waste on
removal of wetsui t and get t ing ready for the cycl ing leg, spent 25
minutes walk ing up and down the t rans i t ion, t ry ing to remember
where h is b ike was. Racing is s t ressfu l and normal thought processes
do not necessar i ly apply.
When you look at the resul ts at the end, one of ten encounters a
resul t where an ath lete has swum, cycled and run faster than another
ath lete, yet f in ished behind them. The t rans i t ion is cr i t ica l ; you won’ t
win your races by going through t rans i t ion quick ly, but you could
cer ta in ly lose them.
The transit ion is cr i t ical ,you won’t win your
races by going through transit ion quickly, but
you could certainly lose them.
“”
Freddy Lampret
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Freddy Lampret holds 2 B.Sc. Degrees:1 ) B .Sc (B iochemist ry & Genet ics ) , Univers i ty of Wi twatersrand 20002) B.Sc.Hons (Phys iotherapy) , Univers i ty of Wi twatersrand 2005
Freddy Lampret has been running compet i t ive ly s ince the age of 8, where he won his first provincial Cross Country Title. Whi le at school he competed in middle d is tance on the t rack; a t 400m, 800m and 1500m dis tances.Af ter leaving school , Freddy became involved in Tr ia th lon and has s ince competed in over 20 I ronman events and over 50 I ronman 70.3 events of ten f in ish ing in top 10. He has qual i f ied for the I ronman 70.3 World Championships as a Professional. He won the 2012 South Afr ican Long Course Tr ia th lon Championship and is a 3t ime consecutive winner of the Afriman Ultra Duathlon.
Freddy has won acclaim as a coach in the following areas:In addit ion to his education and athletic achievements , Freddy has a lso coached numerous ath letes to nat ional championship t i t les inc luding amateurs and profess ionals . He has coached swimming for the past 15 years and has run a successfu l masters/ t r ia th letes swim program for the past 12 years .He has coached in excess of 150 people in complet ing thei r f i rs t I ronman, and hundreds more to thei r personal best performances over various distances and race formats.
Pro Athlete / Coach
1 ) Look at the aer ia l v iew of the t rans i t ion and plot the shortest
possib le route f rom the swim exi t , to the t rans i t ion bags, through the
changing tent , and to your b ike. Once you have plot ted i t on paper,
go and physica l ly walk the route a number of t imes unt i l you are very
fami l iar wi th where you wi l l be, where your bags wi l l be and the
pre-planned route you wi l l take. Remember that on race day there
may wel l be many ath letes in act ion around you and get t ing in your
way, so you need to be cer ta in of your movements .
2 ) Once you have planned your route and walked i t through a
number of t imes, p lan on what you wi l l do and when you wi l l do i t .
For example, tak ing your cap and goggles of f your head prematurely
wi l l mean you have to carry those i tems in your hand. Everyth ing f rom
th is point on wi l l have to be done s ingle handed, which wi l l cause you
to lose t ime. P lan on where you wi l l s t r ip your wetsui t to your wais t ,
where and when you wi l l remove your goggles f rom your head, what
you wi l l do once you grab your bag; wi l l you open i t? Wi l l you s imply
run with i t? These considerations need to be careful ly and purposeful ly
thought out before the race.
3 ) I have a 3 i tem l imi t I my t rans i t ion bags; i t ’s easy to remember
and when you turn the bag over you know what you are looking for.
For the bike bag the 3 i tems to inc lude are: helmet , sun glasses and
race number, noth ing else. Al l your race nutr i t ion needs to be on the
bike a l ready and kept in such a way so that i t doesn’ t chafe you whi le
cycl ing, and i t needs to be easi ly accessib le. There should be no
opt ions in the bag that could sap precious t ime. Al l decis ions need to
have been made beforehand.
4 ) Know exact ly where your b ike is , and have a landmark of sor ts
that can act as a beacon for you to zero in on.
5) Have your b ike in the r ight gear for the f i rs t sect ion of the bike
course. There is noth ing more f rust rat ing than star t ing the bike leg,
and because you lef t i t in the big dog, you end up fa l l ing over in f ront
of a l l the spectators ! I t has never happened to me personal ly but I
have seen i t more t imes than I should have.
6) Pract ice put t ing your feet in to the cycl ing shoes, wi th your
shoes c l ipped on to the pedals . This is a sk i l l that does not need to
take any t ime to master. Just never un-c leat a f ter r id ing, ever, and you
wi l l learn the sk i l l each and every t ime you get on and of f the bike in
training. You may want to try i t on your indoor trainer workouts init ial ly
unti l you are confident to take the ski l l to the road. Before every b ig
race there is someone who suddenly wants to learn th is sk i l l , 2 days
before race day. That is bad planning. Get i t r ight months before you
race so that on race day i t is second nature. Running 200m in your
cycl ing shoes is r isky, and s low. I t wi l l cost you precious t ime.
7 ) Learn to p lan your d ismount . Pract ice tak ing your feet out of the
shoes, swinging one leg over the saddle and then h i t t ing the ground
running. Learning what pace to d ismount , how far f rom T2 you should
take your feet out the shoes and how fast you wi l l be going when
your feet h i t the ground are a l l areas that take a l i t t le b i t of p lanning
and some pract ice. Again , th is sk i l l does not need to take any t ime.
Remember we are leaving the shoes on the bike permanently, so gett ing
the feet out, and h i t t ing the ground running for a few meters af ter
your r ides wi l l not take any extra t ime, but i t wi l l save you heaps of
t ime on race day.
8 ) Use elast ic shoelaces in your running shoes. Ty ing your shoes
is a massive waste of t ime and being able to s imply s l ip your shoe
on wi l l save you t ime. I t ry to use elast ic laces in a l l my t ra in ing and
rac ing shoes so that I am fami l iar wi th the t ightness and feel of the
shoe. You could a lso use any one of the more expensive lac ing
opt ions out there, but I prefer s imple, cheap, l ightweight e last ic .
9 ) The 3 i tem ru le appl ies to the run bag: L imi t your run bag to
shoes (and socks i f you run in socks) , hat and gels i f you use them,
noth ing more. Remember, the more you put in the bag, the more you
have to deal wi th when you open i t .
10 ) When you get to t rans i t ion f rom the swim or of f the bike, your
goal should be to execute your s t rategy per fect ly, wi thout th ink ing
about how you feel . Transi t ion is not a t ime to ponder, par t icu lar ly in
I ronman. Get in and out ASAP! The more you s i t there asking yoursel f
i f you want to actual ly run, the greater the chances of you not even
star t ing the run. Nobody wants to run a marathon af ter cycl ing for hal f
the day, but i t becomes even more di f f icu l t i f the legs are a l lowed to
cool down.
EXTRA TRAININGWITHOUT ANY
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“Fai l to plan, and you are planning to fai l”. Make your next race your best ever!