Episode 74: Triathlon 101: Beginner Triathlon Gear - What You Actually Need for Your First Race

Description:

One of the biggest barriers for beginners entering triathlon is the belief that they need thousands of dollars of equipment before they can even attempt their first race.

Carbon wheels. Aero helmets. $10,000 bikes. Smart goggles. High-end GPS watches.

It’s easy to look at the gear in the sport and start wondering:

“Do I even have what it takes to do this?”

In this episode of Triathlon 101: A Beginner’s Guide to Triathlon, Coach Justin breaks down exactly what gear you actually need to complete your first triathlon — and what equipment can wait until later.

The reality is much simpler than the industry might lead you to believe.

In this episode, we walk through each discipline of triathlon — swim, bike, and run — and discuss the gear essentials for beginners, common equipment myths, and the upgrades that can come later once your fitness and experience grow.

You’ll also learn:

• Why you don’t need a triathlon bike to start
• The simple swim gear beginners actually need
• How to choose running shoes that fit properly
• The biggest gear mistakes beginner triathletes make
• Why fitness matters far more than equipment

Because at the end of the day, your heart, lungs, and legs don’t know the price of your bike.

They respond to consistent training, recovery, fueling, and smart pacing.

If you’ve been feeling intimidated by the gear side of triathlon, this episode will help simplify the process so you can focus on what really moves the needle.

Train first. Upgrade later.

Timestamps:

00:00 - Welcome and overview of triathlon gear misconceptions
 01:02 - Why most beginners think they need expensive gear
 02:24 - Focus on training and simple setups for first races
 03:44 - Distinguishing needs vs. wants in gear purchases
 04:36 - Essential gear for race day: swim, bike, run
 06:43 - Basic swim equipment: goggles, swimsuits, caps
 11:28 - Optional swim training tools: paddles and pull buoy
 18:04 - Myths about needing a triathlon bike to start
 23:33 - Basic bike essentials and safety gear
 25:47 - Run gear: shoes, socks, and optional accessories
 28:50 - Common early mistakes in gear investment
 31:37 - Questions to ask before buying new gear
 33:13 - The role of performance tech vs. consistent training
 38:22 - Overcoming intimidation and the athlete support system
 39:43 - The true foundation of triathlon: movement, not money
 41:17 - Final encouragement: start where you are with what you have
 42:12 - Resources for ongoing support and coaching

For coaching inquiries:

