triathlete wall

It’s easy to check how your heart is doing on the run and bike, but on the swim? Thanks to Finis, they’ve created the Aquapulse Heart Monitor that will verbally announce your heart rate while in the water. You don’t have to wear a strap around your chest, stop to check your watch and there aren’t any ear buds to fuss with. Attach the unit to goggles and a soft rubber clip goes on the earlobe. The infrared sensor picks up heart rate through your earlobe and data is announced to you every 10 secs, 20secs, 30secs, 45secs, 1min, 2mins or 5mins via Bone Conduction technology. It should last anywhere from five to eight hours and is easily recharged by plugging it into a USB port. Obviously waterproof.

Let’s do a check. No rubberized material, no polyurethane, and no neoprene. Great, it’s USAT approved and WTC legal. Now we can move on to details that may help you. De Soto’s Liftfoil Speed Trisuit with coldblack enables you to swim faster by having a front-zip instead of back zip, no pockets, no lining and providing a one-piece float pad. Coldblack technology, a special finishing for textiles, reduces absorption of heat rays buildup for better heat management with guaranteed minimum UPF 30 protection (blocks 70% of from UV rays). This speedsuit is also a trisuit so you don’t have to change out of it after the swim. Hop on the bike and go!

Drats. You made a tear in your expensive wetsuit because you used your nails instead of the pads of your fingers. No worries, McNett Seal Cement will patch it up quickly. Apply the waterproof adhesive into the gap and the problem is fixed in about 30 minutes. This inexpensive seal also comes in handy for drysuits boots, gloves, waders, inflatable toys and other rubber articles that need fixin’. Get a couple to keep around the house and in the wetsuit bag.

What do you think is the biggest barrier to entry in the sport? A common answer is the swim portion, and we’ve got a recommendation to help get past that hump. Terry Laughlin’s Total Immersion book is a unique approach to swimming in the water. It’s about mindful fluid movement, not athletic ability, that will help people become efficient swimmers. By focusing on balance and streamlining in the water, the energy used for propulsion becomes much more effective. The book includes choreographed…

No company has done what TYR has with the Freak of Nature. They took the most flexible rubber available, Yamamoto’s #40 neoprene, and made an entire wetsuit out of it. It is the company’s most technologically advanced suit and the most expensive on the market at the moment. This unique change from the typical wetsuit allows 7X more stretch and it’s supposedly so flexible that you won’t notice having it on. There are other notable features included with the freakish price tag, such as quick release ankle cuffs, .17 Specific Gravity and 0.026 Friction Coefficient. Worth it? You gotta give it a try to find out. Ahem, pros like Lance Armstrong, Andy Potts and Chrissie Wellington have already.

Definitely not your average looking fins you see at the pool. Aqua Sphere’s Alpha Fins has an offset profile that allows for pointed toes with dedicated right and left fins providing full arch support in a soft comfortable fit. It’s made of buoyant EVA foam which helps improve body position and forces the leg to work the downkick while increasing ankle flexibility. If you’re looking to improve your swim time and kicks, these may be a good solution for you.

Huub is changing the way we sink and swim into our wetsuits. Instead of the one-suit-fits-all mentality, they are catering for those of us who are natural born swimmers and those of us who are bottom heavy sinkers with their 3:5 and 4:4 numbers. The flagship Archimedes delivers buoyancy and flexibility with additional bicep and calf release panels which further improve efficiency. Time for a wetsuit upgrade excuse.

Yes, you guessed it. A GPS unit that straps to the back of your head using the goggle straps. The Finis Hydro Tracker GPS is a great way for swimmers/triathletes to brag about Escaping from Alcatraz or having proof they swam from one island to another. The days of taking a GPS and stuffing it under the swim cap are over.