Embrace Sports 14/10/14 Transition training and a ride to Aljezur

Tuesday 14th October

The day started with transition training in a local car park with Graeme and Andy. I was surprised that so few people decided to attend – I know that some of the others are very experienced, but I’m not sure that all of them are. Stu and I have done a couple of these workshops in the past, but we still think there is a lot of room for improvement.

Graeme broke the steps down, so that we practised running with our bikes first. It’s amazing how many experienced triathlons that I’ve seen a races who try to hold their bike’s handlebars when running in transition. This increases the risk of an accident as the runner is more likely to be hit by their bike’s pedal.

After we’d practised turning to the left and to the right with our bikes, we moved onto mounting our bikes. I’m quite confident at doing this in the car park, but I’ve not managed to do it whilst moving in a triathlon – I’m one of those annoying people who stops at the mount line – sorry!

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Before practising dismounting, we had to build up to it by swinging our ‘free’ leg over the saddle and then back again. I find this really difficult – I think it’s a combination of my lack of flexibility and the chunkiness of my thighs. However, I can dismount successful and have managed to do so in all of my triathlons this year.

We then moved on to putting our shoes on after mounting and then removing them before dismounting. I prefer to wear socks with my shoes which can make mounting more tricky as my socks tend to stick to the velcro. In comparison, I’ve practised removing my shoes a lot and can do that successfully.

When we’d had a go at everything, it was time for us to cycle back to the apartments, before heading out for the main ride of the day to Aljezur.

After the 90km ride to Aljezur, I did a 2 lap (4km brick run), before going for a shower.

Graeme then did a triathlon Q&A, which provided lots of helpful hints and tips.

In the evening, we went to Vlad’s restaurant (Atalaia) for a group meal. I had requested a salad, instead of the usual choice of pasta or omelette. The meal I was presented with was ‘unusual’ – the bottom layer was lettuce, tomato, cucumber and raw onion, whilst the top layer was slices of apple and orange. It was definitely unique!

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