7.5 Cheap Triathlon Gadget For Xmas – for the tighter amongst you

Here are some of the best, cheap gadgets or things that I’ve bought to support my triathlon efforts. Usually this sort of list is of lots of expensive gadgets or must-have technologies. This list is some cheap stuff that is actually vaguely useful (to me anyway). Ideal if your partner is into triathlon and you are a bit tight 🙂

Swim

1. Ear plugs – stop ear infections and, in my case, stop OWS nausea when the water is cold. £5 well spent.
2. Flippers/Fins – make you go much faster and flatter (helps with drills)  and apparently help make your feet all pointy. Paint them skin colour and you can use them in races. £10 well spent.
3. Plastic beech sandals – because other people in the changing rooms are dirty. £5 well spent.

Bike

1. Electricians’ insulating tape – multitude of uses linked most usually to fastening bits onto your bike that should have been made-better or fixed-better in the first place. £1 well spent.
2. Overshoes – keep your feet warmer and allegedly make you go faster. £10 well spent.
3. 1970’s John McEnroe headband – Ideal on the turbo to stop some of the sweat rusting your cables. Also great to have a photo taken of you wearing it and then to use it as your profile picture on all the bulletin boards…cool! £2 well spent
4. Chain cleaner device – does what it says. Chain lasts longer and you’ll probably go a tad faster. £10 quite well spent.

Run

1. Elastic laces – Get your shoes on and off really easily. £3 well spent. Also ideal if you are 12 and still can’t tie your laces.
2. Insole – Bought a pair of ‘special’ sports insoles and used one in one shoe. Turned the other one upside down and put it in another shoe (different pair). Magic! My legs are now the same length and I don’t get injured. Saved £’00s on podiatry. £5 from Sports Direct well spent.
3. Little Spikey tumble-dryer ball – far better than a golf ball for self-massaging feet. Stop plantar Fasciatis – £3 from Argos well spent
4. Calf compression guards – ideal to use as arm warmers. £15 well spent (actually they were one of my few freebies) Brought my retirement that much closer with the money saved.

General:

1. Joe Friel’s triathlon book. Cheap full of lots of useful and interesting stuff that will bore your partner senseless. Ideal bedtime reading if you don’t feel much like it. Great source of facts to blog about if you have no opinions of your own. £15 well spent
2. Sporttracks and Training Load plugin (probably TrainingPeaks is as good) – get with the science. £whatever-it-was VERY well spent. Your own stats beat watching telly – they are tailored just for you…unlike Sky Sports. Also significantly cheaper than Sky Sports.

WORST GADGET?:

I research my stuff quite a bit so most of my purchases have been what I expected. What has let me down most is my compressed gas tyre inflater thing…used it twice; failed each time. Still it’s in my bike bag for my next puncture…3rd time lucky?