Triathlon Training

[chuckcouples]

I have been training for my first triathlon for the past few months. The race is in two weeks. My wife just started training for her first one and she will be competing in the middle of August. We are looking into getting "triathlon" watches both for pleasure and to help with our training (I plan on entering another race later this summer or early in the fall).

Does anyone here know much about or have an opinion on the different watches available? My wife is looking at an Apple Watch as she is deeply ingrained in the Apple world with their phone, a macbook and an iPad. I am leaning towards one of the options from Garmin but I don't know which one I should get. The three that keep coming up in my research are the Forerunner 935 and the Forerunner 735XT and the Fenix 5.

[blayze]

I have the Forerunner 935 and I love it. 735XT is nice too but its an older model. I've used both - just get the 935. I've heard wonderful things about the Fenix, but I just hate the way it looks personally. The Apple watches suck and no serious athletes use them. The battery lasts a day tops, which makes them completely useless if you ever want to graduate to a half or full ironman. The technology and features in the Garmin are more tailored to athletes. Not to mention Garmin has by far the most accurate and responsive GPS on the market.

When it comes to Triathlon gear, DC Rainmaker is the best source online:
https://www.dcrainmaker.com/2017/03/...th-review.html
https://www.dcrainmaker.com/2016/06/...th-review.html

My advice: if it's your first race, forget the watch and just enjoy yourself. I'm assuming you're doing a sprint - it'll fly by before you know it. Just soak it all in. If you get hooked afterward (I'm sure you will), then I would consider shelling out for a triathlon watch - they're not cheap, so you're going to want to make sure you're committed for at least another couple years before shelling out $350-$500.

It's awesome that you and your wife do these together... my girlfriend and I are the same. Triathlons are a huge time commitment as you start pursuing the long-course races (half and full ironman) so it helps a lot when your partner is into it as well and you can spend the long hours training together.

[SeaDawg]

I had a Forerunner that I was using while training for a triathlon. It did the job but I didn't get to use it too much.

I blew out my hip, required reconstructive surgery, so never got to actually compete. Now that I'm fully recovered from the surgery, my running days are over and I just focus on strength training/cross fit.

[chuckcouples]

Thank you both for your opinions. I will probably hold off getting a watch until I really see if I enjoy them but will probably end up with a Forerunner 935 as that seems to be the watch of choice. Hopefully their prices come down with today's launch of the Fenix 5 Plus series.

It's been fun training so far. I am running a sprint (500m/15k/5k) while my wife will be doing a tri-a-tri (375m/10k/2.5k).

[blayze]

How'd the triathlon go?

[chuckcouples]

It went fairly well. I finished it quicker than my desired time. I was surprised that my rank was higher in the swim and the run compared to the bike portion. I thought for sure that biking would be my strongest discipline.

Then I realized that riding a mountain bike in a road race is not a great idea! Apparently it makes you about 20-25% slower than all of the road/triathlon bikes. I thought something was up when I noticed my bike was the only mountain bike in the transition area before the event started.

My wife's triathlon ended up being cancelled due to the smoke in the air so she's quite disappointed. She's likely going to a mock one with the friend that she was going to do the triathlon with.