Coach Katie → https://fuel2run.com

Coach Justin → https://tabularasaracing.com

Podcast Email → theenduranceathletejourney@gmail.com

Transcript

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Welcome to Triathlon 101, a Beginner's Guide to Triathlon, an Endurance Athlete Journey Podcast Series. I'm your coach for this journey, and if triathlon has ever felt confusing, intimidating, or out of reach, that's exactly why this series exists. You don't need to be fearless, you don't need to have perfect fitness, and you definitely don't need to have everything figured out yet. What you need is a clear plan, honest guidance, and the confidence that comes from taking the right steps in the right order. In this series, we'll strip away the hype, focus on smart progression, and help you build confidence before distance, so that triathlon fits into your life, not the other way around. Whether this is your first race or your first time even considering one, you're in the right place. Let's get to work. There's a lot of things out there that are nice to have. So it's the distinction between needs and wants. But if you're really just kind of starting out and you want to get an idea on what the sport is like, I'm going to show you exactly what it is that you do need to at least get started. And then you can start looking at some of the other things. So most beginners think that they need thousands of dollars of gear before they can even attempt a triathlon. But if you've started scrolling on the internet and trying to figure out what all kinds of gear do I need for a triathlon, you've probably seen ads on carbon wheels and arrow helmets and carbon-plated shoes, smart goggles and $10,000 bikes. So it doesn't take long for those thoughts in your head to start creeping in. It's like, man, maybe I'm not equipped enough to do this sport. Oh, my advice to you is let's slow things down a little bit. All right. So for your first triathlon, you don't need a perfect setup. What you need is consistent training and just a clear path forward. All right. In a previous episode, I did talk about some of the things that I started with. When I did my first race, I did not have a triathlon kit, like a suit to wear. I had a free mountain bike that I rode, and that was it. I mean, you know, and I'm 10 years plus into the sport. So it doesn't take much to kind of get started. And so tonight I'm going to walk you through each of the components of triathlon. So swim, bike, and run. And we're going to talk a little bit about what gear is needed, what things I would recommend as kind of add-ons to either help with your training or increase the comfort and ease of race day. And then you can start overlaying some of the upgrades once you kind of get into the sport and you figure out if it is that you even like the sport enough to invest some more time and money into it. So let's start off with making that distinction between your need and your want. The triathlon industry is very good at selling aspiration, but you're not buying speed yet. All right. So one of the things that we really want to do is we want to shift our mind and start to focus on learning to separate what we need versus what we want later on down the road. All right. So to complete your first triathlon, the list is actually really, really small. So I'll just give you just a blanket list. So you'll need a swimsuit, a pair of goggles that don't leak, a bike that's in safe working condition, a helmet that meets industry safety standards, just a regular pair of running shoes, some protective eyewear, and comfortable training clothes. Boom. That's it. You're ready to race. Now, when you start to compare what the industry is selling you, you start talking about, like I said earlier, like carbon wheels and aero helmets, trathlon bikes that you know are set up for speed, and they are not set up for comfort, but they're set up for speed and efficiency, high-end GPS watches that are tracking, you know, laps and paces, everything else. You have power meters that are on your bike to make sure that you're in the proper power zone, smart goggles to tell you how far you've traveled and making sure that you're you're staying on online. Those are all nice. They do make some things easier, but some of those things that are quote unquote upgrades are super uncomfortable. And are they worth the dollars that you spend in it to get the marginal gain from it? I don't know. That's that's debatable. Really, it kind of boils down to your personal preferences, what you find comfortable, what your budget constraints are. But I can tell you right now that most of those things that are on that want list and what the industry is trying to sell you is absolutely not needed in order to start your journey. So, what we are interested in building the foundation in which the things that we buy can support that. They are enhanced by the fitness that you have gained. So, you know, for instance, buying a triathlon bike before you have the bike fitness to really reap the benefits of it does you no good. Now, if you buy that triathlon bike and you have solid fitness, then the gains that you get from owning that bike are greater. So I'm not gonna say that you're not going to be faster on it because you can be indeed faster on you know a triathlon bike with carbon wheels and you know nice tight aero position. Yes, those are all possible, but it's not absolutely what you need to start. All right. So let's start with the first. On race day, I'm gonna I'm gonna follow the same pattern that you would follow like on race day. So we'll start with the swim, we'll go into the bike, and then we'll we'll finish off with the run, and I'll talk a little bit more about some of the other stuff. So, swim gear. What are the essentials that you need for swimming? This