What do you wear to race?

[Grog]

Hey girls,

I need your help. I have signed up for the UBC triathlon on March 11th and it's my first. Sprint distance (750 m swim, 20km cycle, 5km run). The triathlon is "indoor", which means that we swim in the UBC pool (pretty neat concept), not in the open water.

So what should I wear?

I have a pair of Sugoi Piston Tri shorts, they're sort of long (not the 4-inch inseam type, more like 6-7 inches), and a few sports top / bras (and no boobs to wear with the bra but I have to wear something on top, right?). I was first thinking that I should just swim with the shorts and a sports top, and put on a cycling jersey during the first transition, but now I am unsure about wearing the shorts in the pool. Should I wear a swimsuit bottom with the sports top and change (there will be a change tent)? It seems like an awful lot of wasted time and struggling with wet apparel. What do you think??

If that can help: expected weather : anywhere between 10 and 20 degrees celcius.

Many thanks!!!

[Nanci]

I'd wear a one-piece swimsuit, then pull on the bike shorts in transition.

Nanci

[crazycanuck]

Hey grog,

I wear my togs with my tri shorts (orca) & then throw my running top on for the bits after. It saves me tons of time...not that i'm that serious a triathlete or anything....

I need to lose a bit more in the mid section before even thinking about wearing a tri top....without a bathing suit underneath...
c

[Grog]

Thanks ladies!

It took me a visit to the New Zealand immigration web site to figure out what "togs" were. :)

I just can't imagine having a good time pedalling with the swimsuit seams against my skin. How do you live with that??

[Lise]

Sorry to be such an American, but what is 10-20 C in degrees farenheit?

You could do a trial run of swim-bike-run in the swimsuit/bike shorts combo. If the seams aren't going to rub you the wrong way, it should be fine. I certainly see lots of people riding and running in swimsuits.

I must wear a bra, so I wear a bra + Sugoi trisuit + t-shirt for the ride/run if I'm doing an indoor tri, or bra + trishorts + wetsuit, for an outdoor swim, peel off wet suit, pull on t-shirt, and I'm off.

I definitely would not plan any outfit that requires taking off the underlayer. Wastes too much time in transition to have to switch outfits like that.

[SnappyPix]

This is so weird, as I'm having exactly the same dilemma!
I'm doing my first triathlon next weekend and have been chopping and changing my mind constantly about what to wear.
Initially I was planning on a sports bra top and running shorts (basically no chamois), but now I'm starting to think about starting in togs and then pulling on the shorts in the bike transition - but worried about the chafing thing.
Decisions, decisions - it's so easy when you just bike!

[Grog]

10 C is 50 F
15 C is 59 F
20 C is 68 F
(according to http://www.wbuf.noaa.gov/tempfc.htm)

Thanks all for your good info. I think that unless it's cold (under 10C) I will wear the tri shorts from the start. If it's cold, I don't want to be stuck with cold tights, that wouldn't be nice with the wind factor. But if it's sunny, I don't mind too much.

I don't really see why there would be tri shorts if one wasn't to wear them in the swim. Any ideas?

[ironchick]

Tri shorts are meant to swim in...I race in a once piece speedo style with chamois...as far as the seams go-you just get used to them. You can also get a one piece trisuit with legs, if the speedo style doesn't not sound comfortable.

[Lise]

"Tri" anything--tri shorts or tri suit--are meant to be worn in all three parts of the tri. I got a Sugoi trisuit last year, on the recommendation of Susan, the admin from this board, before I knew about the board. You could wear it without a bra, and it was very easy to wear a sturdy sports bra under it, as I'm a 36D.

A word of advice, if it's going to be chilly (in the 50s or low 60s--ie 10 C up to about 16 C)--I suggest you lay out warm tech clothes for the ride. I did, but then made an error in judgement and did not wear them. I was freezing, and the ride was miserable. I had laid out a capilene top with thumb holes, and capilene tights to wear over my trisuit. It didn't "seem" that cold to me, coming out of the pool (it was about 53 degrees), so I just pulled a cotton t-shirt over my dripping wet trisuit and sportsbra. Proceeded to ride probably the fastest 18K of my life, because I was intensely cold. Really miserable. A tech top, long sleeve, over the tri suit would've been enough for running. I always get hot on the run.

Have a great time! I hope you fall in love with triathlon!
:D Lise