The Best Gear Tips Learned from 15+ Years of Being a Runner, Cyclist, & Triathlete

After 15+ years of being a runner, cyclist, and triathlete as well as having coached hundreds of individual endurance athletes to goals of all shapes and sizes, Coach Laura has tested out many gear items and seen many athletes do the same.  As a result of that experience, she has many gear tips to share to help you avoid frustration and to set you up for success.

Read this Coach Tip Tuesday:
https://www.fullcircleendurance.com/blog/the-best-gear-tips-learned-from-15-years-of-being-a-runner-cyclist-triathlete 

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Chapters

• 0:00 Opening
• 0:16 Experience with Training Gear
• 2:24 Swimming Gear Tips
• 4:06 Cycling Gear Tips
• 6:30 Running Gear Tips
• 7:08 Miscellaneous Gear Tips
• 13:46 The Bottom Line
• 14:05 Closing

Transcript

(0:04 - 0:19)
Hello, and welcome to the Full Circle Podcast, your source for insights into the science and art of endurance sports training and racing. I'm your host, Coach Laura Henry. Today is Coach Tip Tuesday.

(0:20 - 0:43)
Many, many years ago, I was a television radio major with a video production concentration at Ithaca College's Roy H. Park School of Communications. My roommate Sally, who was also a television radio major with a video production concentration, and I would be hunkered down in our apartment editing video projects late into the night. Wanting a break from her editing projects, Sally would head out for a run.

(0:43 - 1:17)
Back then, and really, ever since I could remember up until that point, I thought running was dumb, and I thought the idea of running when other people could see me was even dumber. However, when Sally started running late at night, we're talking 11 p.m. or later here, a.k.a. when one could quote-unquote hide under the cover of darkness from being widely seen by other people, I decided that I needed a break from editing, too, and so I started joining her on these late-night runs. Running started to seem less dumb, and believe me, no one was more surprised than me to discover this.

(1:18 - 1:41)
And so, that's how my running journey started, with midnight runs around Ithaca College's campus. Fast forward 20-plus years, and I'm sometimes still blown away when I look back and see that I've now raced more than 100 endurance events. Some of them have been triathlons. 

Others have been cycling races. Still others have been open-water swimming events. But running races, by far, are the thing that I've done the most of.

(1:41 - 2:08)
For a person who used to think that cross-country kids in high school were crazy, literally, I'd tell them that I'd never run six miles. It's a humbling reminder that we are always evolving and changing, sometimes into the exact opposite of what we imagine we might be. After all of these years of training, racing, coaching, and working in bike shops and run specialty stores, I've tried many, many gear items, and I've also received feedback from thousands of athletes and customers about gear items.

(2:08 - 2:26)
I've decided to compile my best gear tips into a single episode here to share. Without further ado, and in no particular order of superiority or preference, here are the best gear tips that I've learned for my 15-plus years of being a runner, cyclist, triathlete, and coach. My swimming gear tips.

(2:27 - 2:52)
Spit into your goggles. Make sure that that spit coats the entire inside of the goggle lens, and then rinse the goggles quickly in pool water before fixing them to your face while swimming. This will help prevent them from fogging. 

You can do this in open water as well. As a bonus tip, taking your goggles on and off, even after doing this, even after going through this process, will increase the probability of them fogging up. You need to keep that seal.

(2:52 - 3:11)
So keep your goggles on for the entirety of your swim. This also practices the specificity that you will need to have on race day, when you won't be taking them on and off every few minutes, and when you will need to keep them on for the duration of your event. Too many athletes take their goggles on and off their faces in between every single set in the pool.

(3:11 - 3:17)
Don't do it. Don't do it. For a bunch of different reasons, but fogging and race specificity are the two biggest.

(3:18 - 3:39)
Roll the legs, and if your wetsuit has them, the sleeves, inside out when you are putting on your wetsuit. From here, it's much easier to roll on than if you try to pull the entire length of the leg or the entire length of the sleeve on. As a bonus tip, once you have your wetsuit on, bend over at the waist and grab the material that's in the front of your pelvis area.

(3:39 - 4:00)
As you stand back up, you'll be able to pull the wetsuit up into a good position, and pull out any excess fabric or any extra space that there is down at the bottom of the wetsuit, which helps give it a better fit at the top of it. Then, submerging yourself in water and ensuring that water gets into your wetsuit before you start swimming, will also help ensure a comfortable fit. Wetsuits are called wetsuits because they are supposed to get wet.

(4:00 - 4:13)
So they need water inside of them, and you shouldn't wait until you begin swimming to get that water in there. My cycling gear tips. Ride with lights on on the front and back of your bike every single time you ride.

(4:13 - 4:35)
No matter what the time of day is, lights will always, always make you more visible to everyone and anyone who may be out at the same time as you. This includes motor vehicle drivers, other cyclists, and pedestrians. When I started doing this, I noticed a significant decrease in the number of vehicles that pull out in front of me, and specifically, I noticed this when I started riding with a front light on my bicycle.

