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Triathlete Holiday Gift Guide 2017

author : alicefoeller

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Beginner Triathlete's Picks for 2017 Triathlon Gifts

It's that time of year when our loved ones might want to support our healthy obsession ... er, habit.

Here are some ideas for holiday purchases that will support your triathlete. Feel free to add your own ideas in the comments!

Stocking Stuffers ($0 to $25)

Depending on the weather in your favorite athlete's locale, you can help extend the outdoor training season with inexpensive winter gear, such as a balaclava for the face and head, or in hot climates, reflective performance sun sleeves.

No matter what the weather, light becomes scarce in the winter, and many triathletes train early or late. For safety, grab some blink rather than bling. These blinking ankle straps are fun and lightweight. Also invest in RoadID for safety.

Mid-Range ($25 to $150)

Of course our favorite gift suggestion is a subscription to one of our performance plans here at BeginnerTriathlete. With our power-packed Bronze, Silver or Gold memberships, athletes can access training plans of increasing detail, as well as technical features that will allow them to sync their real-life workouts to our site to compare with their training plan. If they already use Strava, Training Peaks, Garmin Connect or other popular training data centers, the performance plans will allow them to sync the data with Beginner Triathlete automatically!

Triathlon apparel is a great gift for anyone. You can never have too many trishorts, and many athletes don't want to spend money on race kits such as trisuits because of the cost, especially if they don't race often. It's a nice luxury you can give as a gift. TriSports.com, DeSoto and 2XU are good brands to check for trisuits.

A set of good bike tools, a spare tube, an inflator and a tiny first aid kit are sure to be a hit with any triathlete who bikes outdoors. Even if your athlete is not the fix-it type, a set of tools, inflator and a spare tube are enough to allow someone who is a fix-it type to help get them back on the road. XLab has some good parts, as well as hydration and cargo systems for bottles and bags.

Major ($150 to $500)

A new triathlon smartwatch or training watch will make a nice upgrade for any triathlete, and they make it easy to sync workouts to the training logs here at BeginnerTriathlete and at other training data sites. If you are buying for someone else, it's a good idea to hint around, keep the receipt, and purchase an upgraded version of the same brand they are using now. Often training watches for triathletes come with accessories such as bike cadence sensors that work with models of the same brand, but don't work across different brands. Garmin, Polar and Suunto are top brands.

Smart Trainers are fantastic new inventions that combine machinery with social networking to allow riders to train with other, virtually. Since these are so new, many triathletes don't have them yet ... which makes them a great gift idea. Zwift is leading the charge with its online interface, and the Zwift site recommends smart trainers from various brands to use with its app.

Wetsuits are always a great gift. Triathletes on a budget usually grit their teeth and swim cold, sacrificing buoyancy, to save money. But when everyone else lines up on the beach in a wetsuit, it can feel lonely out there. Spring for a wetsuit from Xterra and you can receive a discount if you are a BeginnerTriathlete Performance Member!

Game Changer ($500 and up)

These are all items where you are going to want buy-in from your athlete on the brand and model. In fact, an envelope of cash and a picture of the item might be best. These are highly personalized choices that often require special fit or other preferences: