Russell Sergent is a professional triathlete who has been training for more than 20 years. In triathlon, there are three different events; swimming, cycling and running. Most triathletes try to improve by either fine-tuning these disciplines through skill work, or improve their physical abilities which can result to advantages gained in all three of these categories. There is, however, another method that can improve the performance of a triathlete, which is working on the transitions.
What Are They The transitions are the short phases between the events. In triathlon, there is no stoppage time, which means the whole competition is a continuous race until the competitors reach the finish line. The transitional phases are extremely important because they can not only influence the finishing time of an athlete, but they can also offer a tremendous psychological boost between the events. How to Get Better at Them The biggest influencing factor for the transition phases is the physical layout of the competition. Knowing where the athlete comes out of the water, knowing where the bikes are, practicing ways to ditch the swim suit, etc. are all a big help. In some competitions the athletes get help with that process, but that is not a given, which means that they have to learn to effectively take off their wet swimsuit, and that is definitely not an easy thing to do. As someone who competed in more than a 100 triathlon events under the aegis of various organizations, Russell Sergent knows how crucial the transitional phases are. Sources: http://www.man-tri-club.org.uk/Training/coaches-corner/Transition/ http://www.humankinetics.com/excerpts/excerpts/improving-your-transitions |
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