(4:35 - 5:00)
I've found that having lights on a strobing or flashing setting, both front and rear, is particularly effective and makes you much, much, much more visible while you're riding. Do not wear your oldest cycling shorts for indoor cycling workouts. Too, too many athletes view indoor workouts as quote-unquote less than outdoor workouts, and athletes will often utilize their most worn out gear for sessions that are completed indoors, especially if they're not going to have to see anybody.

(5:01 - 5:22)
When it comes to cycling, indoor workouts require the most padding a chamois, which is the padding that is sewn into cycling shorts to provide comfort while you're sitting on a bicycle saddle, can offer. This is because there is little to no dynamic movement on the saddle or on the bicycle compared to when you're riding it outdoors. Don't make the all-too-common mistake of going for the cheapest possible cycling shoes.

(5:23 - 5:42)
While runners are familiar with the idea that a good pair of running shoes is going to cost at least $140, I've seen such, such a reluctance from athletes to make a similar investment into their cycling shoes. Buying cheap cycling shoes is the equivalent of buying running shoes at Walmart. Cycling shoes last far longer than running shoes do.

(5:42 - 6:10)
They last about 8,000 or more miles per pair versus 400-ish miles per pair of running shoes. And as such, the return on investment for cycling shoes is higher than it is for running shoes. While $300 to $400 may seem like a lot of money to spend on a single pair of shoes, well, because it is, the reality is that the same amount of money spent on running shoes would have a much lower return on investment, as the same value of running shoes would wear out several years sooner.

(6:10 - 6:30)
Broken down as a rate per mile, $140 running shoes that last 400 miles cost $0.35 per mile on average. $400 cycling shoes, on the other hand, cost $0.05 or less per mile on average. Get the cycling shoes that fit and function the best for you and don't cheap out.

(6:30 - 6:43)
My running gear tips. Put elastic laces on all of your running shoes. While these are best known among triathletes because they help expedite the time that you spend in transition too, they're honestly excellent for everyone.

(6:44 - 6:56)
One of the best advantages of them is that you can set them exactly to the tension that you prefer to have in place while you're running. And once you set it, it stays the same for the entire time you own and use the shoe. The entire time, all 400 plus miles.

(6:57 - 7:08)
You don't need to fuss with finding the right tightness and tension for your laces every single time you go for a run. You don't have to stop in the middle of a run to adjust it because you didn't get it right at the beginning of the run. Elastic laces are wonderful.

(7:09 - 7:16)
And my miscellaneous gear tips. All the tips that don't fit into a neat little bucket. Track the mileage on your gear.

(7:17 - 7:30)
Most importantly, track the mileage on your bicycles, your cycling shoes, and your running shoes. This helps you observe trends and can help make you feel better when your equipment and or your gear fails or wears out. Unfortunately, nothing lasts forever.

(7:31 - 7:46)
And often, when something fails or wears out, you've put more miles on it than you realize. As an example, one time when my road cycling shoes broke, I looked at my tracking and I saw that I had ridden over 10,500 miles in those shoes. I knew that they did not owe me anything.

(7:46 - 7:59)
And they had more than paid me back for my initial investment in them when I purchased them. And thus, it took the sting out of my having to buy new cycling shoes. Running shoes are arguably the most important gear item to track mileage for.

(8:00 - 8:14)
Running in shoes that are over their lifespan in miles is one of the biggest risk factors for running injuries that I've seen. It's important to note that running shoes often still quote-unquote look good when they're actually worn out. It's not about what the bottom of the shoe or the outsole of the shoe looks like.

(8:14 - 8:24)
The compression of the midsole material is what wears out. And you can't see that externally from the shoe. So you really need to track the miles and you need to pay attention to how your body is feeling to get this right.

(8:24 - 8:43)
Clean your gear and not just your gear that happens to be clothing. Heart rate monitors, both the strap style and the optical style that is built into many wearable watches now, should be cleaned at least every seven wears. Meaning that every time you use it seven times, you should be washing the device at least that often.

(8:43 - 9:02)
If you're riding regularly, clean and lubricate the drivetrain of your bicycle at least once per week. If you ride in any kind of precipitation or in wet and or muddy conditions, clean and lubricate your drivetrain after every ride in such conditions. Wash cycling shorts, headbands, and sports bras after every wear.

(9:02 - 9:23)
Don't re-wear these items without washing them first. Doing so can cause undesired issues such as urinary tract infections, which can happen after you re-wear dirty cycling shorts, or acne outbreaks by wearing dirty items that rest on your forehead, your back, or your chest. If you are using a hydration bladder as your hydration vessel for a particular workout, ensure that there isn't any air in the bladder before you begin your workout.

