Fastest Transition Technique Ever

A guy in The Serene One's race club completed the Western States Endurance Race last night. It covers 100 miles on foot in one day. TSO's acquaintance finished in roughly 26 and a half hours. Here's a description of the race from the website:

The Run is conducted along the Western States Trail starting at Squaw Valley, California, and ending in Auburn, California, a total of 100 miles. The trail ascends from the Squaw Valley floor (elevation 6,200 feet) to Emigrant Pass (elevation 8,750 feet), a climb of 2,550 vertical feet in the first 4½ miles. From the pass, following the original trails used by the gold and silver miners of the 1850’s, runners travel west, climbing another 15,540 feet and descending 22,970 feet before reaching Auburn.

Most of the trail passes through remote and rugged territory, accessible only to hikers, horses and helicopters.

Crazy huh? TSO and I talked about how to even begin training for an event like this. This led us to youtube to find our favorite triathlon training video ever. I've talked about it before, but it still makes me laugh:



Besides being prepared for the impact of your fellow racers, another thing that can affect your time is the transition. One of my friends once had a 15 minute transition time from swim to bike. He was doing a relay and couldn't find his teammate. He didn't have his glasses on. Eventually, he borrowed someone's cell phone and called his teammate in order to find him!

Here's a handy instructional video on how to speed up your transition: