It is the Pittsburgh Triathlon Club’s Spring Picnic tomorrow afternoon and I have been asked to present a transition clinic.  The transition clinic is mostly focused on helping beginner triathletes. It is designed to help them with a part of the race, that can be confusing and overwhelming.

Transition is often referred to the fourth discipline of triathlon.  It is the time taken to transition from the swim to the bike and from the bike to the run.  This is all part of the race, so the quicker you can get through transition, the faster your overall time will be.  It is quite surprising how easy it is to waste minutes in transition. You need to be organized and efficient.

The key to smooth and fast transitions, is to keep things simple and to practice.  In addition to emphasizing this tomorrow, I will provide a number of useful tips. Hopefully, even established triathletes will find some of these tips useful.

One of my favorite tips is to go against cycling convention. I will suggest putting the arms of your sunglasses under your helmet straps.  Then, in T2, you can just remove your bike helmet without removing the sunglasses. You can just leave the sunglasses in place for the run.  One less thing to touch or worry about.

It should be fun to do the clinic. I am also sure that I will learn a thing or two from others, as they ask questions or make comments.