Prior to previous A races or big events, I have posted my gear for the day. I figured I would do this again ahead of this Sunday’s Ironman UK. It may be of use to someone doing a future Ironman and it will certainly be of use to me when I look back to see what I took/wore on the day, see what went well, what didn’t work and tweak if needs be.

I will split it out into the four disciplines (yes 4!) The fuelling, the swim/starting gear, bike gear and run gear.

Fuelling

I have grouped all of the nutrition together rather than spread it out to pre-race, bike and run nutrition.

With staying away in a hotel the night before the race I want to have my porridge oats for breakfast. I have this breakfast before every race, every long training ride and every long training run. It is tried and tested over the last 5 years. To ensure I get porridge for breakfast I am taking my own three pots to mix in the hotel rather than rely on the hotel having porridge for breakfast and it being to my taste. Take the stress and worry out of the situation! I will also take a 500ml bottle of Maurten Drink 320 to drink before the swim, topping up the carbs pre-race.

I will be taking two 900ml bottles on the bike, both mixed with 1 and a half sachets of Maurten Drink 320. As I progress around the bike course and one bottle empties, I will replace that with the Gatorade Thirst Quencher bottles available on the loop.

I take a bite of the flapjacks every 20 minutes whilst on the bike, two flapjacks will be sufficient for the 112 miles on Sunday. This gives me some solid food to digest whilst on the bike and the carbs to power the body. Alongside the flapjacks, I take a SiS Electrolyte gel every 45 minutes. I think 8 will be enough for 6:30 of riding. These give the body some of the electrolytes, sodium, potassium and carbs lost during the bike leg. Hopefully, leaving enough in the system to maintain during the run leg.

On the run, I will take a Maurten Gel 100 every 30 minutes. These are provided at each feed station on the run course so I will not be carrying any with me. I have swapped over to Maurten gels for all of my long training runs during 2021 and not had any stomach issues so will continue with them on race day and going forward into the autumn marathon training block. Do they give more carbs, energy etc than the SiS gels? on paper they do but I have not felt any big difference but having them available on course is a big plus for me.

I pack a protein shaker in my white bag with a scoop of MyProtein Whey Protein powder to take post-race to start that recovery off well.

Swim Gear

I will be wearing the Team Zoot Europe trisuit for this race. I love this trisuit, it looks great and really stands out on the course but is also very well designed. The sleeves offer a slight aero advantage over the sleeveless options but for me, the biggest plus point of this trisuit is the full zip on the top, you can fully unzip the top like a cycle jersey which makes it easier to put on, easier and faster to take off if you need a toilet stop.

I am using the 2018 HUUB Archimedes II GB Edition wetsuit, Zoggs goggles and body glide to go around the neck for comfort and wrists & ankles to help get the wetsuit off quicker in T1. All tried and tested over the years. I have used the new Form Smart Goggles for the pool swims in training but have decided not to use these for my open water and race day swims. I felt they restricted the view compared to these Zoggs goggles and I don’t want the pressure of seeing my swim time. I just want a nice steady stress free swim.

Under the wetsuit, I will have the trisuit as mentioned above, Rymora calf sleeves, Garmin Tri chest heart rate monitor and the Garmin Forerunner 930 watch to track the pace, more so for the run really but you have to get it on Strava otherwise it didn’t happen!

Last but not least! the fashion item of 2020/21, a face mask. This is required in T1 and for the rolling start to the swim, they can then be disposed of just prior to entering the water.

T1 Gear

The swim is now done, the fight to get the wetsuit off has been won. Time to change into the bike gear.

I like to have a hand towel in my T1 bag so I can quickly dry my feet before putting on the Enertor Energy Run Socks, I prefer to spend the extra minute or two putting socks on than riding and running sockless, for me the risk of rubbing and blisters is not worth those few minutes. Comfort equals confidence, confidence equals speed.

I have the Kask Mojito helmet and Fizik R3B 2018 cycle shoes and Cavendish edition Oakley Jawbreaker glasses, very on point given Cavs recent stage wins at Le Tour, gotta be worth a few extra watts.

I have pictured the Wahoo Element Roam here but that will be put on the bike along with the nutrition before the start of the race. I will use this to track my progress on the bike leg, I have the route loaded so I can see what the terrain is like for the upcoming miles, also on that same panel I have the 3/sec ave watts displayed. This is my main metric, the one I use to ensure I am not putting down too much power, especially on the hills. I am not bothered about the average speed, heart rate, distance etc just the current power output.

My race belt is a Fitletic Ultimate II with a zipper pouch, this can store up to four gels or a phone (not during the race obviously), it also has 3 loops for additional gels on each side. As mentioned in the fuelling section above, I am not going to carry any gels on the run course this time but the capacity is there if required.

After the swim I will take a SiS Energy Electrolyte gel in T1, this is just to top up the carbs burnt during the swim and prepare for the long bike leg.

Bike wise, I still haven’t made the jump over to a TT bike so I will once again be riding my Giant Propel Advanced 1 2018 model.

T2 Gear

The T2 (run) gear is very straightforward. Chuck the bike shoes, Oakley’s and helmet in the bag. Swap out for a New Balance running cap and Roka sunglasses, I will wear these even though the forecast is for rain, I can hide the pain behind those lenses, plus they will keep the rain out of my eyes and race photos always look cooler with glasses on.

My goto marathon racing shoe over the past 3 years has been the Nike Vaporfly. For Ironman UK I am going with the Nike Vaporfly Next% from 2019. These are very lightweight with a great amount of cushioning, an 8mm drop and super snappy. I have recently run a 10k PB in these and ran in them during my half distance triathlon PB two weeks ago.

Race Day?

How did race day go? head over to my IRONMAN UK 2021 RACE RECAP to see how I got on and whether this gear worked for me.