Triathlon Equipment for Newbies

You have started training for your first triathlon, and you are wondering what you will need to purchase to train and compete in your first race.

Triathlon is a sport for gearheads and techies and you can burn a lot of money fast buying equipment. Our advice is to go slow on buying stuff until you are sure that this is going to be the sport for you. Many people train for and compete in their first triathlon with a minimum of equipment. Once you have done a race, you will have a much better sense of what you want.

Absolute Basics

So there are a few things that you absolutely must have in order to train for and compete in a triathlon.

Swim :

Suit: obviously, you need a swim suit.

Training -- Whatever you have will work for training. Men should avoid loose fitting swimshorts -- buy a body-hugging lycra or nylon suit of modest length (jammers or regular shorts -- not the super short "speedos"). Women -- a simple one piece lycra or nylon suit is good for training.

Competition -- Most YTri members buy the two-piece YTri uniform that Sugoi makes for us. We wear the uniform throughout the race -- under our wetsuits, and then on the bike and the run. The suit dries quickly, and it saves having to change clothing in transition. If you don't buy the uniform, you should find a tight-fitting race top and a pair of bike shorts to race in.

Goggles: You need swim goggles for training and competition. You can get goggles that are not expensive and that will work fine for both purposes. For indoor use, get non- tinted goggles and you can use these outdoors as well. You can splurge and get tinted goggles for racing outdoors, but it is not necessary.

Swim cap: People with long hair should wear a swim cap in the pool. You can buy these cheaply at a sporting goods store or swim or triathlon shop. For race day you will be given a color-coded cap by the race authorities that you must wear in the race to identify your age group. These are usually pretty cheap -- they can be used later in the pool, but they don't last too long.

1 Wetsuit: If the water is not too cold, you can compete without a wetsuit. You can compete a lot better with a wetsuit. For your first triathlon, if you are not sure you want to commit to the purchase of a wetsuit, you can rent one. Our sponsor The Bike Rack (14th and Q) rents wetsuits for $35 a week and will credit the rental toward a wetsuit purchase. Bonzai Sports in Fairfax, VA (http://tribonzai.com) also rents wetsuits and there are some places for wetsuit rental on line. This is a good way to learn about wetsuits before you plunge in for the big purchase.

Wetsuits are expensive – from $200 to $500. You will have to decide what style you want – and that will depend on where you plan to do most of your racing. Variations are whether you have full sleeves or sleeveless and whether you have full leg cover or half or ¾ leg cover. The most popular style for mid-Atlantic region racing (because water tends to be warm here) is the Long John – a sleeveless wetsuit with full leg cover. People who do cold water racing will want a full wetsuit.

Bike:

Bicycle: You will need a bicycle to ride outdoors in the race and to train outdoors in the months leading up to the race. You can race on any two-wheel bicycle -- including mountain bikes and hybrids. You will notice a significant performance deficit, however, from racing on a mountain bike or hybrid. Eventually, you will want a road bike and will be grateful when you are finally training and racing on one.

If you do plan to train and race on a hybrid or mountain bike, get "slick" tires for the bike and also get toe clips or "clipless" pedals. Don't try to train with just flat pedals.

Unless you know you are going to clean up in the Elite division, DO NOT go out and by a $6,000 triathlon bike your first year. You can buy a perfectly decent road bike for $1,000 or less. Look for brands like Cannondale Trek, Bianchi, LeMonde, Giant for starter bikes. A number of bike manufacturers make a special frame for women -- for some women, it provides a better fit.

If you are buying a bike, try out different makes and models at different stores. Make sure you price bikes at The Bike Rack (14th and Q, NW) -- they carry a line of entry level road bikes and offer Y-Tri members discounts on accessories. You should look around at other options and prices before you decide to buy. Make sure you test ride every bike you are interested in.

Tri bike vs Road Bike: A lot of people think you have to have a triathlon bike to do triathlon. Not true.

What is the difference? A triathlon bike has a different geometry to the frame that gives the bike a steeper pitch forward. Seat posts are set higher and angle more steeply forward. Also, the aerobars are designed into the handlebars, with gear shifts usually at

2 the end of the aerobars. All of this is designed for speed on what are usually relatively flat, long, non-technical triathlon rides where you can stay in an aero position for most of the ride. The aero position gives you a lower profile and the tri bike helps you keep with your weight forward, your head down, and your legs driving from a position closer to running.

A road (or racing) bike is fine for triathlon and can be a lot less expensive. You can fit a road bike with aerobars and adjust the seat post to give you more of a slant forward, if you want. Or you can ride it as a road bike. Only seriously competitive triathletes will derive much of a benefit from a tri bike over a road bike.

One other point is that the forward pitch and the preferred aero position of tri bikes makes them more dangerous to ride on training rides on congested highways or other places. Many serious triathletes train on a standard road bike and keep their tri bike for racing.

