BECOME FASTERBy Freddy Lampret

Here are 10 ways to get through T1 and T2 in the shortest t ime possible:

The ti t le of this art icle seems l ike a ‘too-good-to-be-true’ sales pitch,

r ight? Yet, there really is a way to shave minutes off your Ironman t ime,

without having to do any training what so ever; nai l ing the transit ion.

Looking back over the progress of my swimming performance over the

years, i t took me almost 10 years of hard training to shave off a single

minute off my 400m swim time. This translates to an improvement of less

than 10 minutes over the course of an Ironman swim.

The same principle applies to the bike and run; hard work and tedious

effort is required in order to become faster. Yet, by simply planning well ,

you can gain an advantage over your competitors by gett ing through

transit ion in a f lash.

Af ter races, I o f ten chat wi th ath letes to f ind out how thei r day went .

Usual ly, there is someone who ment ions that they spent too long in T1

or T2. The whole process of get t ing cycle bags and run bags that

have to be handed in or hung up for T1 and T2 seems to present an

opportuni ty for people to waste t ime. I have known people to inc lude

2 di f ferent sunscreens, d i f ferent sunglasses wi th d i f ferent t in ts , food

and beverages, b icycle spares, nutr i t ion for b ike and run legs,

opt ions of v isor or hat , arm warmers , cyc l ing jackets , cyc l ing gloves,

deodorant , to i let paper, spare socks and once I even heard of a guy

who packed boi led eggs and meat bal ls in h is t rans i t ion bag! I t is the

norm for people to spend too long in t rans i t ion. The biggest t ime loss

I have heard of in any race was 45 minutes by a f r iend of mine who

could not f ind h is b icycle, and in addi t ion to extensive t ime waste on

removal of wetsui t and get t ing ready for the cycl ing leg, spent 25

minutes walk ing up and down the t rans i t ion, t ry ing to remember

where h is b ike was. Racing is s t ressfu l and normal thought processes

do not necessar i ly apply.

When you look at the resul ts at the end, one of ten encounters a

resul t where an ath lete has swum, cycled and run faster than another

ath lete, yet f in ished behind them. The t rans i t ion is cr i t ica l ; you won’ t

win your races by going through t rans i t ion quick ly, but you could

cer ta in ly lose them.

The transit ion is cr i t ical ,you won’t win your

races by going through transit ion quickly, but

you could certainly lose them.

“”

Freddy Lampret

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Freddy Lampret holds 2 B.Sc. Degrees:1 ) B .Sc (B iochemist ry & Genet ics ) , Univers i ty of Wi twatersrand 20002) B.Sc.Hons (Phys iotherapy) , Univers i ty of Wi twatersrand 2005

Freddy Lampret has been running compet i t ive ly s ince the age of 8, where he won his first provincial Cross Country Title. Whi le at school he competed in middle d is tance on the t rack; a t 400m, 800m and 1500m dis tances.Af ter leaving school , Freddy became involved in Tr ia th lon and has s ince competed in over 20 I ronman events and over 50 I ronman 70.3 events of ten f in ish ing in top 10. He has qual i f ied for the I ronman 70.3 World Championships as a Professional. He won the 2012 South Afr ican Long Course Tr ia th lon Championship and is a 3t ime consecutive winner of the Afriman Ultra Duathlon.

Freddy has won acclaim as a coach in the following areas:In addit ion to his education and athletic achievements , Freddy has a lso coached numerous ath letes to nat ional championship t i t les inc luding amateurs and profess ionals . He has coached swimming for the past 15 years and has run a successfu l masters/ t r ia th letes swim program for the past 12 years .He has coached in excess of 150 people in complet ing thei r f i rs t I ronman, and hundreds more to thei r personal best performances over various distances and race formats.

Pro Athlete / Coach

1 ) Look at the aer ia l v iew of the t rans i t ion and plot the shortest

possib le route f rom the swim exi t , to the t rans i t ion bags, through the

changing tent , and to your b ike. Once you have plot ted i t on paper,

go and physica l ly walk the route a number of t imes unt i l you are very

fami l iar wi th where you wi l l be, where your bags wi l l be and the

pre-planned route you wi l l take. Remember that on race day there

may wel l be many ath letes in act ion around you and get t ing in your

way, so you need to be cer ta in of your movements .

