 Growing up as a young cyclist, one of the lines we always used jokingly was ‘Shammy time is training time’. Meaning that sitting around in your shammy after your ride was considered training time. Obviously not the case, but funny nonetheless.
This tip has to do with your shammy - relative to your saddle height on race day (not the amount of time you spend sitting around in it). Most of us as triathletes will race in a tri-short with a small shammy that doesn’t soak up a gallon of water from the swim, and doesn’t feel like a diaper during the run. However, we often train in a normal cycling shorts with those nice thick pads that ease the bumps and bruises on our skinny butts. The difference between the two is relatively minor, but, it does make a difference on race day if your legs and back are used to having that extra ~5mm of height.
Continue reading Shammy time is training time
 Chances are, if you’re a triathlete, you’ll be racing and/or training somewhere where you’ll need sunscreen, and the SPF number is not all you should be looking at. Race day is not a day to try and get a tan, so find one that works and load it on. Some athletes even carry a small bottle with them on the bike to re-apply half way. Sunburn to the skin hinders sweat gland function by inhibiting the body’s ability to cool itself, it is definitely worth paying attention to if racing in a place with intense sunshine.
What better place to test this stuff out then on the lava fields of Hawaii – so that’s what we’ve done. A few different trials and we’ve found the perfect answer. It’s extremely breathable, extremely water proof, and claims to be anti-aging (which by blocking UV and preventing skin damage is actually reasonable). The key ingredient is 3% Zinc Oxide in a product called Hawaiian Blend Sport Sunblock SPF50. We tried a couple others – Bullfrog works great, but not for long. Similar findings for Coppertone Sport. The worst was made by Banana Boat, even the sport sunscreen was very un-breathable and it makes you sweat from every pore. It also didn’t do much to block the sun after any time in the water.
Continue reading Sunscreen
 In our opinion compression socks can be beneficial for triathletes. They are great for recovery from hard runs, long days at work, or traveling. They can also be used during hard training runs if you don’t mind getting heckled by 99.9% of the population. Wearing them in a race, however, we’re not sold on. If you can put those things on in under 1 minute, they are most likely not tight enough on your calves to be having any effect anyway. There is a compromise – calf sleeves, that you could tuck under your wetsuit during the swim and not have to waste time in transition putting the full compression sock on.
The people who run the Ironman show (WTC) had recently placed a ban on compression socks – but it does look like they’ve reversed that decision for Kona this year. The issue was that they thought athletes were gaining an unfair advantage by covering up their respective age categories. Sounds like they have eliminated the ritual of putting the athletes age on the back of the calf altogether.
Continue reading Compression Socks
 So, are you better off getting a triathlon specific frame, or better off attaching clip-on aero bars to your road bike frame? This topic has been grilled to death on the internet but we’re going to talk about it regardless. I did my first two Ironmans on a road bike with aero bars and have some points that I think are useful to those weighing this decision.
Things to consider:
-The aerodynamic position on a triathlon bike allows your hips to stay open. If you were to put your back into the same aerodynamic position on a road bike, you will more than likely have a tighter hip angle, pinching off some of the blood flow and comfort you’ll need to perform well. If you have tight back and glute muscles, riding in any semblance of an aero position while on a road bike is going to be extremely uncomfortable. If you have a barrel chest, big gut, large breasts – same thing holds true. Your quads will be hitting your upper body on a road bike with aero bars. Moving the seat forward relative to the bottom bracket (which is basically what a tri-bike does) will open up your hips and give you more room to breath and stay comfortable,while all while being more aerodynamic. In our opinion this is what most people neglect to look at. They think because their body won’t allow them to be aero, they don’t need a triathlon frame with a steeper seat angle. TOTALLY wrong, it will help in a big way for the reasons mentioned above.
Continue reading Tri Bike or Road Bike for long course triathlon
With the high training volumes that go into preparing for an Ironman, skin irritations are inevitable. Chaffing, sunburn, blisters and the dreaded sore red skin around the saddle area are common examples. If you have sensitive skin and have had to squat in the bushes on a long ride, contact dermatitis from mystery plants [...]
 Aero helmets are a popular piece of fancy gear that long course triathletes often obsess over. IMtriathlontips.com been down in the A2 wind tunnel care of Blue Competition Cycles to measure their exact aerodynamic advantage. What we learned is that aerodynamics are extremely personal. Helmets that had the longest taper at the back and seemed the most sleek and “aero” sat differently with the natural taper of each riders back. We saw a decrease in wind resistance with a helmet that had a shorter tail on one rider, but the same helmet didn’t work quite as well for another. There’s also the issue of position and what you can hold for an entire 180 kilometers. All in all, it’s very personal. It depends on YOU and how you sit on your bike and hold your head.
