From the IM Athlete Guide:
Headphones, headsets which are inserted in or covering the ears are not allowed during any portion of the event.
I read that to say that Aftershokz / bone conduction are fine? I know this has been asked before but the most recent thread I found was from a few years ago.
Go for it! Test them, and see if your months of training will pay off or not! Or, don’t, and get through an IM marathon like the rest of us without music or podcasts.
From the general rules:
- Athletes may not use communication devices of any type, including but not limited to cell phones, smart watches, Bluetooth enabled or “smart†helmets, and two-way radios, in any distractive manner during the Race. A “distractive manner†includes but is not limited to making and receiving phone calls, sending and receiving text messages, playing music, using social media, taking photographs, and mounting the device to a bike for purposes of using the device like a bike computer. Using a communication device in a distractive manner during the Race will result in disqualification.
This seems to exempt non-communication devices (ex. MP3 players). So by a literal reading you could use Xtrainrz, but not one of the Aftershoz headsets that plays music bluetoothed from your phone or watch. I’m guessing that this is either an oversight, or they don’t want people fiddling with their phones to change tracks.
That being said, race officials (USAT and IM) don’t tend to be very nuanced (and to be fair, it’s hard to tell if your headphones are stand-alone or streaming from your Apple Watch/Garmin). I’d get a specific ruling from IM before risking having to argue over a DQ.