2 ) Once you have planned your route and walked i t through a

number of t imes, p lan on what you wi l l do and when you wi l l do i t .

For example, tak ing your cap and goggles of f your head prematurely

wi l l mean you have to carry those i tems in your hand. Everyth ing f rom

th is point on wi l l have to be done s ingle handed, which wi l l cause you

to lose t ime. P lan on where you wi l l s t r ip your wetsui t to your wais t ,

where and when you wi l l remove your goggles f rom your head, what

you wi l l do once you grab your bag; wi l l you open i t? Wi l l you s imply

run with i t? These considerations need to be careful ly and purposeful ly

thought out before the race.

3 ) I have a 3 i tem l imi t I my t rans i t ion bags; i t ’s easy to remember

and when you turn the bag over you know what you are looking for.

For the bike bag the 3 i tems to inc lude are: helmet , sun glasses and

race number, noth ing else. Al l your race nutr i t ion needs to be on the

bike a l ready and kept in such a way so that i t doesn’ t chafe you whi le

cycl ing, and i t needs to be easi ly accessib le. There should be no

opt ions in the bag that could sap precious t ime. Al l decis ions need to

have been made beforehand.

4 ) Know exact ly where your b ike is , and have a landmark of sor ts

that can act as a beacon for you to zero in on.

5) Have your b ike in the r ight gear for the f i rs t sect ion of the bike

course. There is noth ing more f rust rat ing than star t ing the bike leg,

and because you lef t i t in the big dog, you end up fa l l ing over in f ront

of a l l the spectators ! I t has never happened to me personal ly but I

have seen i t more t imes than I should have.

6) Pract ice put t ing your feet in to the cycl ing shoes, wi th your

shoes c l ipped on to the pedals . This is a sk i l l that does not need to

take any t ime to master. Just never un-c leat a f ter r id ing, ever, and you

wi l l learn the sk i l l each and every t ime you get on and of f the bike in

training. You may want to try i t on your indoor trainer workouts init ial ly

unti l you are confident to take the ski l l to the road. Before every b ig

race there is someone who suddenly wants to learn th is sk i l l , 2 days

before race day. That is bad planning. Get i t r ight months before you

race so that on race day i t is second nature. Running 200m in your

cycl ing shoes is r isky, and s low. I t wi l l cost you precious t ime.

7 ) Learn to p lan your d ismount . Pract ice tak ing your feet out of the

shoes, swinging one leg over the saddle and then h i t t ing the ground

running. Learning what pace to d ismount , how far f rom T2 you should

take your feet out the shoes and how fast you wi l l be going when

your feet h i t the ground are a l l areas that take a l i t t le b i t of p lanning

and some pract ice. Again , th is sk i l l does not need to take any t ime.

Remember we are leaving the shoes on the bike permanently, so gett ing

the feet out, and h i t t ing the ground running for a few meters af ter

your r ides wi l l not take any extra t ime, but i t wi l l save you heaps of

t ime on race day.

8 ) Use elast ic shoelaces in your running shoes. Ty ing your shoes

is a massive waste of t ime and being able to s imply s l ip your shoe

on wi l l save you t ime. I t ry to use elast ic laces in a l l my t ra in ing and

rac ing shoes so that I am fami l iar wi th the t ightness and feel of the

shoe. You could a lso use any one of the more expensive lac ing

opt ions out there, but I prefer s imple, cheap, l ightweight e last ic .

9 ) The 3 i tem ru le appl ies to the run bag: L imi t your run bag to

shoes (and socks i f you run in socks) , hat and gels i f you use them,

noth ing more. Remember, the more you put in the bag, the more you

have to deal wi th when you open i t .

10 ) When you get to t rans i t ion f rom the swim or of f the bike, your

goal should be to execute your s t rategy per fect ly, wi thout th ink ing

about how you feel . Transi t ion is not a t ime to ponder, par t icu lar ly in

I ronman. Get in and out ASAP! The more you s i t there asking yoursel f

i f you want to actual ly run, the greater the chances of you not even

star t ing the run. Nobody wants to run a marathon af ter cycl ing for hal f

the day, but i t becomes even more di f f icu l t i f the legs are a l lowed to

cool down.

EXTRA TRAININGWITHOUT ANY

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“Fai l to plan, and you are planning to fai l”. Make your next race your best ever!