On 8th October I will be racing in the Ironman World Championship in Kona. For most of my triathlons, I have posted a quick rundown of the gear and fuel I used for the race. I often refer back to these posts myself when I am packing my kit up for a race, just to be sure I haven’t forgotten anything.

Over the past 12 months, these Gear posts have been very similar, lets face it, we find some gear that works for us and stick with it and with racing a few 70.3 races since I last did a full-distance triathlon at Ironman UK last July, I have stuck with the same kit.

For Kona, I have brought some new gear. Firstly I wanted to update some of my ageing kit, a lot of it was purchased in 2017 or 2018 in preparation for my first 70.3 at Ironman 70.3 Staffordshire 2018 and first full at Ironman UK 2018. I also had a lot of black or dark gear and with Kona likely to be very hot and sunny I wanted to get some lighter colours to reflect some of that heat back.

Fuelling

Let’s begin with the race day fuelling, for Kona, this is going to be the key to a good race, mess the nutrition and hydration up out there tomorrow and I will be in for a very tough and long day.

I haven’t pictured my pre-race fuel here but for breakfast, I brought a bag of porridge oats with me which I have at home. Staying in a condo I have the facilities to cook and prepare my own meals and brought some of my usual food with me to ensure it sits right with me. On race morning I will have a bowl of porridge, likely around 4am before driving down to Kona. Once in transition and waiting for my start wave at 7:05am I have a flapjack to keep me topped up and will have a 500ml bottle filled with Science in Sport Go Energy electrolyte mix, I will sip on this pre-race to keep on top of the electrolytes.

In both my T1 and T2 bags, I have placed 1 Science in Sport Beta Fuel gel (Orange flavour). So post swim and bike I have the option to grab a gel from my bag if I miss the aid station in the transition zone. Just a backup in case I miss picking up the Maurten Gel. I have trained using both the SiS Beta Fuel and Maurten Gels for the past 3 years and I know they both sit well on their own and in a combination of the two across the day.

On the bike, it will be more of the same. Science in Sport electrolyte mix in two 750ml bottles. Given the high heat, I am planning on drinking a lot more than usual, the aim is two bottles an hour. At Challenge Roth in July when the temperature was over 30’c I didn’t drink enough on the bike and really started to struggle towards the end of the bike and most definitely struggle on the run as a result. This is something I am keen to avoid in Kona so two bottles per hour or close to that is the goal. Once I am through my two bottles of SiS I will be relying on the on-course Gatorade and water bottles from the aid stations which are approx. every 15 miles.

I will have another flapjack on the bike to give some solid food for that first half of the ride, I tend to have a bite of this every 20 minutes to help maintain the carb levels. In my two previous full-distance Ironman events I have taken 2 flapjacks to fuel for the full bike but I think having solid food right up until the run didn’t sit that well with my stomach so for Challenge Roth I went without a flapjack as mentioned above, flagged in the second half of the bike so this time I am trying the flapjack for just the first half of the bike.

The gels on the bike are the Science in Sport Beta Fuel gels (Orange flavour), I am taking 9 gels with me which sounds and looks like a lot. The goal is to take a gel every 40mins so I should take my 9th gel at 6 hours and I am hoping to be done around or before then.

For the run, I am relying on the aid stations for Gatorade, water, cola and Maurten gels. My pre-race aim is to most likely walk through the aid stations take on as much fluids as possible and take a Maurten gel every 30 minutes. The aid stations are approx. every 1.2 miles so there will be plenty of opportunities to hydrate and that is going to be key running out there in the heat and humidity.

Swim Gear

Back in July 2021, I wore the Team Zoot trisuit at my qualifying race in Ironman UK so I thought it would be fitting to complete that journey to the Kona finish line in the same trisuit I started in, plus it’s damn comfortable and looks cool.

I will be wearing the Garmin HRM Pro chest strap and Garmin Forerunner 935 throughout the race.

As Kona is a non-wetsuit swim I brought the Roka Viper Pro swimskin to wear over my trisuit and have the Zoggs Predator googles. As the swimskin sometimes rubs under my arms and with the salt water likely to add to that, I have some Body Glide to lube up around the neck and underarms.

T1 Gear

The bike gear is where I have made most of the changes for this race. I have gone with a white theme for the most part.

I always drop a small towel in my T1 bag just to dry off my feet before putting on my Gymshark No Show Performance socks and for this race, I have brought some Huub Aero Calf Sleeves to help reduce the drag and also keep the sun off me as much as possible.

Speaking of the sun, I have dropped in a bottle of Hawaiian Tropical fct 50 spray on sunscreen for the arms, neck, legs and face.

So for the newer kit, I have a white Specialized Echelon II MIPS Helmet, I have gone for this one as it has some vents to let some air in to cool the head and I am on a road bike anyway so my aero gains are less than those on a TT bike. My bike shoes are new to the triathon kit but not new to me, I actually brought these in 2017 as my first ever pair of cleats, until then I wasn’t riding with cleats. I have gone proper old school because they are white not black like my other shoes.

To finish off the look I am wearing a pair of SunGod Vulcans.

T2 Gear

My running gear is my comfort zone, the bread and buttle and the one discipline I am probably above average at, although in triathlon, by the time I start my run I am usually that knackered from the bike, the run is often run/walk. We keep learning and trying new things (in training of course) to improve on these things right?

So the main thing here is the Nike Vaporfly Next% shoes, I love the Vaporfly Next% for marathon racing, they give so much cushion and feedback from the carbon plate. I did consider just wearing my Saucony endorphin speed 2 for Kona. Mainly because I just don’t think I will be running enough or fast enough to really feel the benefit from the Vaporfly but I went for the comfort element in the end. That stack height should protect the tired legs.

I have the aptly named Roka Kona sunglasses, I like to swap my sunglasses from the bike to the run, this pair is my go-to running sunnies and they do allow more air flow than the SunGod, not that I will be generating much air flow at walking speed.

I have a white New Balance run cap to keep the sun off my head and neck, white in this heat goes without saying. I have another towel to wipe off the post-bike sweat before reapplying sunscreen.

My race belt is a FitLetic Ultimate II race belt which has a pounce to carry some gels from the aid stations so I can take one as and when I need it.

Race Day?

Have a read of my Ironman World Championship Race Recap to see how the race went.