Improve your triathlon performance with DTS Wisselclinics: An interview with trainer Wouter Dijkshoorn

It is important to prepare yourself well for all aspects of a triathlon, including the transition moments. In collaboration with Training Tweaks, we organize transition clinics to help participants improve their transition technique. We interviewed Wouter Dijkshoorn, one of the trainers of Training Tweaks, about the focus and points of attention of the DTS Transition Clinics.


Can you tell us what the focus is on during the transition clinic?


Our focus is mainly on individual attention, because we notice that people have a lot of tension and little structure in the transition moments. We therefore try to help participants improve their skills with as much practice time and repetitions as possible. In addition, we give useful tips during the components, such as in the swimming component, we give the participants handles for swimming in the sea at the clinic in Zandvoort. We want to give the individual athletes a lot of attention and especially let them practice a lot.


Are there any specific points of attention that you would like to improve during the transition clinic?


Yes, we focus mainly on improving the transitions. The transitions we cover are from swimming, transition to cycling up to the first kilometer and the end of the cycling part to the first part of the run. We notice that this brings a lot of tension and little structure, so we want to help participants gain more control over this.


Depending on the location, we include parts of the course in the clinic where possible. This allows participants to visualize the transition moment for the triathlon well and they experience less stress during the triathlon. A big advantage is that we can tell you during the triathlon what the best places are to change, because we give the clinics at the location of the race, 2 days before the race and the transition area is already build up by then.


How many instructors are there per participant?


We aim for a ratio of maximum 15 participants per trainer, but then there are often already 2 trainers, because of the many individual questions we get. It is also always nice to see that triathletes help each other by giving tips during the clinic and learning from each other.


What is the ratio of participants?


Our clinics often have 2/3 beginners and 1/3 experienced athletes. This creates an interesting mix of participants and allows us to accommodate everyone at their own level.


Why is the transition clinic recommended for the experienced triathlete?


The transition clinic is not only recommended for beginners, but also for experienced triathletes. We often see that experienced athletes can shave another minute off the transition time, while beginners can shave off 2 or 3 minutes. Moreover, the clinic can make the triathlon much more fun and give you a kick when you pass 20 people in transition.

SCHRIJF JE NU IN VOOR DE DTS WISSELCLINICS

Training Tweaks: nog meer aandacht voor overgangsclinics en triatlontraining

door Lars Vreugdenhil • 13 mei 2025
Swimming, cycling and running: it doesn’t sound that complicated and of course it isn’t. But if you combine these sports – as is customary in a triathlon – it becomes a bit more complicated, especially if you also take into account that you have to switch to and from the different components. Reason enough for DTS to offer a number of transition clinics again this year, so that you – beginners as well as more experienced athletes – can optimally prepare yourself for the upcoming competitions. These training sessions will be given in collaboration with the trainers of Training Tweaks, Wouter Dijkshoorn and Young Fokker, and are specifically intended for athletes of all levels. Wouter and Young are both Level 3 running and triathlon coaches and, through Training Tweaks, have been partners of TRI HARD, Amsterdamse Triathlons and now also with DTS for years. Participants naturally choose for themselves whether they want to participate in the transition clinic, triathlon training or perhaps both, but in any case they are guaranteed the expert knowledge of these trainers. Transition clinic: A triathlon involves much more than ‘just’ swimming, cycling and running. Because how do you actually do that with your wetsuit when you get out of the water and how do you make the transition to your bike as smoothly as possible? Where do you put your helmet and where do you put your cycling shoes? What do you have to pay attention to? And after cycling, do you put on your running shoes straight away, or is it wise to put on different socks first or eat a gel? During the transition clinic – of which we are providing four this year – all these kinds of questions are discussed and we will guide you through this sometimes quite difficult subject. More information – such as dates and prices, but also about our trainers – can be found on our special clinics and training page!

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door Lars Vreugdenhil • 13 mei 2025
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Swimming technique important or not?

door Lars Vreugdenhil • 13 mei 2025
Many triathletes use the winter, or ‘off season’ months, to lay the foundation for a new racing season. This period is also perfect to work on swimming technique. We asked the coaches of Personal Swimming what the importance of good swimming technique is and what could be improved in general. Personal Swimming has been training and coaching all kinds of swimmers for over 10 years; from novice triathletes to Kona participants and lane swimmers to young swimming talents. All from their passion and background as Olympic professional swimmers. Coach Bas is one of the founders of Personal Swimming and explains it to us. “In recent years we have seen more and more triathletes working on improving their swimming technique. “Finally!” we would sometimes like to say, because for a long time swimming was a bit of a side issue. While there is so much to gain with a good and efficient front crawl stroke. Not only in terms of saving time in the water, but especially in terms of energy conservation for the rest of the triathlon. We help the athletes who come to us mainly by gaining insight into their areas for improvement. By making a good video analysis of the swimming stroke, both above and below water, we clearly show where there is room for improvement in the technique. Since this summer, we also do a lot of 'Stroke efficiency measurements'. The measurement shows in clear graphs how efficiently you are swimming. With which stroke length and frequency are you swimming at different speeds. This provides even more insight into what you need to do during your swimming training. The main goal is to train smart, in order to actually become faster. These months are extremely suitable to work on this, precisely because you can make great progress in this now. During the racing season, or during the months when it is warmer or stays light longer, we see that fatigue or the training plan does not always allow for this. Although Bas counters: "There is always room for improvement. In the time that we made weeks of 35 hours of training, of which 20 hours were swimming. Technique training was always done at the end of the week or a heavy conditional set. Swimming qualitatively well under extreme fatigue is then the challenge. Actually no different from a triathlon, starting your race as well as possible from relaxation and efficiency brings the best end result. Want to get started with a private lesson yourself? With the following code PS10ACTIE you will receive €10 discount on a PT session with one of the coaches of Personal Swimming.
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