is probably the one discipline that causes the most anxiety, but it's actually the simplest gear list. And so if you go back to episode two, where we talked about do I need to be a good swimmer in order to do a triathlon? You can go back and you can listen to that whole discussion. There, it it's a quite lengthy episode, so there, but there's a lot of information in there when we talk about wetsuits and and proper training and what you kind of need to get to get started just from a swimming skill level. But in this episode, we're really focusing on just the gear that you're going to need. So what you really need are goggles that don't leak and that they they fit your face. They're pretty easy to come by, not all that expensive. I believe I have been swimming with the same goggles for about 10 years. Actually, since I started the sport, I have been buying the same model of goggles ever since day one. I love them. They work for me, and they're about 50 bucks a piece. It's nothing that's going to break the bank. They're super comfortable, and I get good vision. And, you know, they make them in, you know, shaded lenses, clear lenses, polarized lenses. There's all kinds of different varieties that you can pick from. So you can pick however much you want to spend a little bit extra for some of those. But but honestly, just a nice, just standard pair of goggles. That's all you need. A comfortable swimsuit. And I say that because just from the training perspective. Now, whether you're going to be wearing that same swimsuit on race day is questionable. But for your training purposes, you just need just a standard, comfortable swimsuit. If you want to, if you know you're a guy and you want to wear just the baggy, baggy swim shorts, that works perfectly fine. Actually, I would think that it would actually work better because it's going to be harder swimming in those shorts than probably what you're going to be swimming on race day. So it's going to feel easier. But you just need just a standard pair of swim, uh, swim attire based on you know the chemical levels that are going to be in the pool that you're going to be at. You may need to have just a couple pairs so that you can kind of rotate them in and out just to try and you know make sure that the chemicals get washed off so that it doesn't eat away at the fabric. But that's really all that you need is just maybe one or two pairs, especially if you're following the triathlon training plan that I suggested in a previous episode. You're only swimming two days a week. So honestly, if you want two pairs of swim attire, like you know, a couple pairs of shorts or whatever. If you're if you're a female, just a couple, just two pairs of just swim sit a swimsuit, then that's all you need just to start. A swim cap. That's only going to be needed if you have long hair. For your race, typically swim caps are provided, and it's not necessarily for I don't have any hair, so you know, I don't have to wear a swim uh cap during a race. That's not actually true. The reason that they make you wear swim caps during races, especially if this is an open water race, is for safety purposes. That's that's really the primary thing, so that lifeguards and water support can easily track you. So if you're not wearing it, they're usually really bright colors like pinks and you know, bright blues and things like that, things that stand out in the water. So that's really the primary reason for a swim cap for race day. But for training, if you have long hair, it's just beneficial just to go ahead and just get that, get that swim cap, put the hair up in the cap and swim that way. I do recommend that um that everybody just at least try a swim cap. It doesn't have to be like a super nice one, it can just be just a normal, uh, normal latex swim cap, just so that you know what it feels like to sit on your head and you know figure out if you want your goggles, your goggles to be under the swim cap or if you want to put the strap over the swim cap, you put the swim cap on and then you put your goggles on. You can kind of experiment with that to figure out what you feel most comfortable doing. I can tell you that I swim with my swim cap over my goggles. So I put my goggles on and then I put my swim cap on. The reason that I do that is because sometimes that swim cap can shift. And so if you're wearing goggles and that swim cap starts to move around a little bit, it can cause the straps to start to shift a little bit and it can actually cause the goggles to start to leak. And so I would much rather just lose the swim cap but keep my swim goggles on. And so that's why I swim that way. But really, that that's it. That's all you need for swimming. Clearly, I didn't say that, you know, hey, you need a place to swim. That's an access thing. That's not necessarily a gear thing, but yes, you're gonna need a place to swim. So if that means that, you know, you have to have a gym membership for you know access to the pool, or if they if you have like a swim facility that just has a pool and you can just get a short-term membership there. You know, I would just want, you know, a three-month membership. That's fine. You're not investing in anything that is going to be significant and doesn't have to be long-term either. To the extent that that's really kind of what you need. Now, there are two things that I recommend, but they're not needed. Now, those two things are tools that you use during your training, and those are hand paddles and a pull buoy. Now, the reason that I want to recommend those devices is because the pull buoy will correct for body position. Usually I sometimes have a lot of my new swimmers and my new athletes swim a lot with the pull buoy because it corrects for poor body position. It lifts the hips up and you can keep those