RACE DAY!
RACE DAY
BETTER & FASTER
BEFORE RACE.
Get all your stuff together!
List of gear
- Swim
- Wetsuit (if open water and legal)
- Swim goggles
- Swim cap (probably provided by race)
- Timing chip! (on correct ankle) (provided by race)
- Bike
- Water bottles (you’ll probably just need one water bottle for the Sprint race)
- Bike pump
- Pump up your tires when you get out of your car so you can leave your pump in your car.
- Saddle bag w/ patch kit
- Bike shoes
- Bike computer
- Make sure everything is working on your bike. Do this the day before and ride around a second to make sure you’re good to go.
- Race bib
- Race bib elastic waist band
- Socks: (optional but suggested) Don’t just stuff your foot in your sock. You’ll be wet from the swim, so stick your thumbs deep inside the sock so when you pull it over your foot your toes almost immediately reach the end inside.
- 1 or 2 gel packets to place on bike
- You can put them in your back pockets of your tri jersey
- Helmet (Make sure you strap your helmet before you go anywhere)
- Sunglasses
- Run
- Race top (shirt) wear under wetsuit
- Race bottoms (shorts) wear under wetsuit
- Tri suit singlet, optional (in place of top and bottom)
- Running Shoes with elastic laces
- Transition Area
- Small towel: place on ground at your transition spot. When you get out of the water you’ll be all wet. Use the towel to stand on or dry off your feet to put on your socks.
- Transition bag to carry your gear
- Get a medium sized bag to pack all your gear.
- YOUR RACE
- Make sure you know when you are supposed start!
- There’s different age groups, possibly different types races, different genders and all of them will probably have different start times!
- COURSE
- Make sure you know the course and key point turn-around areas. There could be multiple races going on during your race so know where you are supposed to be going. Study the course map on the race website. Figure out everywhere you need to go. Where is the bike exit and where is the run exit? Where is the finish line? Sometimes before you know it the finish line appears and you still had some energy left in the tank!
- Swim course
- Bike course
- Run course
- Finish line
- Make sure you know the course and key point turn-around areas. There could be multiple races going on during your race so know where you are supposed to be going. Study the course map on the race website. Figure out everywhere you need to go. Where is the bike exit and where is the run exit? Where is the finish line? Sometimes before you know it the finish line appears and you still had some energy left in the tank!
- Weather
- Make sure you know what’s going on with the weather, even early morning temperatures and mid day temperatures.
As you can see, there’s a bunch of items you’ll need to remember. Missing any one of these things could make a small or large difference in your race. An easy way to remember all these even without a check list is by going through the race from start to finish in your head and packing it all. Don’t forget your timing chip!
Note: Get body marked with number if your race is doing this.
Packet pickup: Many, if not all races have a packet pickup where you pickup important gear and information about your race usually happening the day before at an off-site location. Usually you’ll get some random goodies, swim cap, race bib, possible body mark with marker on your shoulder and calf area.
This is pretty standard triathlon top with pockets in the rear to carry gels and a zip front for when it gets really hot.
Make sure you study the course map before the race so you know where to go!
SWIM.
Head to the starting area.
You’ll probably be in the water when the race starts, but it just depends on the race. Some races will do a time trial where they send swimmers one at a time or even start with the run first. Usually, swim is always first though.
It’s kinda hard to get warmed up for the swim so don’t go out with a full out sprint because your muscles will expand too fast. Just don’t go nuts at the start. You’ve got 800m in the swim for the Sprint distance. Go at the pace you know you’ll be fast, but not over do it because you still have to bike and run!
Open water: Place yourself to the front of the swim start since it’s better to be past than to try and pass people if you end up being faster than your competition.
- Looking up – Find a point on the horizon that you can look up and see quickly while you are swimming in the water. The bottom of an open water swim will be dark. I mention this because it’s true and just be prepared so you don’t freak out because you didn’t think about it. Stay strong and confident in the swim because there may be a lot of kicking and arms flying around you. The more amateur the race is, the more people will be zig zagging. This won’t be you because you’ll be looking where you are going every so often so to make sure you are on the right path. You can actually stroke and barely look up enough to get a glimpse of your horizon point. Choose a hill, mountain, sun, flag pole, etc. You can even do a breast stroke one or two times and take a look if that works better for you before you really get the hang of it. The truth is it takes more effort to look up and stroke at the same time than doing a couple breast strokes.
Pool: Usually this will always be a time trial event. You may pass a few people or you may get passed. Either way, keep rocking it. This will be your domain because this is how you’ve been training. You should be good to go.
Swim Exit
- Take off wetsuit: After you exit the water and are running to the transition area, start taking off the top part of your wetsuit. Grab the cord from the back and pull off your arms. Feel free to keep your cap on and put your goggles on your forehead. When you get to the transition area, push your wetsuit all the way down to your ankles and step on your wetsuit so you can “step out of it.” It’s a lot easier to get off and you don’t need to sit down. Toss your wetsuit on your bag and get your cycling gear on (see Transition section).