(9:24 - 9:45)
Air in the bladder will cause sloshing to occur, which can get very noisy and very annoying quite quickly. As a bonus tip, if you flip the bladder upside down and suck any air that is in the bladder out through the hose, that's a quick and easy way to accomplish this. And it's often easier and quicker than trying to press all of the air out of the bladder without spilling any of the fluid inside when you're trying to close it.

(9:46 - 10:08)
If you use an optical heart rate sensor to measure your heart rate during workouts, wear the watch in the same place and wear it very snugly. Optical heart rate sensors use infrared light to see the expansion of your arteries through your skin as your heart pumps blood through those arteries. By measuring this expansion and contraction of your arteries, these devices can then extrapolate your pulse rate.

(10:08 - 10:26)
In order for this measurement to be accurate on this type of sensor, the optical sensor needs to be pressed very, very firmly against your skin. Quite frankly, the tightness that is required for these devices to be accurate is tighter than most people would default to wearing them. And as I've said countless times, bad data is worse than no data.

(10:26 - 10:46)
If you're going to look at, leverage, and or care about the heart rate data that is recorded by an optical heart rate sensor, you need to ensure that it is recording accurately. Otherwise, you should not look at or use heart rate data at all, ever. If you use a chest strap heart rate monitor, be sure to get it wet before you use it.

(10:47 - 11:09)
Chest strap heart rate monitors are electrical heart rate monitors, meaning that they measure the electrical activity of your heart. Though they may seem to be the same, because the metric that they produce is the same, chest strap heart rate monitors and optical heart rate sensors are not the same thing, because they use very different mechanisms and technology to generate the metrics that they do. Once again, bad data is worse than no data.

(11:09 - 11:38)
So in order to measure the electrical activity of your heart properly, chest strap heart rate monitors work best and measure most accurately when there is a conductive agent, such as water, between your skin and the sensor to facilitate the transmission of the electrical signal from your heart to that measuring device. As a bonus tip, if you experience chafing when wearing a chest strap heart rate monitor, putting Bodyglide on your skin before putting on the chest strap can help reduce that chafing. And Bodyglide isn't just great for preventing chafing.

(11:38 - 12:05)
If you wear shoe inserts in your running or your cycling shoes and you find that they are squeaky or noisy when you walk or when you use the shoe, putting Bodyglide on the outside of those inserts before putting them in your shoes will stop that squeaking. Don't set any of the fields on any of your workout types on any of your devices, such as watches or cycling computers, to current pace and speed. Current pace and speed is finicky and jumpy because it shows you what the speed the device is sampling for one second.

(12:05 - 12:20)
As a result, it can fluctuate wildly within a very short, a few seconds, span of time. Additionally, because it is not truly showing what you are doing, it actually functions as bad data. It doesn't show what you're doing because it's jumping around every second.

(12:21 - 12:49)
Current pace and speed can artificially inflate or deflate one's ego because of this. Average speed or pace or average lap speed or pace is best because it gives you a true picture of what you are doing for a given workout or interval, not what your device recorded for one second sample. If the average speed or the average lap speed or pace feels too long for you, set your pace or speed to a 5 second or 10 second average, which is less jumpy and smoother than current pace or speed.

(12:50 - 13:10)
Turn off Garmin's training status indicator. Out of all of the algorithms that Garmin has come up with over the years, and they have come up with so many, it's got to be in the thousands now, this Garmin's training status indicator is the one that infuriates me and frustrates me the most. The reason being that it almost is never accurate.

(13:10 - 13:29)
It's an algorithm, it's extrapolating data, and it's not always pulling from good data, so it tells people that they're productive or not productive, and it's usually the exact opposite. Simply put, your device doesn't have a brain, and only someone with a brain, a.k.a. a human, can account for the humanity of an athlete. So Garmin's training status is just such a terrible thing.

(13:29 - 13:55)
It really has been such a negative thing for so many athletes that I've worked with, because it can make them feel really terrible about a workout that they previously felt good about, or it can make somebody think something inaccurate in terms of their abilities on a positive note. It might actually be over-inflating what they're able to do. There are probably an infinite number of tips and tricks that I could share about gear with athletes, but these ones that I just shared are the most useful and the most leveraged tips that I've learned over the years.

(13:55 - 14:15)
I still deploy all of these tips myself in my own training and racing, so I hope that they prove useful and insightful to you as you take on your own training towards your goals. That was another episode of the Full Circle Podcast. Subscribe to the Full Circle Podcast wherever you listen to your favorite podcasts.

(14:15 - 14:30)
If you like what you listen to, please be sure to leave us a rating and review, as this goes a long way in helping us reach others. The thoughts and opinions expressed on the Full Circle Podcast are those of the individual. As always, we'd love to hear from you, and we value your feedback.

(14:31 - 14:50)
Please send us an email at podcast at fullcircleendurance.com, or visit us at fullcircleendurance.com backslash podcast. To find training plans, see what other coaching services we offer, or to join our community, please visit fullcircleendurance.com. I'm Coach Laura Henry. Thanks for listening.