A few more questions for my virgin exp at LP
T1 and T2 how much changing goes on. does everyone change into cycling shorts at T1 and then run stuff at T2?
I can’t speak for everyone else but here is what I did last year:
wore tri shorts and top for swim. pulled bike shorts over top for bike. pulled them off for run.
This year, I’m going with just tri shorts.
yup. everyone is different. some change completely both times, others wear the same thing under their wetsuit that they’ll wear all day. that’s what i do, tri top and shorts. plus i have a long sleeve in my run sn bag for if it gets cold when the sun goes down. see, i’m slow and that happens.
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tri shorts and tri top for the whole race. not sure what time you’re looking to ride, but IMO 5-7 hours on the bike is no more comfortable in bike shorts than in tri shorts, so I just assume save myself the time in transition and wear the same thing all day.
I wore tri shorts under my wetsit, changed into cycling shorts and jersy in T1 and then into tri shorts and tri top in T2. First time and very slow so i did not care about 5 extra minutes. Comfort was my goal - and it worked great.
Comfort was my goal
I second this! Wore tri shorts & top under my wetsuit, pulled on bike jersey in T1 then changed to a dry tri top in T2 and changed socks.
I think most people wear a tri suit for the entire day, but I know many people change at each T as well. In my own experience, I changed for each discipline in my first IM, in the interest of approaching it conservatively and maximizing my comfort. In subsequent IMs I’ve been more interested in speed through transition, and have just worn a tri suit all day, and been totally satisfied with that.
My only caveat for the clothes changing approach would be that if you are a MOP swimmer, the T1 tent will be very crowded and very hectic. My preference would be just to get through there as fast as possible and have as few tasks as possible to do there. The T2 tent is much calmer. By that time, the race is spread out enough that you can get in there and sit down on a chair to change your shoes and other clothes. I’ve even had volunteers come up to me and help me get items out of my trans bag, help me put on sunblock, etc.