legs up a little bit. You just have to train your core and squeeze your legs together to keep that buoy in place. And so it really kind of helps keeping your legs together and you start to focus on that rather than allowing those legs to spread out as, you know, as you swim. Sometimes that can be caused by over-rotating in the pool. So if you're if you're over-rotating too much to take in that breath, then it can cause the legs to splay out a little bit, and that pool buoy can come loose. So it's a nice reinforcement to remind you, hey, I need to keep my legs together, squeeze those, uh, squeeze those legs together, engage that core, and it'll keep that body lifted up. And all you're doing is you're just swimming. You don't kick with the pool buoy. If you do, it's very, very minimal. What it does is it allows you to focus on swim mechanics, the stroke mechanic, trying to figure out, you know, get comfortable with the different phases of the swim stroke. I love the pool buoy. Now, one of the things that I do in my training is that if I know that a race that I'm going to be doing is going to be wetsuit legal, I'll do a lot of my swims with just the pool buoy, no real straight swimming. The reason is because the buoyancy that you get from a wetsuit is similar to the buoyancy that you get from a pull buoy. It corrects that body position. So if really what I want is I want to build a strong swim stroke if I know that my race is going to be wetsuit legal, and that pull buoy is what allows you to do that. You can focus solely on just that swim stroke and you can really dial that in. The hand paddles I really enjoy because it allows for better muscle activation. Now, there are two kinds of paddles that you can get. You can get a full hand size paddle or you can get just fingertip paddles. I like both of them. Sometimes when I'm just swimming long intervals and things like that, I'll use the full hand paddle. If I'm doing kind of short stuff and I'm doing some drills that I want to use a hand paddle with, I'll use my fingertip paddles. And the reason is is because I get a better feel of the water against the palm of my hand when I just use the fingertips and allows me to get a better feel for the water. These things are super, super cheap. There's nothing expensive. I think a pool buoy will cost you like 15 bucks. Most of the time, your pool that you that you go to to swim, have they have pool buoys there for you. It's just because it's such a cheap tool, it's just easy to just go ahead and get your own. That way you know that you always have it with you for your swim workouts. Hand paddles are the same. They're super cheap. You can get them from Amazon, whatever, swim outlet. It's nothing really that expensive. But you want to make sure that the hand paddle fits your hand. Don't get them over oversized, anything like you want one that fits your hand. So if you have small hands, small paddles. So, you know, wetsuits are going, you know, the reason that I don't bring a wetsuit into this list of what's needed is because not all races are going to be wetsuit legal. Honestly, I went several years before I even owned my own wetsuit. And I raced quite a bit when I first started, especially during shorter races. I never owned a wetsuit. Uh, you know, during sprints, they're they're not really all that needed. You're not in the water that long. So, really, a wetsuit doesn't really warrant that kind of investment. I would say if you start to progress to, you know, half Iron Man and Full Iron Man, then absolutely I would start looking at investing one in one. You can now go back, like I said before, you can go back to that episode two where I talked a lot about wetsuits and some of the benefits of them and what you get from them. You can refer back to that episode for a little bit more details on that. But honestly, if you don't have a wetsuit and you have a race that's coming up and you know and you have a feeling that that race is gonna be wetsuit legal, there are places where you can just rent a wetsuit. Now, I would not rent a wetsuit on race day if you have never swam in a wetsuit. It feels very, very different. And so if you have a feeling that you're gonna be your race is going to be wetsuit legal, I would at least try and rent that wetsuit maybe like once or twice during your training plan just to kind of get in, get in the water and see what it's gonna feel like. It could feel a little bit restricting around the chest, see if you got that shoulder mobility from the wetsuit. So whatever it is that you want to race in, I would rent that particular wetsuit and just try it out. Yes, you can get in a pool with a wetsuit. The only thing that I recommend is that you wash that wetsuit as soon as you get out of the water. So you jump out of the pool, then go right into the shower and just wash that wetsuit off. It washes the chemicals off of the neoprene and will keep that wetsuit nice and healthy. So that's the extent of swim gear. So it's really not that much, you know, just goggles, a couple uh swimsuits that you have, a swim cap, and the two items that I would suggest for training, the hand paddles and the pool buoy, and you can consider the wetsuit later on and whether you're going to uh stick with the sport or not. Now, the next one is the bike. All right. This is the discipline of triathlon that can that can be the most expensive piece of it. Now, the reason that I say can be is is this sport can be as expensive as you want it to be. All right. But what I will say is, and this may surprise you, is that your first triathlon does not require a triathlon bike. That is one of the biggest misconceptions in triathlon, is that you need to have that triathlon bike to start. Absolutely false. You don't even need a road bike to start your triathlon journey. I