A big pile of sh*t: 
For IMMoo. Am I REALLY going to use all of this crap?!
P.S. What am I forgetting? (besides the bike and helmet)
spare goggles
.
I think you only need 2 water bottles. Use the stuff that they give out at the aid stations. Otherwise you’ll be carrying 5 lbs of fluid on your 17 lb bike. I also always carry a mini pump and no CO2’s even in an Olympic tri. I look at it this way: tire inflation is my insurance policy. I would not buy house or car insurance that can possibly run out. The mini pump is a renewable resource, in that you can pump more air. If you mess up the CO2 application, your entire ironman season might go out the tubes. After watching Simon Lessing leading the Nice tri several years ago, flatting and then having to DNF due to poor CO2 applications, I figured that if a pro like him could mess up, then it was much more likely that I might “blow” it. And to me, the consequence of DNFing at an Ironman is a lot more acute than for a pro, who can enter another one a month later (unless it is Hawaii, in which case, they have to wait till next year).
You are going to need a bike to go with all that crap
.
Spare goggles: in my bag at work…will bring home tomorrow.
Devashish Paul: Hrmm good point. I have a mini pump that I can throw in the camelback but I can probably only get that up to about 90 psi…if that. I usually run 130 psi. I suppose I could flag down the neutral support vehicle to top them off (I’m running Tufo’s…well…assuming my tire is at the shop tomorrow…I busted my old front on Sunday…long story…anyway, unless I run over a bed of nails I don’t forsee any big tire issues…knock on wood).
As for the bottles: My nutrition plan is 3 servings of accellerade per bottle. 1 swig every 4 minutes washed down with water. 3 bottles leaving T1 last about 3+ hours (I eat solid food and take gu with me…it’s a lot of cals but hey…I like to eat!). The others are for pickup at the special needs. I can also get by on gatorade but I prefer this method.
don’t forget about $450.
ahh good call…
Checkbook: check
This is what is getting to me about Ironman. Don’t get me wrong, hat’s off to you for stepping up and doing the full. But why has this (ironman) turned into a spare-bag/special-needs bag heaven? I saw a race recently that said it had over 6 total??!!?? What the hell for? I dunno, just ranting.
Yep…that’s a serious load…
A few things you forgot.
-
Timing Chip
-
Sunglasses
-
Small towel for T1
-
Treat for the bike - Gummy worms for me
-
Long sleeve for special needs run - never know how long it might take
Is this your 1st? Kudos for getting everything organized and ready. Sid is crying that you’re not going to stop by the expo and open your wallet. I commend you for that…
Personally…my choices are MUCH different for the sake of the minimalist approach. But, its too late to talk about that.
Good luck!
Moo…I’m assuming, correct?
Sunglasses
Elastics
Arm warmers
Car keys 
.
Wow guys, thanks for all of the recommendations. Let’s do this in some sort of order:
Two multi-tools. I will only take the one with the hex wrenches (the smaller and lighter one)
The Asscellerade: I liked the old formula (white can) and now they go and make this sweet, nasty tasting crap (black can)…but it’s what I trained on…perhaps winter is time to explore.
Canola spray: Well…not the whole thing…obviously. But that other thread about the pint of olive oil after a hard session got me thinking…
Camelback/Bottles: I love having 2L of water with me. I drink like a fish so I find it necessary. As for the bottles…I can ditch them at the aid stations and pick up gatorade, as I have trained with this sometimes…but I think next time I’ll make a bit more of an effort to include it in my plan for the sake of space.
Bento box: on bike
Reflective tape: MANDATORY, as stated in the athlete’s guide. For me, not so necessary since I’ll be done around 3-4 in the afternoon and all…riiiiiiiight.
Suffering relationships: Cell phone to call supportive, understanding, and loving girlfriend packed elsewhere. Night out with the boys planned to get completely smashed…if I could somehow make this on Sunday I could probably get by drinking only 1 or 2 beers and losing all motor control and coordination.
Socks: Yes, overkill. I really only plan on using two but I want to pack 1 pair/special needs…for whatever reason.
Garmin: Awwww, c’mon! I just got it yesterday. This taper/race week BS is killing me. I wanna go out on a long ride or run and play with it!
Treat for bike: Have to buy a Snicker’s bar on my way there.
Sunglesses: right below the wetsuit
Towel: check
Long sleeve shirt: Ehh sure what the heck…i’ve got everything else.
Timing chip and strap: Doesn’t IMNA provide this?
Arm warmers: It WAS and HAS BEEN pretty damn chilly lately in the AM…do they sell these at the expo…for less than $200!?
Elastics: Right…I ran out at home…need to stop at drug store to get…though the electrical tape is great when you’re 50 miles into a 100 miler and your bottle cage decides to snap with your bottle in it and you’re too cheap to just ditch the bottle.
