Kona Race Report: T2

I had a great T2, although it didn't start that way.

The nice thing about Ironman is that they have valet service. At the end of my ride I hopped off my bike, handed it to one of the valets with a few bucks and then went to pick up my bag. The problem was that the transition area was covered with wet, slippery, artificial turf and I was wearing bike shoes. And to make matters worse, they make you run around the entire perimeter of the transition area to get your bag.

I took a few steps and had to grab the fence to keep my balance. One of the volunteers suggested that I take my shoes off, but I hesitated. I didn't want to get my socks wet right before running a marathon. So I tried taking a few more steps, but it was pointless. I took off my shoes and tried to run tippy-toe the entire way to bag pick-up. I was moderately successful at keeping dry.

Basically I only had to put on my running shoes and hat and then fly out on to the course, and that's pretty much what I did. I had a T2 time of 2:47. To put that in perspective, you may have heard of a little triathlete named Andy Potts? His T2 time was only 5 seconds faster than me. I seriously kicked ass in transition.

So what are my secrets to a fast T2?
1) Pack lightly. You don't want to deal with a lot of clutter in your transition bag.
2) Stay focused. Keep calm and pay attention to what you're doing.
3) The most important thing: show up to T2 so much later than everyone else that you have the entire place to yourself and don't have to worry about bumping into anyone else.