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Small things I always use
- Garmin 90-degree charging adapter: Charges your Garmin from any USB-C cable. Essential when travelling. I use one.
- Body Glide: The blue anti-chafe stick swimmers and runners carry. I use it.
- Speedo earplugs: Fewer ear infections and no cold-water dizziness. I use them.
- Dryrobe Advance: My winter changing robe for open-water swims. I use one. A cheaper option is the AONYIYI changing robe.
- Maurten: Race fuel that stays easy on the stomach. I use them.
- Garmin charging puck: The quickest way to top up before a session. I use one.
- Injinji: Toe socks that stop rubbing, so you run more. I use them.
- Ultimate toe protectors: Stop black toenails on long runs. They work. I use them.
- Compressport R2 v2 calf sleeves: My calf sleeves of choice. I use them.
- Cellucor C4: My pre-workout before hard sessions.
- TPU tubes: Schwalbe Aerothan, Tubolito and Pirelli SmarTube. Light, tiny spares. I use all three.
- G8 insoles: Adjustable insoles that are good. I use them.
- Cycplus Cube: A 97g electric pump that gets a road tyre rideable in two minutes. I carry one. 5% off with code THE5KRUNNER.
Watches and sensors
- Polar H10: My daily driver for waking HRV.
- Polar Verity Sense: My backup arm-worn HR sensor.
- Nomad bedside charger: Charges my iPhone and Apple Watch overnight. I use it, and many of their bands.
- Train.Red: The best muscle oxygen sensor I’ve used.
- Tymewear: Accurate heart rate and reliable ventilatory zones. I use it to pace endurance rides over an hour.
- Garmin Forerunner 970: A pro-grade triathlon watch. I use this.
- Apple Watch Ultra 4: My daily smartwatch. No phone needed on rides.
- Garmin Fenix 9 Pro: I’ve just bought one.
On the bike
- Continental GP5000 for everyday riding, and Aero 111 on the front for special occasions.
- Helmets: Specialized S-Works Evade 3 for road riding, and Rudy Project Wing for TT-style races. I use both.
- Ravemen FR300: A front light that mounts under your Garmin or Wahoo. I use one.
- Wahoo TRACKR Radar: I use it on one bike and Varia on the other. They perform the same.
- Garmin Varia RTL515: Radar that warns you of cars from behind. I use this model.
- Wahoo ELEMNT Roam 3: The bike computer that’s easy to use. I use mine on most rides.
- Favero Assioma Pro RS2: Accurate power pedals that swap easily between bikes. I use this model.
Home and indoor training
- NPE Runn: Makes my basic treadmill smart, sending more accurate speed and distance to my watch and Zwift. I use it.
- Google Wifi: Keeps Zwift connected in my pain cave. I use it.
- Apple TV 4K: Zwift on the big screen. I use two.
- Google Nest Doorbell (wired, 2nd gen): My video doorbell, running in both Google Home and Apple Home. I use it.
Health, recovery and sleep
- FreeStyle Libre 3 Plus: Shows how my blood sugar responds to diet.
- hDrop: Measures my sweat loss in summer and indoors.
- Fourth Frontier Zone: Checks my heart under load in hard sessions.
- Oura Ring 5: My partner’s recovery tracker of choice.
- Kineon MOVE+: Red light therapy for niggles. It works.
- Eight Sleep: A cooling mattress cover my partner and I use nightly.
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tfk is the founder and author of the5krunner, an independent endurance sports technology publication. With 20 years of hands-on testing of GPS watches and wearables, and competing in triathlons at an international age-group level, tfk provides in-depth expert analysis of fitness technology for serious athletes and endurance sport competitors. ID
The site is much improved. Thanks!
I’ve listened to a few of the AI podcasts. I’m VERY impressed, amazed even.
The comments section has been wonky for a while – comments not appearing, reappearing, disappearing again etc. But I think you know that.
My 2p: I find the AI posts on gambling jarring – but this is your site, so your rules.
Keep up the good work. I think this is the 10th year of me reading your site, so that makes it good in my eyes.
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the disappearing comments could be one of many things
1. you’ve added two or more links – it gets spammed. i have to manually unspam it
2. the spam checker is doing its thing…checking. it then appears eventually automatically
3. wierdness with litespeed which i beleive can cache comments. you’ve prompted me to disable caching for comments. or at least check what it is set to (edit. just disabled it. let me know if it works for you at some point)
thank you for your feedback on the AI audio stuff.
i think that defintiely adds avalue for content that wouldn’t otherwise exist in reality and, as you say, i think it is good too. better even than what two humans would do
I’ll be honest: I stopped visiting your site more often because it doesn’t seem to show me the latest posts. At least that’s my feeling.
Not sure if it’s a caching or category settings / naming issue. The date in your top toolbar is also one day off most of the time.
thank you for the feedback
yes that has been an issue over the last 4-8 weeks but I believe and hope it is now entirely resolved as per 10 or so days ago. If not please let me know
all my caches are well and truly flushed but its possible one of your bnrowser caches are not. (I had an incorrect cache rules policy that kept a cache copy in your browser for a year or something like that…really speeds up the site BUT serves stale content…sorry. )