OK, well, once again I really appreciate everyone’s comments and well wishings. I think one needs to draw the line at one point…preparedness vs. common sense/logistics. Really I should be bringing two spare tires, an extra chain, a support vehicle with additional bikes/wheels, etc, etc. Perhaps they should have some sort of limit on weight/# of items that one can bring to each point (t1/snb/t2/spr). I can just see someone bringing a whole suitcase and trying to stuff it in a plastic bag. Anyway, thanks again and good luck to everyone else racing this weekend.
Dude,
That is a great picture! But, geeze, are you taking a suitcase on the course? Keep it simple - much easier and in my experience works better. Oh, and how many socks do you wear and do they come in threes (!)?
Lastly, you need a sheet on that bed.
Good luck and have fun!
I came to triathlon from a running back ground a long time ago. Back in 1997, I “retired” from triathlon training and racing and just ran for a year. It was so nice to go back to the simplicity of running particularly when it came to races - all I needed to take to most races was my singlet and my racing flats. Not the portable sporting goods store that you need to take with you to the start of a triathlon! I love triathlon, but it’s too complicated for it’s own good.
what’s wrong with mixing Accelerade and Clif bars?
As someone else said, don’t change your plan now, but…
Lose the camelbak, lose a couple of water bottles, lose the fuel belt.
You have no need for the Garmin GPS, unless you really don’t believe the course measurements.
I weaned myself off the Camelbak and fuel belt a couple of months before IMLP, but still brought way too much drink and food with me. I was trying to be self-sufficient for the whole thing, and as a result, I carried a lot of stuff that I could’ve gotten at aid stations. This weighed me down and slowed me down, mostly with stuff that I wasn’t using.
Have Body Glide in your bike-to-run bag as well, and apply liberally to nips and pits before you head out. You’ll be glad you did.
Good Luck, and have a great race.
“I was trying to be self-sufficient for the whole thing, and as a result, I carried a lot of stuff that I could’ve gotten at aid stations.”
I am always amazed standing at the exit from T1 heading out onto the bike and looking at all the stuff mounted on peoples bikes. All the $5,000, super-light bikes look like they are kitted out for a two week tour in the Sahara desert! There is an aid station every 10 miles or so at most IM races on the bike, and every couple of miles on the run. What is the need to be “self-suffcient”? A good portion of your race entry has gone towards having all of this on-course support.
When I did Ironman this is what I carried with me:
4 Power Bars in my jersey pocket
1 Tubular spare, under the saddle + one C02 cartridge
2 small frame mounted water bottles with water in them.
That’s it. Anything else I needed, I grabbed along the way.
For the past 3 years I have been on a “simpler is better” kick. My pre race stress level decreased considerably. Having all the stuff is fun, but makes for an overloaded and confusing transition. I wouldnt change your routine now, but it might be worth evaluating the necessity of all those extras.
I think I am becoming my father redux. Anyway, for whatever its worth.
ok, I’ll ask. I’ve been training with Accelerade ALL year. What is IT???
I’ve raced on Accelerade for 3 seasons, these guys must work for Gatorade or something…
Not so sure about the Clif bar/Accel combo though…
Hey Larry quit being a troll and tell us what’s up?
Good lawd. I didn’t take this much stuff with me in my ALICE pack when we went out on patrols looking for bad guys 
And I was the unit corpsman, on top of it.
Man, as long as you’ve done the training and put in the hours, and have tried to train on the fluids and foods that they’re gonna be serving at the race, you’ll do better than fine. I saw one guy at the 1/2IM I did last month out on the run with one of those jumbo-sized Fuel Belt things with about 6 of those bottles filled with some sort of pinkish looking fluid in them. He also had a kind of fanny pack thing that was stuffed with other dreck. Way too much.
FWIW I do IM distance races with two small bottles on the back of the bike seat that has whatever high-carb solution that I’ve trained with (about 1200 calories, total) and start out with another small bottle on the downtube filled with enough fluid to get me to the first bike aid station. Other than a small flask of energy gel in the very small fanny pack that I have with me during the bike, I depend on everything else I get from the bike aid stations. At the bike turnaround, I have a small special needs bag with a banana, another gel flask, and another bottle of high-carb solution that I had had frozen the night before, so that it would be thawed out by the time I got to the halfway point of the bike.
One spare tubular, which is strapped to my bike seatpost, and two CO2 cartridges, which are fastened to my seattube (the cartridge holder is in the fanny pack), and I’m good to go.
Enjoy the day and what it brings, no matter how fast or slow you go. You’re lucky enough to be able to do a race in which, forevermore afterwards, you’ll be able to say “I’m an Ironman”.