didn't. And so it's not necessary. All you need is a bike that functions properly and is safe to ride. That's it. Um, my first couple races, I did them on a mountain bike that was free. A friend gave me the mountain bike, it was free. Then I upgraded to a hybrid bike, which is kind of like a commuter bike, a straight bar. Uh it's a little it's more like a mountain bike fit, so you're in the same kind of position. It's just gonna have a little bit thinner tires and gonna be a little bit lighter. Then I upgraded to a road bike, and I'm still riding the same road bike that I bought then. And that was back in 2014, and it is now 2026. So I've spent most of my triathlon career riding a just a standard carbon road bike, and that thing has thousands and thousands of miles on it, and I'm passing people riding $10,000 triathlon bikes on it. So just proof is in the pudding. You don't need that kind of bike to start your journey. You just want to make sure that the bike is going to shift properly, the brakes work on it, it has good tires, and it's comfortable to ride, especially when you're first starting out, you're gonna really have to develop a feel for that bike, a feel for the bike seat. And so that's why, you know, we probably spend more time training on the bike than we do the other disciplines. So if you look back on that sample eight-week training plan that I suggested uh a couple episodes ago, um, I think there were three bike uh workouts that was in that with only just, I think it was like two runs or something. And so the reason that I say that is because the bike can kind of be the most can be the most uncomfortable in terms of getting that feel for the road and getting the feel for the bike seat. You're kind of on it for a little bit. You're you're on it longer than you are on any of the other two pieces of of a triathlon and the swim and the run. So it just takes a little bit of time getting used to. So you want to make the bike, you want to make sure the bike is comfortable and fits you properly. Uh, if you have questions about the safety of a bike, you can take it to any of your local bike shops. They'll definitely uh just take it in, they'll give it a once-over and kind of give you an their opinion on what kind of what you would need to do in order to make it safe, or say, yeah, this is good to go. We can do maybe give you a new chain or whatever. There's stuff that you can do to get a bike in functioning order without having to buy a new bike. So really all we're looking for for is consistent training on a modest bike that will build the strength and endurance and the confidence that you need on race day. Now, the triathlon bike, those benefits of riding that bike only matter, and you only observe those benefits if you have the strength and flexibility to maintain the position for the entire ride. Now, what I see a lot on races are people riding five, seven thousand dollar triathlon bikes and they're sitting up. They're not even in the arrow position, which is where you reap all of the benefits of having a triathlon bike. That in the geometry is the in terms of proper muscle engagement, it puts more focus on. Quads and quote unquote saves the hamstrings for the run. Now, a normal road bike is going to is going to engage the muscles in your legs more well rounded. So it's really going to pull in, you know, calves, quads, hamstrings, and glutes. So it's a well-rounded uh bike. For a triathlon bike, it really kind of closes off that hip angle. And so it's really going to put a lot of focus on the quad because running is a hamstring dominant activity, unless you're running downhill. And then you'll feel those quads burn up. But those are the two main benefits of riding a triathlon bike or what's called a TT bike, time trial bike. It's just different muscle engagement and the aerodynamic benefit that you get. But you only get that, you only get the aerodynamic benefit if you can stay aero. And you have to develop that strength and flexibility over time. It handles a lot differently. You're pushed a lot farther forward. So it's kind of like you're sitting over top of the handlebars. Whereas, you know, in a road bike, you're a lot further back. And, you know, especially for a mountain bike, it's even further than that. So, you know, you just want a bike that you find comfortable, that you can ride consistently. That's all we're looking to start. It's not to say later on down the road that you can't go ahead and invest in a TT bike. Like I said, I still have not pulled that trigger. I've wanted one for years, but I've never done it. I've done at the rec at this recording, I've done two full Ironman and nine half ironmen, and they've all been done on either a hybrid bike or a road bike. Never done a TT bike. So that's all you need for the bike. So really we're looking at a bike that works and it functions and safe. You need a helmet, like I said earlier, that meets safety requirements, and that's it. Really? And some some eye some eyeglasses. So I suggest either just getting just either a cheap pair of sunglasses that kind of hug your face a little bit, or you could get those clear lens, like safety glasses that you know you see people like in factories wearing. Reason that I say that is it really protects the eyes from dirt and bugs and everything else while you're riding. Those eyes can, they're pretty exposed out there on the bike. So I would try and find something that maybe has a bigger lens and kind of wraps around a little bit. So it's like just something to protect the eyes, especially if you're riding, you know, dirt and gravel and things like that. If you have a gravel bike or a mountain bike, I would suggest a bigger lensed glass. But if you're riding on the road, just a normal pair of sunglasses that kind of hug your