Continue reading Aero Helmets
 If you are new to the world of long distance triathlon, or simply have incredibly robust skin, you may not be intimately familiar with wonderful anti-friction products such as BodyGlide. You can apply this stuff anywhere and it will prevent fabric-on-skin or skin-on-skin chaffing (‘chub-rub’ as we affectionately call it). Most people use it on race day to lube up their forearms and calves for easy wetsuit removal, and to prevent chaffing on the back of their necks from wetsuit zippers. Many also apply it around their armpits where jerseys and sports bras make contact.
If you have sensitive skin, applying body glide between your legs, along any areas where seams and chamois in your bike shorts may rub, around the draw-string of your shorts, where a race number belt may make contact with your waist, and around your ankle where your timing-chip strap goes - are all important measures to take to keep your lower half happy. In addition to the armpit and sports bra areas, you may want to apply body glide to your neck and the front of your chest if you have a zipper that opens up the front of your jersey. Men may also find that nipples are an essential area to cover, especially if they change into a more loose fitting jersey for the run. If you wear a heart rate monitor it can be good to apply body glide in a band right around your ribcage.
Continue reading Say no to chaffing
 Depending on your bike strength, the race you’re training for, and the terrain you have to train in, it may be worth looking at changing the size of the chain rings and cogs on your bike. Most bikes will come fit with the standard 53 tooth big chain ring and a 39 tooth small chain ring. On the rear of the bike you’ll typically see a 12/23 cogset. If you live in a mountainous area, you’re probably best sticking with this standard set up. Even so, there are some pretty good alternatives that you may want to try.
Some may find that the 53 tooth chain ring is just too big, or too hard to ride most of the time. And rightly so. How often do you find yourself in the 53 tooth front ring and the 12 tooth cog a the back? I would wager not very often at all unless you have some long descents in your training grounds. Even then, you’ve got to be going over 60km per hour to spin that gear out. Then there’s always the situation where you hit a hill that’s not quite long enough to bother switching to your 39 tooth chain ring so you just grunt it over the top in your big ring. Or the dreaded, ‘oh crap I’m not going to make it in my 53, I need to switch half way up but can’t because I have to keep pedaling and I’m not going fast enough.’
Continue reading Choosing the right gear
 A drive train encompasses all the parts of your bike that chain touches – chain rings upfront and cogs in the back. Indicators that you need to replace your bike chain may be sloppy or slow shifting, mis-shifts, or grinding.
A simple test to find out if things are getting a little too worn is to pull on your chain with your fingers while it’s in the big ring. If the chain moves and wiggles around all the teeth on the chain ring, and you can see spaces between the ring and the chain, you can bet that it’s time to look at swapping everything. When your chain has been used for a long time and has stretched out, the gap between the rollers on the chain will grow larger. This will cause the chain to be misaligned with the teeth on the gears. Another visual cue is to look at the shape of the teeth. The older things get the pointier each tooth will get.
Continue reading Worn out bike chain?
At the request of a reader we’ll do a little tip on aero positions. We will, however, refer you to a great photo essay at Slowtwitch. They took amazing pictures of some of the best Pro athletes at the Hawaii Ironman World Championships this year. (Unfortunately I can’t find the link to that particular article - but here’s another with some pictures for your interest.) If anyone happens to find the other article please feel free to leave a comment pointing the way.
Our take on aero positions (like most) is to be as aero as possible without compromising your power. Aerodynamics are indeed important, but time saved due to less drag will pale in comparison to the time you lose if you are so uncomfortable you can’t ride properly, or if you hinder your ability to run afterward. Here’s a couple pictures to show you some extremes on either end of the scale.
Bjorn Anderson – This position is CRAZY. It works for him on the bike – but it’s hard to say what it costs him on the run. He usually has the fastest bike split outside of Kona, but rarely has a good run. He did win Wildflower, but I think his Ironman attempts have been lackluster. Maybe he can’t digest food properly, maybe he rides too hard. Whatever it is, the point is to show a very extreme aero position:
Continue reading Good and Bad Aero positions
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As seen on: Ironman Triathlon Tips  |
Growing up as a young cyclist, one of the lines we always used jokingly was ‘Shammy time is training time’. Meaning that sitting around in your shammy after your ride was considered training time. Obviously not the case, but funny nonetheless.
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