Your bags are numbered and hung up in order. Very easy to find.

Tight clothing actually helps reduce fatigue, or so the theory goes. I use tight cycling shorts for the longer races, and believe it helps.

Lothar won IMF in a black skinsuit one year. Since then I tend to wear black- it has a great slimming effect! I will get an argument, but I feel that the color of your clothing has very little effect on our body temperature in a race. No proof, just opinion. Most pro triathletes and cyclists tend to compete in colored uniforms. If being in lighter colored clothing was important, I believe they would have evolved towards lighter colors.

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"Remember: a bicycle is an elegant and efficient tool designed for seeking out and defeating people who aren't as good as you."

--BikeSnobNYC

in addition to what GT said about tighter materials helping the fatigue of the muscles, I also find that in a long race such as an Ironman, the risk chafing is reduced considerably since there is not a lot of loose fitting material rubbing against the skin.

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Mike Plumb, TriPower MultiSports
Professional Running, Cycling and Multisport Coaching, F.I.S.T. Certified
http://www.tripower.org

Ditto on the tight fit. I use DeSoto power tri-shorts (is that the name?) and have had great luck in IM's. I have heard of sudies done (not seen) that the color of clothing matters so slightly that the effects are negligible.

At IMH sometimes a support worker will hand your bag to you if they're not overwhelmed with athletes coming into the transition area. As another poster remarked the bags are easy to find. At IMNA races you actually get to place your bag on the numbered rack so you know exactly where it is.

Personally I like to change into dry running gear before the run. The comfort just gives me a mental lift considering the 26.2 you're facing.

About the tight fit, I agree 100%. But about the color for my experience under a sunny and very hot conditions it makes me a lot of difference. I have two triathlon suits and one is black, I just use this one on the cloud days....

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Luiz Eng

It's nice to see people putting so much thought into their clothing. It is extremely important. Another thing I have noticed is, when you are dumping cups over your head during the race loose clothing gets soaked and "baggy". The stuff starts sagging and falling down and feels like crap. The good stretch fabrics available don't do that, no matter how wet you are during the run or bike from dumping water over your head your clothing still stays put.

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Tom Demerly
The Tri Shop.com

It's good to see that people ARE wearing tighter fitting clothing at IMH. Other posters have pointed out many of the many advantages of going this route. It works.

What I find surprising, not so much at IMH, but more so at many other tris are the people that have obviously invested significantly in many aerodynamic components for the bike, if not a whole bike, and then are wearing a parachute of an outfit while on the bike! Strange.

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Steve Fleck @stevefleck | Blog

Heck the parachute outfits aren't just on the bike. I saw a guy just miss the swim cut-off in an IM last year who came out of the water wearing a huge pair of clamdigger shorts that went damn near to the middle his calves. He probably could have saved 15 minutes just by putting on a pair of spandex shorts, with a wetsuit he would have really been cruising.

Actually. a study was reported in the New Zealand Journal of Medicine that black clothing in comparison to white, reduced core body temperature. The white clothing kept the temperature at the skin cooler, but with the black clothing internal temperature and heart rate were lower. You can read about this on this site under training. The article is titled Thermoregulation by Dan Empfield.