face. The reason I say hug your face is because uh you don't want to spend the whole time while you're riding pushing up your glasses. So you want something that kind of like hugs and is a little bit tighter around around the face, especially because you're gonna be putting a helmet on as well. So you have to have room for the for the arms of the glasses to go through and hook around your ears, and then still support the the helmet strap that comes down. So just kind of play around with it. Um, but those are all of the things that you absolutely need to get started. Next is the run. So this is the last piece of triathlon where it's actually probably the simplest discipline from a gear standpoint. The run is not that complicated to support. Like I said, all you need are run shoes that properly fit you. I would recommend some moisture-wicking socks to try and stave off blisters and comfortable clothing. That's it. That's all you need for the run. I will tell my athletes that I still suggest that they run with sunglasses and a hat. The reason that I say that is when you're running most of triathlon races are going to be summertime. This is a predominantly a summertime sport. So if you're out there running and the sun is out and you're squinting your eyes, over time, you know, those muscles that are staying so tense in your face, you know, that that expends energy. So having a nice pair of sunglasses will allow you to relax your face. The hat will keep, you know, sweat from dripping down into your face, provide a little bit of shade over your eyes. But those are just some niceties, not absolutely needed, but it does increase comfort. You don't need like super expensive shoes. You don't need the carbon-plated shoes, nothing like that when you first get started. In fact, unless you can run the entire course, I don't recommend carbon-plated shoes. But if you because walking in carbon-plated shoes, super uncomfortable and painful. So I wouldn't even consider it. I've never raced in carbon-plated shoes because I don't have a run that supports that kind of investment. I just have uh a couple brands of shoes that I that I know and I trust and I've used for years. I rotate them in and out just for shoe health. So you're just trying to find a shoe that fits your foot and fits your running style. Again, you can go to any of your local run stores, specialty stores, and they will go through a fit process. Sometimes it can be an iterative process. They'll show you a sampling of shoes that would fit your foot in your run style, and then you try them out. Most of them have a pretty generous return policy that if a shoe just isn't working for you, you can take it back to them and get a different, get a different model, get a different brand. They all kind of fit differently. Some shoes are cut wider than others, and so that's just something that you have to kind of play around with uh and just keep uh trying out until you find something that fits and works. I do recommend that once you find that, stick with it until they change it, because a lot of shoe manufacturers will change the design of a particular model, and then it's just like, oh man, that that shoe really worked for me, and then they changed how it fit, and so now I gotta start this process over again, um, which is fine. Uh, you just I typically will just stick with a particular model and just keep buying that model until they change it. But that's it. That's all you need to start you to start your run training. Like I said, pair of shoes, some moisture wicking socks, and just some comfortable clothes with the optional eyewear and hat. There is one important rule of thumb that I tell my athletes, and it's we are not racing in brand new shoes on race day. Now, the myth that you have to quote unquote break shoes in is no longer valid today in the way that shoes are made in modern manufacturing. That was the case long ago when a lot of shoes were just made out of kind of like a leather material, in which case you did need to break them in, you know, to kind of soften that leather a little bit and let them stretch. But shoe manufacturers make all mesh shoes and this like super soft material. So there's nothing to really quote unquote break in. Now, the reason that I say we're not racing in brand new shoes on race day is because we do want to have a couple runs under our belts just to make sure that the shoe isn't shifting under you, trying different lacing techniques, you know, just to get a better fit. And so, you know, that's why I wouldn't recommend running in brand new shoes. There's nothing to say that you can't. I just don't recommend it. Now, there's one particular thing that I would recommend for shoes, and this is just a I wouldn't call it a need, and it's not a necessity, but it is something that is going to make race day a little bit more enjoyable for you. And those are uh elastic laces. So uh you can go on Amazon and you can look up lock laces, L-O-C-K, L-A-C-E-S lock laces, and you'll find all kinds of different colors and everything else. And I love them. The reason is is because when you come off of the bike, sometimes your hands can be a little uh a little numbmy. And so now you're trying to tie shoes, which is really challenging. You're bent over and all the blood's rushing to your head, and you've just gotten off a bike. And sometimes it's just a little bit uncomfortable, and you can have some balance issues when you're coming off the bike. So I recommend just getting some elastic laces. So all you have to do is you're just slipping your foot into it and you're going. There's nothing to tie, they've already been preset for you. And because you've done a few runs in them, you know that the lock the laces are tight enough. They're not overly tight, but they're not loose either to where