Setting Up Your Transition
I guess for me, T1 and T2 begin the night before the race as I am sitting on my living room floor sweating bullets and chanting "swim, bike, run" in my head over and over while I check and re-check my gear. My worst triathlon nightmare is forgetting something vital, (well, that and having to go pee while biking because WHAT AM I GOING TO DO!?) and having to swim without goggles or bike in my running shoes. So, I always make sure everything is packed the night before, and that I have all of my essentials (plus extras!) so I can sleep soundly.
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The first real triathlon I did I was counseled to show up early...like two hours early. It seemed excessive at the time, but I do this at every race now so I can get a bike rack in a place that is both easy to find, and easily accessible. If bike racks are assigned, or if you can't find an ideal spot make sure to find a landmark or something obvious that will make it easy to find your bike when you exit the water. Some people like to tie balloons to their bike racks, and I like to set up next to those awesome people because it's easy to spot AND I feel like I'm at a party! Once I hang my bike (carefully!), I like to lay out a beach towel underneath for all of my gear, oh and while we're talking about it, I just want to remind anyone who is considering bringing a full-sized cooler to please NEVER EVER do this. It takes up SO MUCH SPACE, and really your bottle of HEED is going to be fine; you're just going to pee it out eventually anyway (didn't we already talk about this?). Anyway, I put all of my biking gear on one side of my towel, and all of my running gear on the other. I like to put my helmet, with the chin strap open, on my aero bars and my sunglasses inside my helmet. I make sure all of the fuel I will be needing on the bike is actually ON my bike and ready to go. Then I put my race belt, with my number attached, and my bike shoes together on one side of the towel. For T2 I usually lay out my running shoes and a visor, and if it's a longer race I put an open GU upright in my running shoe so I can down a few calories on my way out of transition.
There are a few other things I like to do in those two hours before the race starts, and one is to make sure that my bike is in the right gear. If your bike out is uphill you want to make sure you are in a lower gear, or you might end up tipping over in front of everyone. Not that I have done this or anything. OK, yes I have and it's kind of the worst. Make sure to notice where the bike in/out and the run out are so you don't get turned around and mess up your timing chip. And no, I have NOT done this but it sounds like something that would happen to me! Also, I don't have a fancy GPS watch that I can use on the swim, so I always re-set my bike computer before the race and have my Larry-King-aged watch ready for the run. I always bring my bike pump to make sure my tire pressure is correct, and a headlamp so I can see what I'm doing at 5AM. Yes, I really get there THAT early! Some people like wearing socks or a fuel belt for the run, but I don't so if those are things you use plan accordingly.
Once I have everything the way I want it, I go over it in my head a few times (swim, bike, run!) and then I can get back to doing what I do best: eating and being nervous!