Antoine J. Desroches: My race day essentials

Racing can be quite stressful. We all have those last minute thoughts: “Have I done enough training?” “Am I sufficiently rested?” “What about my equipment? Are my tires ok?”

You should not worry about things you can’t control like your current fitness or your competitors’ fitness. However, you can make sure a few days before your race that you have all the right equipment and that everything is working well.

When I race, no matter if it’s a sprint, an Olympic distance or a half distance triathlon, I only bring what I absolutely need. As a former ITU athletes, I’m used to those style of triathlons where triathletes only have the shoes on their bike, a helmet with sunglasses, their running shoes and maybe a running hat. That’s all. So when I race longer races I like to keep my transition clean and simple and only bring the bare minimum. It takes less time to set up my transition the morning of the race, I’m less stressed and I can sooner warm up before the start of the race.

In this video, I share my race day essentials.

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Even though I don’t put lots of things next to my bike, I do bring more stuff in my racing bag. For instance, I have two types of large bands — one to warm up my glutes by doing sideways steps and another to warm up my upper body in case the swim warm up area is closed before the race, which is sometimes the case. I also bring smaller elastics to keep my shoes upright on my bike, which allows for faster and more efficient bike mounts. I always bring a protein bar for recovery after my race because, since I’m vegan, there’s rarely good healthy food options for me at the finish line.

I recommend making a list of all the equipment ahead of time you need so you can check it off the list as you prepare your race bag. You’ll find yourself less stressed that you may have forgotten something.