After over 10 years in the sport I finally did a full this year. Proudly crossing the line at IMMT has been the highlight of my racing! Just thought I'd share my thoughts and see if others have anything to share as well on what has changed when they've done a full.
1) Gatorade- I used to hate the stuff. Still not crazy about it... But since it was on course and I used it all year I got used to it. Can't so maybe it's not my favorite and never will be but it works and you can't argue with the price or giant size of the container! No reason that a triathlete can't switch to it or keep it in the rotation. Bonus, you can save money and find it almost anywhere on earth.
2) Vasaline- I was in need of chamois cream and didn't want to spend $18 on a tube of Chamois Butt'r so I took a risk and used petrolium jelly all year. Worked great! Didn't degrade or stain my shorts, and I even used it *gasp* on my wetsuit and nothing happened. It was like $3 for a huge tub that's still going. Wish I would have known that years ago... But popular opinion steered me away. Bonus, in addition to money saved you can leave a half used tub of vasaline out whenever company comes over and they'll get nervous...
3) Training/racing tires!- Here's the deal... I bought a pair of all arounds on Nashbar special (Michelin Pro4 but that doesn't matter) to replace the Vittoria Zaffarios that came on my bike. They honestly were really good tires until during training I had a pretty bad puncture that left a visible hole dead center of the tire all the way through the cords. Now, for shorter races I probably would have just went back to the Vittoria and took the tiny hit. But bigger races bigger time gap... After weighing a bunch of not so ideal options I went with a pair of race tires, and continue to beat on my Zaffarios. I did some hypothetical math, and this should actually SAVE money in the long run since training tires last so effing long.
Anyone else? Feel free to share.
I still lapped everyone on the couch!
1) Gatorade- I used to hate the stuff. Still not crazy about it... But since it was on course and I used it all year I got used to it. Can't so maybe it's not my favorite and never will be but it works and you can't argue with the price or giant size of the container! No reason that a triathlete can't switch to it or keep it in the rotation. Bonus, you can save money and find it almost anywhere on earth.
2) Vasaline- I was in need of chamois cream and didn't want to spend $18 on a tube of Chamois Butt'r so I took a risk and used petrolium jelly all year. Worked great! Didn't degrade or stain my shorts, and I even used it *gasp* on my wetsuit and nothing happened. It was like $3 for a huge tub that's still going. Wish I would have known that years ago... But popular opinion steered me away. Bonus, in addition to money saved you can leave a half used tub of vasaline out whenever company comes over and they'll get nervous...
3) Training/racing tires!- Here's the deal... I bought a pair of all arounds on Nashbar special (Michelin Pro4 but that doesn't matter) to replace the Vittoria Zaffarios that came on my bike. They honestly were really good tires until during training I had a pretty bad puncture that left a visible hole dead center of the tire all the way through the cords. Now, for shorter races I probably would have just went back to the Vittoria and took the tiny hit. But bigger races bigger time gap... After weighing a bunch of not so ideal options I went with a pair of race tires, and continue to beat on my Zaffarios. I did some hypothetical math, and this should actually SAVE money in the long run since training tires last so effing long.
Anyone else? Feel free to share.
I still lapped everyone on the couch!