I have competed in several sprint tri's and have the bug. While I am a long way from being really competitive, I enjoy the training and the challenge. I put a pair of Look anatomic pedals that I had in the spare parts bin on my bike and put a set of red (5o float) cleats on my shoes. For training I love these pedals, zero knee issues, easy in and out, etc. However, at a race, the big cleat is kinda clunky. I know that I could work on the technique of leaving the shoes in the cleats, but will another pedal type (SPD, Speedplay) work better for races?

I'm not sure what issue you're having. Is it that the cleats on the shoes are too big and clunky to run in from transition?

You mentioned leaving the shoes in the cleats - did you mean leaving the shoes clipped in to the pedals? Are you having a problem getting the bigger cleats clipped in during a race?

Sorry, I suppose greater clarity requires greater caffeine levels... The problem is running in transition with these huge Look cleats on my bike shoes, Getting in/out of the pedals is no problem. I was wondering if SPD or speedplay cleats might be better for getting around in my bike shoes during transition.

I would just practice getting your feet out of your shoes before you get into T2. Running in bike shoes is not fun no matter what cleat you have.

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I think the difficulty in running has more to do with the stiffness of sole of the bike shoe rather than the size of the cleat.

If you have trouble running with the Look cleats, definitely stay away from Speedplay. Running in those is the closest thing to ice skating you will find. I use SPD-SLs which are fine for me. I recall feeling unsure about them the first time I ran through transition in them but the 2nd time was OK. I suspect you will just get used to your Looks. I would also say that leaving your shoes clipped to your pedals is a bad idea for most people. If you're planning to win your age group and need those extra few seconds, OK. But if you're a mid-packer there will be a lot of bikes around you coming out of transition and you're better off paying attention to them than trying to get your feet into your shoes.

I aspire to be a mid-packer :-) I think the idea of getting out of the shoes prior to T2 and leaving them in the pedals is doable and this I will practice. But the idea of trying to get in my shoes, while pedaling, and avoiding others (many doing the same) is not wise at this point. SPDs may be better than the looks b/c they are smaller, but the looks being plastic there is less "slickness' to them. I think I'll stick with what I got, thanks.