Cold Weather Triathlon help needed!

mamaclose

I am doing my final triathlon of the season on 9/23 with a start time of 7am. This morning at 7am it was 46 degrees! So obviously I need to be ready for a cold tri day. Those who do tris, should I just wear long sleeves or get arm warmers? What about legs? Again, pants or leg warmers?? Can I get away with wearing knee high socks? I do have a wet suit but it's going to be FREEZING biking after getting out of the water!

Thanks in advance!

Thundermtn

I used to train up in the high altitudes and hit those cold spells. My advice, (only my advice take it for what it is worth) is to use arm warmers. I personally found that after a bit I warmed up and could easily peel those off and get in my groove. As far as the water portion and getting out... yeah,,, not much you can do about that other than get that heart rate up and start warming up. Are you doing a sprint or olympic? Hopefully you are a fast swimmer and can get in and out of that cold water quickly.
Good luck.

klwtrask

Use arm warmers! You can take them off once you warm up if needed. I personally would not wear pants, just your tri suit. If you are really worried about being cold, knee warmers would be my preference, so you can take them off while you are on your bike if you have good balance ;-) I would recommend toe covers for your feet. Your legs will warm up pretty quickly while putting in a good effort on the bike, but if you are like me, my feet always get cold.

Even though you didn't ask, if the water is cold, make sure you get your face wet before you start the race, the last thing you need is to start out with the shock of cold water...it doesn't do well for your breathing :-)

Like the previous comment, this is only my advice...and GOOD LUCK! I would love to know how you did!

- K

kywh

I agree with the advice above--arm warmers and leg warmers, but not pants or a long-sleeved shirt, unless the temps are going to stay below 50 the entire race. Then, it might make more sense to be more covered the entire time. I'm facing the exact opposite problem for my tri this weekend--the temps are likely to be in the 90's by the time I get to the run! Good luck and have a great race.

kywh

Hope the race went well!!!