Accessories:

Must Have:

Helmet: You must wear a bike helmet whenever you are outdoors on a bike and especially when you are racing. You will be disqualified from a race if you leave the transition area on the bike segment without a helmet on your head that is buckled. Make sure you have a helmet that fits your head tightly and can be adjusted if necessary. Replace your helmet after an accident or at least every two years. A regular road bike helmet is all you need. Unless you plan to win the race and need that half-second advantage, you should avoid the space-age, windswept helmets (cone head type).

Water bottles: These are necessary for your indoor spinning classes and for outdoor riding. You should have a cage to hold at least one water bottle on your bike (better with two, if you can fit a second in). Have an extra water bottle that you can bring to spinning class each week.

Sunglasses: You will benefit from having some kind of eye protection to keep dust and bugs out when you are riding your bike outdoors. Face-wrap sunglasses work well for this purpose -- they flush air off your face away from your eyes so that you don't tear up when you ride and you can see better.

Biking gloves: If you are doing a lot of medium- to long-distance rides, you will want bike gloves to cushion the palms of your hands on the handlebars -- to avoid losing feeling in them during a long ride. Also, gloves help keep a good grip on the bars when your hands start to sweat. Finally, gloves (particularly the back of the hands) are helpful for wiping a drippy nose during your outdoor

3 rides. (Make sure you wash them when you get back). While gloves can be helpful on long training rides, I find they are more trouble than they are worth for shorter distance races (Olympic or less).

Bike shoes and pedals: You can do the race and train on your bike with running shoes. However, to get the most from your leg stroke, you will eventually want to graduate to "clipless" pedals. Bike shoes have a hard plastic sole with a cleat fastened to the sole right under the ball of your foot. The purpose of clipless pedals is to bind your foot to the bike so that your energy transmits more directly and efficiently to the crankshaft. The downside of clipless pedals is that your is fastened to the bike pedal and you are likely to fall over a few times getting used to them. Eventually, though, you will feel the benefits .0

Again, you can train without bike shoes, although you can train better with them. If you buy bike shoes, get SPD cleats put on them. These are the cleats that fit in most of the pedals in Y's 4th Floor cycling studio. You should start out with SPD clips for this training and change over later to a different brand later if you need to. Other popular "clipless" pedal types are Look and Speedplay. Each has advantages and disadvantages. I love my Speedplays.

Odometer: It is not critical, but it is a help to training to mount a bike computer on your bike to track your distance, speed, and cadence. It is worth a little extra cost to buy one that includes cadence (pedal rotations per minute (RPMs))and have the bike store mount it so it will work properly.

Tire and Bike Repair Kits: For training and for competition, you should carry a spare inner-tube or two and the necessary equipment for changing a tire and making minor adjustments on your bike. The essential package is an inner-tube (make sure it is the right type and size for your bike), two tire levers (to get the

tire off the bike to replace the inner tube), and at least one CO2 cartridge (with a inflator head) to re-inflate your tire. A better way to be prepared is to have two

inner tubes, two tire levers, two CO2 cartridges and an Allen wrench set, to do minor adjustments if needed.

Run:

The run is the least equipment-heavy part of the race. You come in from the bike loop, put on running shoes, a race number belt, your hat and sunglasses, and you are off.

Running Shoes: This is really a matter of what you find most comfortable and what gives you the best support when you are running, considering the quirks in your stride. If you have running shoes you like, then you are all set. Just be sure to buy new shoes on a regular schedule (e.g., every six months) when you are doing a lot of running.

4 Excessive wear on your shoes can cause knee pain and other running injuries, so don’t overwear your shoes.

If you don’t have running shoes or don’t like the ones you have, go to a good running store (like our sponsor Fleet Feet or Pacers) and have them look at how you stand, suggest some choices, and give you 4 or 5 different shoes to try out (you can put them on and run around a few blocks to the get the feel). Once you lock in on a shoe you like, you will keep buying them over and over.

Hat: A simple white running hat that absorbs moisture and keeps sweat from running down your face is the best bet. Buy one at any running or sports store. I prefer ones that cover your head (rather than the visors) so that I don’t burn my head on those hot summer days. But that is a matter of personal preference.

Race Number Belt: This is a simple and cheap elastic belt that you clip your race number on and you fasten around your lower chest or waist. It saves you having to pin your number on your jersey. Pinning is great for running races, but a pain for triathlon, where you are changing gear during the race.

Sunglasses: Buy a pair that work for you on the bike to keep wind off your face, and just use these on the run.

Racing watch: There is a lot of timing going on out on the course, so you can usually have a fairly good sense of your elapsed time without a watch. If you want to time your splits during the race (to see if you are on your pace) you should get a cheap sports watch with a nice big dial you can see. You can also benefit in your training from using your watch to check your pace and pushing yourself to improve your pace. If you buy a simple watch, you will need to train on a track or somewhere else where there are mile posts – or map out the distance of your run on Google. Timex makes a pretty decent and affordable triathlon watch with the Ironman logo on it. You can get it at a sports store or a department store like Macy’s with a decent watch department.

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