six weeks to first tri

crank_1975

All,

I'm six weeks away from first tri in Athlone. I was wondering what equipment I need (aside from the obvious; runners, bike). Do you have to wear a wetsuit for this race? If so where can I rent one and for how much? Is there anything else that I won't be able to do without?

Apologies for all the questions but I'm new to all this!!:D

tunguska

crank_1975 wrote: »

All,

I'm six weeks away from first tri in Athlone. I was wondering what equipment I need (aside from the obvious; runners, bike). Do you have to wear a wetsuit for this race? If so where can I rent one and for how much? Is there anything else that I won't be able to do without?

Apologies for all the questions but I'm new to all this!!:D

Yeah you'll need a wetsuit. If you're in a position to buy one I would because the chances are you'll do another triathlon. I havent met a person who has done one triathlon and called it quits at that, you do one and you get the bug. Once you're in you wont get out:D.
Anyway the cycle superstore(Tallaght) sell and rent wetsuits. I think its about 50 quid to rent for one race, although you'll have to leave a deposit of 200 quid(I think).
You'll need a tri-suit aswell. These go under the wetsuit so that when you get out of the water all you have to do is take off your wetsuit, jump on your bike and go. No changing into tops or whatever. So for speed of transition a tri-suit is a must.
If you havent already gotten them I'd get cleats for your bike, they'll make a big difference.
A belt for your number. This is important because it saves you having to attach a number to the front and back of your tri-suit with safety pins, which is a pain in the ass if you have a toilet emergency.
Bodyglide: This is to prevent chaving. You can get this in pretty much any good sports shops like evelyrs or cyclesuperstore.

So theres your essentials pretty much:

Wetsuit
Tri-suit
Cleats for bike
Number belt
body glide

tunney

Beg, borrow or rent a wetsuit.
you don't need anything else. If you enjoy the event then you can invest.
You can wear swim suit or the like under the wetsuit and change in transitions.
Relax and enjoy it.