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Ironman Louisville Transitions
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First, Can you clip your shoes to your bike? I assume no, I but cannot find anything in last year's athlete guide...

Second, race morning, what is the flow of the transition set up? What order should I be doing bike prep, bags, body marking, etc in order to get into line for the swim as early as possible? I hear it is important to get to the swim early if you want to start near the front.

Third, can you describe the general transitions? Are the bikes in a big grass field? Is there a long run from swim exit to T1? Any tips for getting through the LV transitions quickly? Anything else you wish you knew about the transitions prior to race day?
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Re: Ironman Louisville Transitions [TennesseeJed] [ In reply to ]
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Last year it was stated that no shoes could be pre-clipped to the bike.

Race morning went something like this (from what I remember past the blackout from nerves)...
Walk into transition, drop my SN bags in the designated areas. Put my water bottles in my cages on the bike, put air in my tires, double check my T1 and T2 bags (they're out on display on the lawn area), and head out towards the swim.

The walk to the swim wasn't terrible. It also wasn't super important to be the first person there either, the lines for each projected time were really well executed- they sent people off into the water in multiples of 4 from several places on various docks. I walked from transition to the swim start area, used the honey bucket, and then put my wetsuit on. I handed all of my stuff to my husband, hugged my bestie goodbye as she went to her swim line, and got in line for mine.

Transition is a bigass field. It has two tents for changing, one for men and one for women. Those are the only areas the entire race where you're allowed to be naked. The run from Swim out to T1 was a freaking blur, but honestly not that long (some of my local races here it's like 0.4 miles, so I may be a bit biased). Bike out was short and sweet, and run out was on the longer side but still not terrible. Then again I wasn't trying to win the race last year, which it sounds like your strategy.

Best advice is to spend a decent amount of time in transition on Friday getting the lay of the land. They'll have the general areas for swim out, the racks, bike/run out, etc already set up. I did a literal walkthrough of each transition, memorizing some visual cues and formulating my own strategy for that Sunday. The pre-race meeting was also really helpful in answering any lingering questions I had.

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Re: Ironman Louisville Transitions [TennesseeJed] [ In reply to ]
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TennesseeJed wrote:
First, Can you clip your shoes to your bike? I assume no, I but cannot find anything in last year's athlete guide...

Second, race morning, what is the flow of the transition set up? What order should I be doing bike prep, bags, body marking, etc in order to get into line for the swim as early as possible? I hear it is important to get to the swim early if you want to start near the front.

Third, can you describe the general transitions? Are the bikes in a big grass field? Is there a long run from swim exit to T1? Any tips for getting through the LV transitions quickly? Anything else you wish you knew about the transitions prior to race day?

Last year they did not allow us to clip shoes to the bike. Annoying but it is what it is. That said there was no prohibition on flying dismounts so feel free to do that.

They changed the start to a self-seeded by time setup so there isn't any reason to get there super early. Just do your thing, walk the half mile to swim start, and line up where you want according to your swim time. Nobody gave me any grief at all walking past the long line to get to near the front. I wouldn't worry about doing anything different than you might normally do for this race. There are porto-potties at both transition and swim start. Do be prepared to walk for a while to the start, it's about a half mile. They will collect morning bags at the swim start so you can walk in flip flops or whatever, and stay dressed in warm clothes until the last minute.

The run from swim exit is on concrete. I wouldn't call it super long or anything but the tent isn't *right* off the swim exit. I would say it's an "average" run out. The bikes are on a grassy field though so if it's at all wet it could get messy.
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Re: Ironman Louisville Transitions [TennesseeJed] [ In reply to ]
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Thanks for the information. Very helpful.
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Re: Ironman Louisville Transitions [TennesseeJed] [ In reply to ]
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TennesseeJed wrote:
Any tips for getting through the LV transitions quickly?

Don't worry about rushing transitions just worry about pre-walking the transitions the day before and being methodical about what you are doing. If you are the type of person that puts a ton of stuff in their bag then practice dumping out the bag and knowing exactly what order you are going to put things on etc. You will gain more from the walk-through and practice than by trying to rush anything.


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Re: Ironman Louisville Transitions [Thomas Gerlach] [ In reply to ]
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Thomas Gerlach wrote:
TennesseeJed wrote:

Any tips for getting through the LV transitions quickly?


Don't worry about rushing transitions just worry about pre-walking the transitions the day before and being methodical about what you are doing. If you are the type of person that puts a ton of stuff in their bag then practice dumping out the bag and knowing exactly what order you are going to put things on etc. You will gain more from the walk-through and practice than by trying to rush anything.

Slow is smooth, smooth is fast

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Re: Ironman Louisville Transitions [Billabong] [ In reply to ]
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Billabong wrote:
Thomas Gerlach wrote:
TennesseeJed wrote:

Any tips for getting through the LV transitions quickly?


Don't worry about rushing transitions just worry about pre-walking the transitions the day before and being methodical about what you are doing. If you are the type of person that puts a ton of stuff in their bag then practice dumping out the bag and knowing exactly what order you are going to put things on etc. You will gain more from the walk-through and practice than by trying to rush anything.


Slow is smooth, smooth is fast

Thank you everyone! In general, my transitions are decently dialed in and I will of course walk through the LV set up the day before. My only IM experience however is Wisconsin, which isn't the most straight forward transition. Just trying to get a sense of any quirky things at LV that I can mentally prepare for and rehearse prior to getting to the race site. Anytime saved in transition is free time in my book so I really look for any advantage I can get there.
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Re: Ironman Louisville Transitions [TennesseeJed] [ In reply to ]
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Not much detail to add as others have covered it, I'll just say that T1/T2 at Louisville are about as simple and straightforward as you can get. I ran to my bike barefoot with my shoes in my hands and put them on there, that will speed things up.
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