If it’s a rough swim, and to be honest, most of them are, I would always wear two swimming hats.
Put your first hat on, then put on your goggles.
Usually the organizer will provide a swim capsule so that you’re easily recognized in the water.
Put that over the top of your goggles.
That helps your goggles not come off if a wave hits you or you get knocked.
When you’re doing a triathlon, you get what’s called a timing band.
It’s a timing sheet which goes in a Velcro band, and you put that around your ankle.
Sometimes the velcro is not very good.
I always put a little safety pain through the velcro just to fasten on it so I know that it’s not gonna come off in the swim.
Most triathletes have a smart watch and they cost a lot of money.
The last thing you want to do is for your strap to break during the swim as well.
Put a little zip tie through the buckle and the strap, so that keeps your watch on.
A great idea is to put Vaseline around your neck, on your wrists and on your ankles so that when you come to take off your wetsuit, it should slide off a little bit quicker over your arms and your legs.
The reason for putting Vaseline around your neck is so that the wetsuit won’t chafe your neck.
Put plastic bags on your feet when you are actually putting your wet suit on.
That will help you put your feet through the legs of the wetsuit without putting your toes through the neoprene.
It just makes it slip on a lot easier.
My last top tip is use disposable sandals, or if you go to posh hotels, pinch their slippers.
Then you can actually put those on as you’re walking down to the swim start.
Often it’s quite stony and there’s nothing worse than getting sharp stones in your feet.
