Often we have talked about the value of details and
the importance of mastering as many aspects as
possible.

Many have heard the stories -- Anna, at Donner Lake
Triathlon, being 8th or 9th and how, if she had made
up 1 seccond per 28 minutes of racing, would have
been on the podium -- Reene's mock transition set-up
in her house -- about how Sue, last weekend, missed
out on that 12th spot at the Pacific Coast Triathlon
by a mere 3 seconds -- and other similar examples --
all illustrating how small margins end up making a
big difference.

Take Jeanne's great Vineman results.

Pacing and fueling along the way allowed her to run
the

It looks like her great swim and blistering bike
split overcome her lack of running skills, although,
due to great pacing and fueling along the way, she
was able to run the three 8+ mile legs with negative
splits -- 1:50, 1;46 and 1:45 -- and helped her win
the division -- but -- a closer look reveals that
that is not the case.


The difference between her and the 2nd place finisher
is to be found in their transition splits.

Jeanne's on-course time was only a grand total of
4 seconds faster then the second place finisher -- the
rest of the 4:16 min winning margin was made up by
being 4:12 min faster in the transitions -- had they
had the same transition times they would have been
drag racing to the finish line.

What is 4 seconds over 12:50:39 hrs (46,239 seconds)?

It is equal to a mere 0.0000865% -- which is less than
1/10,000 of a percent -- how about that for a winning
margin -- after 13 hours of racing Jeanne only beat
the next finisher by 4 sec out on the course -- what a
photo finish that would have been.

While Jeanne had to work hard for the 4 seconds she
really did not have to do any hard work for the 4:12
minutes -- just be disciplined and not waste any time.

Look over the Barb's and Vineman results and you will
see that the girls, by far, had the fastest T1 and T2
times -- worth the mundane practice it took to get it.