the shoe is shifting under you. But it is a nicety to have, and it makes transitions a lot more efficient and a lot more easier to get through. But that's just my recommendation. All right. So try and avoid some of these expensive mistakes. I think one of the biggest mistakes that beginners make isn't having the wrong gear, it's buying too much too soon. All right. Many beginners start by buying gear before they've even started building a routine. So when you go to buy a new piece of equipment, whether that's you know a new bike or some new shoes or you know, some smart goggles or whatever it is that you're looking to buy, I would ask three questions to yourself. The first one is have I trained consistently for eight to twelve weeks? Now for a sprint, eight to twelve weeks. Anything longer, a longer distance race is going to require a longer training period. So, but I would start there. You know, is my training consistent? Number two is do I know that I enjoy this sport? There's no point in buying all this gear if it's not something that is really interesting you yet, or you don't know if you're going to be interested in it going forward. And number three is is this upgrade that I'm making solving a real and valid problem that I have? If you can answer those three questions, then I think it helps you evaluate whether the purchase that you're trying to make is worth it. I say that that number three is probably the best, most important question out of the three. Am I solving a real problem by buying this, or am I chasing something that I'm hoping this gear will fix because it's something in my training that is not progressing the way that I want it to? Right? So, you know, you don't need, you know, super fancy GPS watches where you know you're tracking paces and providing all kinds of data. Is it nice? Yeah, it's nice. Is it needed? No. I did my first few triathlons with just a normal like Timex watch that I could just it had a timer on it, and I could just hit the start button, and that's it. And it was tracking my race time. I didn't care about pacing, I didn't care about anything else, heart rate, none of that stuff mattered. I was just making sure that I was getting through the race before cutoffs, and that's all you really need when you're first starting out. So my recommendation is that we train first and then we upgrade later. Once we have the training that is under our belts, then we're trying to find equipment to overlay that training to complement what we have built. It's not a substitute for what we have not built. So, common some of the common early mistakes, including buying a triathlon bike before even completing a race, upgrading watches instead of improving your sleep and nutrition, purchasing race wheels before building fitness. These are the sorts of mistakes that they tend to make because um, I don't know, they're just chasing speed or they're trying to chase performance before they have the fitness that delivers the performance. So now that I've mentioned performance, this is the truth about performance. Your heart, your lungs, and your legs do not know the price of your bike. So at the beginner stage of your journey, aerodynamics matter less than aerobic capacity. So your aerobic capacity matters more than being aerodynamic on your bike. Consistency matters more than carbon fiber. So if you have an aluminum bike, but you're consistent, that is preferable over inconsistency and a full carbon bike. Period, without a doubt. And that's a fact. Next is preparation is better than technology. Technology fails, and it fails often. GPS watches, you experience battery drain, you show up to race day, your battery, your watch was fully charged, now all of a sudden you're into the race and the battery and the watch just goes dead. I've had it happen to me. So, but if you're prepared, the technology is just there as a guide, it's not a crutch, right? So relying on technology too much will hinder your growth and development. Again, we're using the technology to support what it is that we've done in training. And a lot of times it's designed just to make things easier for us, but it's not to replace training. Now, there are four things that your body responds to, and this is why we train. Progressive training is number one. That's how your body builds adaptation. Two, recovery. Really, really important because without recovery, your body will not develop that adaptation that you're trying to gain by progressive, by progressive training. Your body just won't absorb it and you'll start to break down. The third one is good fueling. Whether that's fueling that you need for your actual race, if you're doing a longer race and you're gonna require like a nutrition strategy to make sure that you're taking in some carbs and calories and things while you're racing. But really, it's just the day-to-day nutrition is what's really more important. Are you eating in a way that is fueling your body so that it can recover and it can adapt and is prepared for training? And the last one is smart pacing. This is one of the things that athletes struggle with the most. And it's learning how to pace. And a lot of times they're relying on that technology to tell them what their pacing should be. Where in fact the environment in which you're racing will dictate what your pacing should be, not the number that's staring back at you on your watch. So I've I've had so many people try and chase paces, chase power numbers, chasing heart rates, where it's not sustainable given the environment that they were in. So them learning how to pace themselves, how to control effort, what it feels like to race at a particular effort level is way more important than what the numbers dictate you on your watch and on your bike computers. Next is all right, if you're feeling