T2
I handed my bike off to a volunteer at the entrance to the transition area. They re-rack the bikes for us, how cool is that! I hobbled down, and got my run gear bag.
T2 was easer than T1 as now I had a little experience here. I went into the tent, and found a vacant seat. The tent was less crowded now, than when I went through it the first time. I took off my bike shoes and socks, and stripped off my bike shorts. I dug through my bag and pulled out my running shorts and pulled those on. I put on some fresh socks, and pulled on my running shoes. I had installed lace locks on them, so I didn’t need to tie them. I love my lace locks. I have installed them on almost all my shoes. For running races, you don’t have to worry about double knotting your shoes to keep them from coming untied. You don’t have the lace loops flying up and brushing against your legs.
I put on my running hat. I already had my metronome mounted on the back of my hat. I grabbed some more gels, and snickers bars out of my bag and shoved them into my jersey pockets. I also grabbed a couple fresh handkerchiefs and shoved those into my pockets as well, while discarding the already damp ones from the bike ride. I rotated my bib so that it was in the front now. I applied some more Vaseline to prevent chaffing. I moved my Timex watch to my right wrist, and put my Garmin 305 onto my left wrist. I turned it on so it could get a satellite lock. I shoved all my bike gear back into the bag, and handed it to a volunteer.
I exited the tent, and had a volunteer apply some more sunscreen to my exposed areas. I may have used the porta potty again, but I don’t remember.
My legs had loosened up by now. I started jogging along the path that wrapped around the transition area. When I crossed the mats leaving the transition area, I started my Garmin. I suddenly realized I was still wearing my heart rate monitor strap for my bike computer. Crap. I pulled it off, and debated about shoving it into a jersey pocket. But I figured it would fall out. There were volunteers holding out water cups at the transition exit. I asked one of them if he could stick it into one of my gear bags. He said yes, and got my bib #. I thanked him, and started off on the run course.
All your hard work is pays off, congratulations! Interesting that you us a GPS system, great idea. My friend in New Zealand competes in them he uses a strength system called static contraction training 3 months out before the big race to build his core strength up as fast as possible. He does this for only three weeks! After those three weeks he is primed strength wise. He then moves back to his usual workouts for fast twitch fibers. Any way thought you might be interested.
Comment by Static Contraction Training — November 2, 2009 @ 11:28 pm