My Ironman Journey – Kit cheque List

Ha Ha. Geddit?

Cheque list. This is going to be expensive!

I appreciate that Americans spell cheque differently (check) which sort of loses half the audience. But I will persevere regardless of linguistics.

Luckily I’ve been doing triathlons for a while and have also finished the half-distance. I write an endurance gadget sports blog. So I probably have nearly all the kit I need. Certainly NOT all the kit I WANT. But that is another matter entirely.

I have a half-decent carbon-framed TT bike and carbon-framed road bike, so I am good to go with those and also good to go with a decent set of sensibly rimmed wheels. I can get hold of a Zipp disc if needed or wheel covers if needed but I’m not so sure if I want to bother for IM UK in the hilly environs of Lancashire. The point being that I have access to the major/expensive options so I don’t really have to concern Santa about it at this stage. I can make a last minute wheel decision which won’t affect my training at all.

Clothing and shoes should be no problems too. I have lots of lycra. Actually I could do with a new pair of tri-shoes to save me 30 seconds and I’ve heard it rains a lot in Lancashire, which I am ill-prepared for.

Best Way To Do An Ironman? Take the first step and do a HALF. Then there is no turning back.

Nutrition: That’s an ongoing thing. I’ve stocked up with end-of-season cheapies so I’ll be training on stuff that’s past its sell-by date. It’ll be fine. I suppose I could put in a plug for HIGH5 too here? After doing the Hever Half Iron distance race a few months ago I came back with a rather awesome goodie bag which all racers got. Full of HIGH5 stuff. Also when registering the guy said ‘help yourself’ and pointed to an additional HUGE pile of more HIGH5 stuff. Obviously I took him at his word and was pleased that they had just given me an empty rucksack as a freebie!! He wasn’t. Oh yes I also bought lots of Lucozade sport from Tesco’s or wherever it was…NOW is a good time to buy vast quantities at about 50p a bottle. I went long (my little nod to my financial friends with that phrase).

Hydration system: My main concern is in-race hydration and feeding. I find it hard to take on board enough nutrition. With sprint and Olys you don’t really have to worry too much as you can easily carry everything you need and, indeed, with a Sprint you don’t really NEED anything much. HIM and IMs are different. Fuel and hydration ARE pretty important. My experience with HIMs so far is that on-course hydration and fuel is provided sufficiently well at feed stations and I don’t mind slowing down a bit to load up. I’m predisposed to take that strategy to the IM and not worry too much about 5 lost minutes taking a break, maybe time for a wee too at the same point. So even though I have couple of aerobar mounted drinks devices (aka hydration solutions) I don’t think I’ll bother. I might. But probably not. I quite like the idea of having fuel/water stored in the frame of the bike but I haven’t got the money or inclination to buy yet another bike with that built-in.

Electronic gadgets: The thought of a heads-up display seems a gadget too far. So I’ll stick with an Edge 820 and a 920XT. I’ll have the HRM-TRI. I HOPE that my watch will end up being a 930XT. We’ll see if that comes out and is bug fixed in time (probably not) – I won’t take ANY chances with dodgy technology in a half-day event, let alone a full day. So it looks like an all-Garmin affair. Which is a shame as I do like to give as much coverage on this blog to Garmin’s competition as I can. Actually I will PROBABLY be using the new STRYD power pod for running – STRYD have been very nice to deal with and the product is good and would also let me bin the Garmin footpods. If I choose my road bike then I will go for a ROTOR PM otherwise it’s the bePROs.I’ll definitely have a set of ROTOR Q-RINGs on whichever bike I use – because they make me go faster, IMO.

Alternative Electronic Gadgets: As said earlier a new Garmin Forerunner 930XT might tempt me for a change. A total change would have to be to the replacement V800 and new H7i HRM (both as yet unreleased and unannounced).

So for me it won’t be too expensive. Except in time.

The next post will be about a training plan. Actually probably about how I am NOT going to follow one too closely. I like the idea of having milestone events/distances along the way. I probably already complete sufficient mileages for my goals. Again, that should be MORE advice for you TO SENSIBLY IGNORE – get a coach or just do this: http://eu.ironman.com/triathlon/news/articles/2013/05/six-months-to-ironman-a-basic-training-program.aspx#axzz4T8QrWl00

Secret: I’m going to end each Ironman Journey post with a secret of some sort. My secret for the 820+920XT gadget solution would be to use a plastic tie to fasten your 820 on to the mount to avoid it being stolen. My next gadget secret for those wanting to use Bluetooth devices is to use a 4iiii Viiiiva V100 HRM which also convert the signals from Bluetooth accessories to ANT+…handy. WAHOO’s RFLKT+ is similar.