Swim exit
See how this person is just barely looking up to see where to go?
BIKE.
Know the bike course
- The bike section is arguably the most critical section of the race where you could take a wrong turn. When you’re tired, going fast and looking down a lot, sometimes you can easily take a wrong turn. This is especially important if the guys in front of you blindly follow the person in front thinking they must know the way. I’ve seen a whole group of riders miss a turn right in front of me! As I watched them ride off the wrong way I made the turn and instantly gained a bunch of places because I knew the course map!!! I don’t think I saw any of those guys again.
Hydrate
- Don’t forget to drink often while on the bike. If it’s hot you’ll go through about one water bottle an hour. Since the Sprint race will be anywhere from 25-45 minutes you may not make it through an entire bottle. Drink an appropriate amount of water before you hit the run because you probably won’t be able to drink anything else for the rest of the race!
Energy
- Take at least one gel packet on the bike for sustained energy for the remainder of the race. You may need one more if you are a bigger rider.
Pace, Pace, Pace
- On the bike is when you will want to keep a fast pace, but make sure you know what pace you’ll be riding at since you still have to power through the run!!!
Prepare to enter transition
- This will be a good time to stretch a little before you hit the run if you need to. Stretch a little while you moving on the bike instead of standing around the transition area.
Know the bike course.
RUN.
When you start the run out of the transition area your legs will feel like jello. The better shape you are in, the shorter the amount of time it will take you to get into full running stride. When you get in really good shape, you will discover that when you start the bike or run it will be almost as if you had never done any exercise just before.
Encourage
- You may find that if you are encouraging people in the race you’re doing great. If you are not doing so hot the last thing you’re going to do is try to inspire those around you. As you pass people saying something like “good job” or “keep grinding” will actually inspire you to attack the race better than ever before.
Kick at finish
- If there is anybody in front of you towards the end of the race this is the time to catch and pass them.
Passing
- If someone passes you, try to stay with them.
- If or when you pass someone, come up behind them and wait a second because very soon you’re going to need to pass them. If you go by them slowly they may try to stay behind you. You’ll want to blow by them and break their mental chances of staying with you. Even if you go by them and then keep your pace a ways up, you’ll still gain a good lead over them even if they keep your pace after that. This is called surging.
Focus on passing people with 800m to go.
TRANSITIONS (T1 & T2).
Transition Swim to Bike: (T1)
- Start taking off your wetsuit as you exit the water and strip it half way.
- Place your goggle on your forehead
- Wear your top under your wetsuit during the swim. If you have to put on a top when you are wet, it’s not that exciting.
- Step on your towel you placed next to your bike on the ground.
- You’ll probably be stepping on some blacktop and the towel will make sure none of that gets in your socks.
- You can put your bike shoes on right there. Make sure they are loose so you can slip them on quickly.
- Put on race belt with race bib attached! Some small races may not have bibs, but most do.
- An easy way to run with your bike is to put one hand on the seat, but feel free to also grab the handlebars so you don’t crash and burn in front of everyone
Transition Bike to Run: (T2)
- This is where you can be really fast.
- Dismount from your bike before you enter the transition area. There’s usually a line marking the dismount spot.
- Keep your helmet on the whole time you are using your bike
- Find your spot, place bike, take off bike shoes, put on running shoes (hopefully you got the elastic laces so this part is super fast), and off you go!
- Make sure you know where the run exit is beforehand so you’re not having to figure this out during the race!
- If you’ve gone moderately hard on the bike it will be a bit painful getting going at the start of the run (it always is), but after a few minutes or so you should be able to get in your groove. The better shape you are in the smaller the time will be to get in your “groove.” If you’re in great shape it will be almost as if you had never biked when you hit the run. If you’re still getting in shape the transition from bike to run will take a little longer to get into it.
Note: Make sure you remember where your spot is!!! Just take an overview image of the area and know where the swim and bike will enter the transition area and where you will need to go.
TRANSITION SETUP.
Get your spot.
If it’s not a super organized race you’ll need to find a spot instead of one being assigned to you.
- Hang your bike from the seat so you can just lift the seat up and under the bike rack bar
- You can also hang it from the handlebars, but usually you don’t need to do this
- Try to place your helmet on your handle bar area (see image) and stick sunglasses inside helmet so you don’t forget those!
- Basically, make everything easy to get to
- You can place a couple gel on the ground to stick in your pocket before you leave (eat it on the bike)
- Once you’ve set up your space you’ll probably want to protect it a bit and don’t wander too far away
- People may try to move your stuff if there isn’t enough space for people
- Go stretch and use the bathroom if you need to. You may want to just stand in the bathroom line and stretch while you wait
See image to setup your bike.
