Triathlon Equipment Dos and Don’ts

Dashing from a swim, racing on a bike, and running in one swift motion is hard to master if you are training to be a pro triathlete. But avoiding common pitfalls is one way to improve your performance. To help you on your journey, we’ve prepared a list of triathlon dos and don’ts to keep in mind:

Triathlon Dos

Do Prepare Your Gears Ahead of Time

Do not depend on your fellow triathlete to provide all the basic equipment for you. It won’t be fair to the other person if he prepared for the race. It is your responsibility to bring all the right gears you need to compete in a triathlon. That means packing your own towels, water bottles, bike pumps, sunglasses, shoes, and other essentials.

Do Avoid Injuries

This is self-explanatory but it pays to keep your eyes peeled for overexcited competitors. This goes especially if you are competing in a triathlon for the first time. When people are dashing in and out like a bull, it is easy to lose one’s balance and end up being hurt in the process. Make sure to protect yourself so you can finish the race as planned

Do Take Your Time

Speed isn’t everything, even when you are in a race. Hasting through the race could lead to accidents, forgotten gears, and wasted time. Instead of racing through the motions, pace yourself between transitions. You want to make sure you are ready for the next challenge. Remember, once you forget something in haste, you might not have the time to get it right again.

Do be Alert Between Transitions

To avoid losing precious seconds finding your equipment, add visual clues. This way, you can recognize your bike from the sea of bikes. You want to use markers that are easy to see and unique. These markers could be anything from a bright towel, a unique transition mat, or a neon bike sticker of some kind.

Do Practice

Practice makes perfect. Make sure you have a plan to execute your transition procedure flawlessly. Then, practice, practice, practice. Practicing regularly helps make your race day experience familiar.

Triathlon Don’ts

Do not Move Overreach Your Space

Never overreach your rack space because that would be unfair to the other competitors. Put your gears on your own spot and keep them there. You only need enough space for your set of bike shoes, running shoes, a running hat, and a race belt.

Do not Over-pack

Bring only the essentials. Leave all unnecessary gears at home, such as dish buckets, folding chairs, etc. Not all these equipment are needed in a race so leave them at home, where they belong.

Don’t Experiment

The actual race day is not the time to get creative in terms of trying out new bike moves or even using a new pair of running shoes. All these last-minute experiments could cause either discomfort or injuries. Do all the things that you practiced. Apply techniques that you perfected to save more time.

Do not Move the Bikes

As you transition to the bike phase, do not disturb other bikes in the queue nor move your bike to elbow your way into getting the prime spot. Again, you don’t want to be unfair to other competitors who got to the prime spot first.