What’s in My Swim Bag: Sarah-Anne Brault
With three different sports packed into a week of triathlon training, triathletes have lots of gear that they require for each specific training session. We’ve been asking some of Canada’s elite triathletes to share with us what they pack in their swim bag. Here’s what Sarah-Anne Brault, who recently placed 9th at the ITU World Triathlon Series in Auckland, packs as her swim practice essentials. Brault got her start as a triathlete after years of swimming competitively for the Manitoba Marlins in her hometown of Winnipeg.
1. Bathing suit, cap, and goggles. A swimmer’s most basic gear. I love Australian swim suits because many of the niche brands have amazing colours and patterns (Funkita brand is shown in picture). Speedo goggles and race swim cap.
2. Pull-Buoy, band and paddles. I love doing pull work so I always travel with my pull gear. The Speedo paddles are medium-sized and I make a band out of a used inner-tube (this one is coloured because it’s easy to keep track of. I lose things easily.). My team never uses kick boards but we use fins in the off-season.
3. Tempo Trainer (Finis). My favorite tool of them all! In the pool, I often set it to beep at a certain stroke rate (i.e. 38 stokes per minutes), which I’ll hold for the duration of the interval or set. In the lake, we will set it to beep on 30 seconds or a minute and it allows us to do efforts as a group, without needing buoys or any sort of marking in the water. I think it’s a must-have for any triathlete and it helps when your friends all have one as well!
