Triathlon: The Transitions

Training swimming, cycling and running is just as important as TRANSITIONS, so we are going to give you some tips to train them so that you can be the fastest to change from one sport to another.

Think about the efforts and dedication it takes, for example, to lower your mark by 1500 in the pool. If you lose those precious seconds later in the transition, all your effort will have been in vain, for not working on the aspects that intervene in the execution of a good transition. There are two types of transitions (T1 and T2) and on these we will explain in this article how to train them at a technical and physiological level:

T1: Transition from swimming to cycling. From the moment we stand up at the exit of the water, until we get on the bike.

How to prepare the technical aspects of T1:

Divide the technical execution of the transition into two segments: get out of the water - take off the suit, run parallel to the bike, get on it.
Take advantage of our open water training with neoprene, to repeat the sequence: get out of the water, lower the suit to the waist several times until you acquire the necessary ease (the oil under the suit, in addition to avoiding chafing, facilitates this action)
In one of our cycling training sessions, leave a period of time at the end to repeat the action: take the bike (we leave it resting on the wall), run with it for 15m, grabbing it from the saddle or handlebar and get on it while moving (repeat this action 10-15 times until acquiring the necessary fluency).
How to prepare the physiological aspects of T1:

At the end of the swimming training, do, for example, 3 x (200 intense meters + 3 min jog around the pool on safe ground or with footwear to avoid slipping)

We can also use the roller in the pool and work on transitions simulating competition rhythms or performing "multitransitions", for example, 3x (300 meters easy crawl swim + 200 in progression finishing strong + 10 min of cycling: 2 min strong + 7 min soft + 1 min in progression).

T2: Transition from cycling to running. Since we got off the bike, until we started the third race segment.

How to prepare the technical aspects of T2:

Like the action of riding the bike while on the move, getting off the bike while moving requires dividing the action and repeating it a series of times to become fluent. To do this, on safe ground, without traffic and without much speed, we repeat the action to take our feet out of the shoes and put them on them, always trying to look ahead and not at our feet.
With our feet on the cycling shoes, we prepare to get off, passing one leg over the saddle and placing them in parallel before doing the support. First, we do it at a very low speed and on safe ground (without stones or gravel) and as we gain ease, we increase the speed at which we get off the bike.
At the end of some race training, on soft and safe ground, we take off our shoes, place them in parallel and repeat the action of approaching them running, putting them on and starting to run.
How to prepare the physiological aspects of T1:

During the general period, in the first months of the season, we can make a long and comfortable transition to accumulate resistance training and gradually adapt the muscles to the transitions (for example, 2 to 3 hours of cycling + 1 hour of race).
During the specific preparation for the triathlon, include bike-running transitions in our weekly schedule (one or two maximum). With two modalities: a) demanding bike with series + soft race and b) riding an easy bike + demanding race with series.
Specific sessions: «multitransitions». In these workouts we do several repetitions of the bike-run sequence. For example: warm-up on a bike and 4x (10 min bike, with some strong stretches + 5 min progressive run)

Source: SportLife