Thursday 11 December 2014

KIT PICKS: My Christmas Wish List (triathlon style!)

"What do you want for Christmas?" The question everyone asks one another at this time of year. My answer is always "I dunno, nothing much really. Shower gels and stuff?"

Well this year, with Santa's visit fast approaching and along with enjoying some blissful time of work seeing family, I have devised a wish list of all the things I hope to pick from under the tree. 

Friends, family, read closely...

Zone3 Women's Aquaflo Trisuit
One thing I have specifically asked for is a triathlon race suit. Mainly because they can be quite pricey and along with buying a wet suit (or I might hire - I haven't decided yet), I could see my bank balance buckling at the cost of everything I need for the big race. So my parents have kindly offered to get me a trisuit and I spotted this beauty on Evans' website. 
Designed specifically for women, this trisuit offers high performing comfort and support for all three disciplines, including drag reducing fabric for the swim, padding for the cycle and an inner bra for extra support on the run. I can't wait to get my hands on this and I'm bursting to try it out during some training sessions to get a feel for an all in one suit. 

Zoggs Predator Flex Reactor Swimming Goggles
I threw a question out on Twitter this week seeking advise on a decent pair of goggles. I have an old pair of Speedos that are touch and go on leaking and always, ALWAYS leave marks that remain evident the next day. These are no way an option I am going to consider for my open water swim and after some fabulous feedback from the Twitter community, I found a few people suggested these bad boys. 
These are the creme de la creme of goggles so to speak. With a flexible frame that bends in all sorts of directions, comfort and the right fit is guaranteed. Along with this, the curved lenses offer a 180 degrees peripheral vision (amazing for open water swimming!) plus they are photo chromatic, meaning they darken depending on the brightness of natural sunlight. 

I was immediately sold by all these qualities but at £30-£35, they aren't cheap. I also found they were sold out on Zoggs website so I rather cheekily sent my other half a link to Amazon for them. Not subtle at all.

Sealskinz Women's Winter Cycle Gloves
I'm not going to lie. This freezing weather can make my daily cycle to work painfully cold. Especially for my hands. At the moment, I am wearing two pairs of gloves. A thick wooly pair from Primark and then my Summer B-Twin light gloves over the top. Even this double layer doesn't protect my hands from the cold and some days, my fingers have become so frozen it hurts to bend them for braking.
So, this obviously calls for a new pair of snazzy (and snug) winter cycling gloves and Sealskinz is a brand that gets recommended time and time over. This particular pair are built to stand both wet and cold weather conditions with a super cosy lining and a synthetic palm for that all important grip. The gloves themselves also look rather slim, which means that movement of the fingers isn't restricted. 

Hand Weights
One area that I really need to work more on is strength training. I am awful at core exercises, lifting weights, holding planks etc... With just a cheap yoga mat in the apartment, I rarely pluck up the motivation to dig it out and do a workout at home. 
For the triathlon, I am going to need a strong core, arms that can carry me through a 750m swim and sturdy legs to take me through all three disciplines. I need to strength train. I have no choice about it. To get me in the mood for it, I thought some nice shiny new weights would spur me on. Gone will be the tins of baked beans I sometimes resort to using. Now I will hopefully (if Santa is feeling nice) have a a proper set of weights so I can pump some iron. Grrr!

In all honestly, this list has been reiterated to my loved ones (thanks in advance guys!) and fingers crossed I will have the real life versions to show and review very soon! 

What's on your Christmas wish list? Have you got any triathlon must have's to suggest? 


Lipstick Runner.

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