T0 - staying warm while you stand around

I'm sure I'm not the first to discover this trick, but I was pretty stoked when I figured it out. The mornings of my first three tris were absolutely frigid, with everyone trying their best to stay warm. The tri this weekend forced my thinking out of the box because the times between transition opening (5:30), closing (7:45), and my wave (8:40) were absurdly long. Everyone was explicitly told to be suited-up and out of transition so it could be secured at 7:45.

So: the T0 bag. I ran off to the campground for an extra duffel bag, set up for the bike and run, and crammed everything else into the duffel (wetsuit, goggles, caps, bodyglide, cookies, GUs, towel, etc., etc.) I'd swapped my running shoes for warm-ish rubber shoes.

The result was, I got to stand around bundled-up in pants, jackets, gloves and hat until a few minutes before my horn while the other age groupers groused about boredom and not feeling their feet. It had the benefit of being small and easy to stash, and was the perfect place, after the race, for all the extra carp too big for my big transition bag.

That duffel really helped sort out the pre-race setup. It will definitely be part of my pre-race list.