Final Gear Selection

There was a few changes prior to race day. The lower picture is the final race day gear in comparison to what I planned to use in the top picture. I will comment on a few things and leave some others for a different post.

My "secret weapon" was the pull buoy carved out to stuff our required gear and fashioned around our waist with a old tube. It worked brilliantly. I was able to store all of my necessary gear in the buoy-the cell phone or GPS unit, whistle and compass fit there without difficulty. I had tied the pull buoy tight enough that it didn't bounce when running at all and with one easy pull would fall into place between my legs for the swim. When I would stand up from the swim, it would pop back into place on its own. Seamless transitions in that regard.

There were a changes with a few items that we were on the fence about. The webbed gloves vs paddles debate literally continued up to race morning. However, the edge was given to the paddles b/c they were faster in my pool TT's and weren't as fatiguing. The fingertip paddles were the ideal size in that they were definitely faster, but not excessively tiresome. I ended the day without any huge issues from them at all. However, they weren't easy to transition and they were a real handicap getting in and out of the water. On the steep climbs immediately out of deep water required a lot of additional strength that I didn't really have. The gloves would have been nice to get that extra grab. My ideal solution would be to have thin neoprene gloves with finger paddles. I would add a carabiner to my tube to allow me to carry them on the long runs.

There are many things I would do different. Poor equipment choice alone cost us 30 minutes...very frustrating. More to come in my race report.

Now recovering and back to work,
J