O till O Gear Selection

Last fall my brother called me after Jonas Colting had won and wrote his race report on a unique race called O till O. It was intriguing and Erin suggested that we go do the race to celebrate my brother’s 30th Birthday.

So, here we are. We’ve spent the past few months accruing run miles and swim yardage. My largest week included 70 miles of running and 25k of swimming, so nothing astronomical. Despite 5 months of base training, I biomechanically challenged myself that week. Fortunately all is well and we have no injuries to speak of.

One interesting aspect of the race is the lack of formal transition areas. Despite going from swim to run ( and one bike section) 40 times, you keep all of your gear with you every step of the way. People have tried many different solutions for gear, including kick boards, flippers, water-tight bags for shoes, etc. We’ve taken Jonas’ advice and decided to run in our wetsuit and swim with our tennis shoes and avoid any gear changes. This put heightened awareness upon our gear selection. We’ve spent a few sessions testing different combinations. What you see above is my final section, minus my “secret weapon”….I will disclose that after the race, depending on how well it works. A couple of choices you might find interesting…the Blue Seventy webbed gloves will serve dual function in warmth and providing a paddle effect. One of the test sessions I soaked 4 pairs of different shoes and then weighed them…the Zoots won, saving 2 pounds of dead weight. My shoulder hasn’t quite recovered enough to overcome the resistance of a sleeved wetsuit, so I’m going sleeveless. Infinit remains my nutrition of choice…no worries about the right mix of calories, electrolytes and sugary taste. The pic above contains nearly my entire race kit.

Hope the rest of you are enjoying your summer adventures. You can see mine live tomorrow by watching real time GPS updates online.

J