This Sunday is the columbia triathlon. I as an athlete completely crumble when I’m cold. the high is 67* and lows are in the 40s. Swim wave goes out between 7-7:10 am. Any hints to keeping warm? thinking about wearing my lycra arm warmers under the wetsuit but wet and 50* will probably kill my times. Any hints to dealing with cooler temps?
Thoughts:
get s/s trisuit to cover up shoulders and everything.
Castelli T1 top to cover up and add a dry layer after the swim (I get it will cost me more time in transition for an olympic distance)
???
running out of time and I understand this is a very individual point since most people would happily race in these temps.
I find it hard to wear anything more than a tri top and shorts under a wetsuit - just bunches up too much. On cold (and especially cold+raining) days I generally forgo any thought of fast times because of the time I relinquish due to adding clothing in T1. It becomes a (multi-brick) training day …which isn’t a bad thing.
This Sunday is the columbia triathlon. I as an athlete completely crumble when I’m cold. the high is 67* and lows are in the 40s. Swim wave goes out between 7-7:10 am. Any hints to keeping warm? thinking about wearing my lycra arm warmers under the wetsuit but wet and 50* will probably kill my times. Any hints to dealing with cooler temps?
Thoughts:
get s/s trisuit to cover up shoulders and everything.
Castelli T1 top to cover up and add a dry layer after the swim (I get it will cost me more time in transition for an olympic distance)
???
running out of time and I understand this is a very individual point since most people would happily race in these temps.
I would go with your #3 there “HTFU”.
One thing you could do is put on your arm warmers in T1. Before the race roll them down like a condom and when you get out of the water quickly towel-dry and roll them on.
But really other than that, just suck it up. Its not that long of a race and you should be going hard enough in an Oly to generate sufficient heat to stay warm.
It was 50F the morning of my sprint race this year. It was an indoor swim however, but the water was cool and I was still shivering as they made us get in the water BEFORE they played the national anthem and made announcements. OS I was not warm. All i did was tape the vents.
Just swim really hard, run really hard in T1 and bike hard. Unless your FTP really sucks, you should be plenty warm. Hell I was sweating by 1/2 way on the bike and questioning the taper vents. Anything over 45F and under 60F is PERFECT running temps.
You might roll on some arm warmers. You can start the cuffs on your wrists and roll them up while riding. Really above 50F you just need to HTFU.
You can also use masking tape on the toes on your shoes, but I’m not sure it makes that much difference.
I remember a race I had where it started to hail mid-ride, which is really painful when you’re in the aero position. I just told myself “You’re Canadian this is your time to shine” and accelerated.
As for tips other than acquiring a Canadian passport I’d recommend timing your warm-up to finish almost directly before the start as you don’t want to cool off again. Your thought #2 sounds like a good one to me too. Faster than changing and wet arm warmers would probably defeat the purpose.
First outdoor tri of the season in Minnesota this weekend. The water temp was 53.5 this am and Saturday morning outside temp is supposed to be low 40’s. Should be a fun race.
This Sunday is the columbia triathlon. I as an athlete completely crumble when I’m cold. the high is 67* and lows are in the 40s. Swim wave goes out between 7-7:10 am. Any hints to keeping warm? thinking about wearing my lycra arm warmers under the wetsuit but wet and 50* will probably kill my times. Any hints to dealing with cooler temps?
Thoughts:
get s/s trisuit to cover up shoulders and everything.
Castelli T1 top to cover up and add a dry layer after the swim (I get it will cost me more time in transition for an olympic distance)
???
running out of time and I understand this is a very individual point since most people would happily race in these temps.
At B2B this year it was in the high 30s at the swim start…low 40s in T1. I wore my tri kit under my wetsuit, in T1, I put on arm warmers and a thin tight vest. I also slipped on gloves. The bad thing I almost had a melt down in T1 getting this shit on cause my fingers would not work - 7 mins long. But by 15 mins into the bike ride I was comfy. Now this was a HIM, so I had planned on about 5 mins to get what I needed. I wouldn’t wear your arm warmers, you want them dry…roll them up so that when you get to your bike you just slip them on your hand, you can roll them up while riding.
Good luck. I am assuming you are competing in the Blaine Tri?
Last weekend was awesome weather for the Oakdale Duathlon. But, I still wouldn’t want to hop in a lake anytime soon though. Hopefully in a couple of weeks the water temps go up 65 for my first Tri of the season.
Also to the OP, last year for my first Tri of the season it was in the 50’s during the bike ride portion for me and I wasn’t exactly warm but it was tolerable with just a Tri suit (no gloves, no arm/leg warmers). Once my suit finally dried off after 10 minutes then I didn’t feel kinda cold. By the run it finally became sunny and hit around 60’s for temps and it felt great.
Good luck. I am assuming you are competing in the Blaine Tri?
Last weekend was awesome weather for the Oakdale Duathlon. But, I still wouldn’t want to hop in a lake anytime soon though. Hopefully in a couple of weeks the water temps go up 65 for my first Tri of the season.
Also to the OP, last year for my first Tri of the season it was in the 50’s during the bike ride portion for me and I wasn’t exactly warm but it was tolerable with just a Tri suit (no gloves, no arm/leg warmers). Once my suit finally dried off after 10 minutes then I didn’t feel kinda cold. By the run it finally became sunny and hit around 60’s for temps and it felt great.
Yes, I’ll be doing it. Not sure that “competing in” is going to be an accurate description though.
I did a race in the UK last weekend where it hailed!
My kit for early season Tri’s and Duathlons is Tri Suite plus a Gabba Jersey for the bike, I pin my race number to it so instead of putting a number belt on I just put the gabba on, time lost is almost nothing. Aslo Castelli’s Toe Thingies are great, they mean you can still get your shoes on/off whist on the bike but have nice and warm feet.
You could always go the route Matty Reed (and a few other Pros) used at Boise in 2012… When I hear anyone complain about cold races, I get a little chuckle. Boise was windy, 43 degree air temp, and no more then 52 degree water (I think it was colder).
I use a cycling jacket. Wind proof and water proof. Costs you no time in transition and holds the body heat in. Use toe covers on the bike shoes put on before the race. Pull on a pair of loose fitting gloves and you are good to go. Quick transition and you stay warm.
I’m assuming your worried about the bike. The swim, just have a long sleeve wetsuit and you’ll be the warmest you are all day. For the run, it will be late enough and that is basically ideal running temps, right?
On the bike, you want your head, hands and feet warm. An aero lid with taped up vents is about as warm as your head can get. Take 15 seconds in transition to put on gloves, but make sure they are gloves that go on ok wet. For your feet, add toe covers to your shoes. You can even use the toe covers pre-clipped in if you do a flying mount. Trying to add a layer after the swim will take forever. If you really care about your arms being covered, go with an underarmour layer underneath (or the cheapie walmart knockoff). It will be thin enough to not screw you up under the wetsuit and should dry out fast and add a little warmth.
Good luck, and see you out there. I’m expecting to be sporting my AFC skinsuit (we’ll see how that goes), so I should be easy to spot
Must be nice to relay. Ha, I’ll see you out there I’ll be in the all black castelli tri kit. I’ll probably be passed by you on the bike since the relays go right after me and I can’t seem to touch your times on strava. Other outcome is your swimmer passes me in the water.