intimidated, which I can understand, if triathlon feels intimidating right now, that's I want you to know that that is completely normal, especially if you're a beginner. There's so much out there that you're trying to learn and understand. And this is one of the benefits of having a coach that helps you along the way. It kind of removes some of that intimidation because they're guiding you, they're offering you their support, they're they're structuring your training plan in a responsible way, telling they're you know, they're suggesting you what things that you may buy, what things that you don't need at all, what things can come later. They're really there to kind of just help you walk that path. They're not walking the path for you, they're helping you down it. And Trothon can look expensive, it can look exclusive, and it can feel overwhelming. But I want to tell you that this sport is not based on and is not built on top of expense, exclusivity, it is built on movement. Swim, bike, and run is the foundation of triathlon. Notice what I did not say is the foundation of triathlon, and that's not your wallet and your bank account. Are races expensive? Do you need money in order to participate in a hobby? Absolutely. There's no hobby out there that is going to be free of charge. So, of course, everything costs something, but it's not it's not a barrier to entry. And so we're not going out there to look like a professional. We're not going out there to have gear that a professional would have. You don't have the fitness, you don't have the foundation, you don't have the time that a professional has in dedicating to their craft. All you need as a beginner is just to start. Let's just begin. That's all you need. If you need guidance on starting your journey, I encourage you to go to tabularasoracing.com. There's a page that's out there and it says start here. I want you to click on that page and I want you to read through the page. This website has been designed to help you along your journey and your past. So there's tons of content that's out there to help you navigate this overwhelming feeling that triathlon can bring and really kind of open the doors and break down this perception of exclusivity because it's really open to anybody who's willing to do the work. So, in in closing, if you're wondering whether uh your gear is good enough, I want you to ask yourself a better question. Now, the question I want you to ask is, are you training consistently? Again, this concept of consistency is a common theme across this entire series. And the reason behind it is because I know from my own experience and from my own athlete's experience just how important this is to your development as an athlete. Without the consistency, nothing else matters. So if your answer to that question is yes, my training is consistent, then you're already doing what matters most. Fitness first, gear second, focus on what moves the needle. That's my advice to you. So I want to thank you guys for joining me in episode five of Trathlon 101, a beginner's guide to triathlon, where we've talked about gear for the sport. If you've enjoyed this content, feel free to leave a comment and a review. Go out, like I said, to taboolarasaracing.com, check out the website. You can start in that page that says start here, or you can uh click on the coaching tab and that will tell you all the different coaching options that that we offer through Tabula Rasa Racing. Uh it's not just you know one-on-one custom coaching, there's other options that are out there for you. Fits all kinds of different budgets and wallets. Uh so please take the time to just go out there and check it out. If you are interested in more content that's come that pertains to endurance sports and pertains to triathlon, I encourage you to check out the Endurance Athlete Journey podcast. I'm one of the co-hosts of the podcast, along with Coach Katie Kassane, who is a registered dietitian. And we come to you guys twice a week with episodes. So there is a library of episodes that you can select from all kinds of different topics, training related, nutrition-related, emotion, and some of the softer parts of trathlon and in endurance sports. So check that out as well. Follow us and like us on our socials. Tabula Rasa Racing is on Instagram and Facebook. Subscribe to the YouTube channel as well. In particular, subscribe to this series so that you don't miss when a new episode comes out. There's a companion blog that's just that's tied to every single one of these episodes, and that's going to be Hosted on the Tabula Rasa Racing website as well. So again, thank you guys so much for joining me. I really appreciate the time that you spend listening. And if you have any questions, please don't hesitate to reach out. You can leave a comment either uh on the YouTube channel tied to this episode, you can send me a direct message. Again, you can go to my website and you can find all my contact information is out there. But again, thank you guys, and I'll see you all again next time. Happy training, everyone. That's it for today's episode of Triathlon 101, a beginner's guide to triathlon, an endurance athlete journey podcast series. Remember, you don't need to have everything figured out right now. Progress in triathlon comes from consistency, patience, and taking the right next step. If something you heard today sparked a question or gave you a little more confidence, that means you're moving in the right direction. Stick with this series as we continue breaking down triathlon one step at a time, building confidence before distance, and focusing on a process that actually fits real life. Until next time, trust the process, keep showing up, and remember, you're becoming an endurance athlete long before you ever cross that finish line.