I am thrilled to bring you this gym bag essentials post from Coach Brett, host of the Zen and The Art of Triathlon podcast. I have been listening to him for years: training tips, interviews, training log, race reports; he’ s got you covered. On the off chance that you are one of the six people in endurance sports who haven’t heard of him, let me give you a brief introduction.
Brett is the first Texan to swim the length of Lake Tahoe – 22 miles, 1 mile longer than the width of the English Channel and at 6,300 feet elevation. He has completed 12 Iron distance triathlons, seven of them solo self-supported. He is a 100 mile trail run finisher, a six-time 50 mile trail run finisher, and has completed 11 half Iron distance triathlons.
He is also a podcasting pioneer. A quick look at iTunes shows his podcast going all the way back to 2006. His most recent interviews include Fitness Expert Ben Greenfield, Coach Jesse Kropelnicki, Nutrition Expert Dr. Phil Maffetone and Pro Triathlete AJ Baucco. And yes, he has a day job and a family. Here are links to his website, podcast on iTunes and his recent interview on Endurance Planet. Take it away Brett!
Right now my gym bag consists solely of gear for running during my lunch break. I’m training for Galveston 70.3 and Ironman Texas, both which can be brutally hot. So, I’m running in the middle of the day in the worst of the heat and humidity on purpose to be heat adapted on race day. Here’s the list!
- Gel flask filled with honey. I sip on this for fuel. I added a little bit of water to the honey so it’s not too thick.
- Long-sleeved CoolMax shirt. It keeps the sun off my torso and arms to prevent sunburn, but also traps heat to increase the heat adaptation effect.
- Suunto Ambit 2 watch. This is by far the coolest running watch ever made. It handles triathlons, power meters, and you can even program it with your own tasks and apps!
- Adidas Energy Boost shoes. These things are AWESOME. I have well over 1,000 miles on them and they still bounce like new.
- Jaybird Bluebird X headphones. These wireless headphones connect over bluetooth to my phone so I can listen to Pandora or podcasts without having to constantly fight wires. They are sweat proof and have a battery life of around five hours.
- Amphipod waist belt and two 10 oz flasks. This allows me to carry lots of water, my phone, and still have my hands free for better running form.
- Nike Dri-Fit shorts. The material is the best I’ve found for running shorts. Highly recommended.
- Yellow Road of Texas Tour de France CoolMax socks. These have the outline of France with “TX” in the middle of it to show who was really dominating the Tour those years. And they’re dirty. I wore them while riding the bike this morning for an hour. I often go two workouts with the same gear if nobody’s around to smell it.
- Small Ziploc bag. I put my phone in this and, POOF! A waterproof phone. Super simple. Finger swipes work through the plastic with no problem whatsoever.
- Boonie hat. I’ve switched to wearing this instead of my usual visor for sunny runs. I’ve gotten enough UV in my life already. I wore it at Ironman Texas last year and people loved it!
- Big reusable grocery sack as my gym bag. I figure that it being open-air helps things ventilate faster. And it’s from Freebirds, the place that makes the best burritos of the face of the planet.
Ok, Gotta try the honey.