I woke up this morning worried about the transitions at Ironman. What should I expect? I have read the blogs and posts, searched on Slowtwitch and there really is very little about what to expect or how I should handle them. Should I transition like I do for an Olympic or Half? Or should I take a little more time and get comfortable? I am leaning this towards comfort.
lean toward comfort. a minute or three or five in transitions is nothing to what it could cost you. but be practical.
expect a big crowd. know where your stuff is and be able to find it in a crowd.
give a lot of thought to what to put in each bag, what goes on the bike, what goes on your body.
pracitce putting it on / changing / running (no shoes on the bike at IM).
think about the little things. where to put sunglasses? are you going to tie the bag? socks before the bike or wait until the run? gloves? how run out of transition with the bike? dismounting in a crowd? what gear to start in?
be curteous to others, a few seconds will not matter, these are 2,000 of your best friends. only they know what it takes to get there. don’t mess up their day.
enjoy every minute.
good luck
If your not aiming for Kona take the time and change clothes for comfort. I did B2B so Kona wasn’t or will it ever be a consideration in future IM’s, but I hit the packed tent and swapped out from swim jammers to bike shorts since I wasn’t sure how salt water would affect me and I figured better safe then sorry, and I know how much I enjoy getting out of my bike shorts after my long rides, so I switched to running shorts. It was well worth the short time penalty.