There are loads of sayings and little snippets of advice
that involve the threads we wear. “The clothes make the man,” “Dress to
impress,” “Wolf in sheep’s clothing,” “The emperor’s new clothes,” “Dressed to
kill,” and “Dress for the job you want, not the one you’ve got”…
I’ve always had a bit of a basic, whatever-fits approach to
training and working out attire but, over the past couple of years, that has
changed significantly.
It was 18 months or so ago, at a big race, that I was
chatting to a really top age grouper (sub-9 hour IM guy, it turned out). We
were both smugly ridiculing the hundreds of all-the-gear-and-no-idea racers
who, by the looks of them, had spent more time shopping at the expo than doing
any training; the result being that they all now looked the same – same warm-up
pants, same ‘cool’ jacket, same branded visor…
I mentioned to the guy I was chatting to (Norweigan fella,
if that helps you paint the picture more clearly) that I just tended to grab
any old crap in sports shop sales and mix and match for training. “No, no, no,
Matt – that won’t do at all!” he said to me completely seriously, before
dishing out the triathlon sartorial advice that I now follow without question
(with one exception but that’s coming up…).
His advice was that you should have one or two sets of good
quality swim gear, bike wear, and run kit. You don’t need all the fancy track
suits, triathlon t-shirts, race visors… you don’t need a wardrobe that looks
like a rainbow threw up I it, stuffed with 20 different TdF team bike kits. But
one or two good, good quality changes for each sport.
This wasn’t to look good. This wasn’t about saving money
(although, ultimately, once I started buying one good pair of bike bib shorts
rather than 5 sets of cheap, rubbish shorts, I did save money in the
long-term). The reasoning went a little something like this:
·
If you dress like a cyclist, you’ll be treated
like a cyclist
·
If you’re treated like a cyclist, you’ll feel
like a cyclist
·
If you feel like a cyclist, you’ll train and
ride like a cyclist
·
If you train and ride like a cyclist, you’ll
become a better triathlete
(Obviously, the same applies to swimming and running too.)
I also find that this process has helped me mentally. When I
head to a run workout now, I dress and feel like a runner and, therefore, I
push myself to compete with other runners, rather than thinking “well, hey, I’m
a triathlete so I don’t have to be quite as good as the rest of these guys…”
With all this in mind, here are some simple tips to get you
started:
·
When you wear your goggles around your neck
before or after a swim session, you might be thinking “useful and won’t lose
them” but all the swimmers are thinking “tool”.
·
Unless you’re an Olympic hopeful in the pool or
are clocking 25km or more a week in an ITU-style training schedule, the above
applies to taking flippers to the pool.
·
Tri suits are for tri races – not bike rides.
·
Tri suits are for tri races – not running races.
But there’s more to this than not looking like an idiot and
improving your training. You see, the proper sport-specific kit is almost
always the best and most comfortable thing to wear.
As I said earlier, I’ve been sticking rigidly to this ‘dress
for the occasion’ principle now for a good 18 months. Except once: my first bike
ride after moving to Amsterdam.
I knew it was cold, a little wet – certainly different
conditions to those I was used to experiencing in Dubai. But I didn’t need any
of those fancy, expensive winter biking clothes, I decided – with all their waterproof
this and windproof that. I layered up with what I had, put on a pair of woolly
mittens and headed out for what proved to be 90 of the most unpleasant and
painful minutes that I can remember. By the time it started raining – and we
were a bit lost and 45 minutes at least from home – I’d decided that crawling
under a tree to have a little cry would be the best course of action; however,
my hands were too cold to actually press on the brakes to stop, so I just had
to keep pedalling.
 |
| Before: a bit cold |
The next time I went out, my road bike was sporting mud
guards and I was kitted out in shoe covers, fleece-lined long bike knicks, a
proper windproof jacket (with waterproof in the back pocket) and windproof and
waterproof lobster claw cycling gloves. The 2 hour ride was a cosy delight.
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| After: wrapped up, toasty and ready to ride. |
Lesson learned - being unsuitably attired is not a mistake
I will be making again. It’s not vanity, it’s not showing-off – it’s just the
best way to make sure you don’t end your ride weeping under a big tree…
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