- Well as a lot of you will know out there,
I am off to compete in, or I should probably rephrase that,
I am off to try and complete the Norseman Xtreme Triathlon.
And in fact by the time you guys are watching this video
I will be just moments away from jumping on the back
of a ferry into some rather icy cold waters
of a fjord in Norway,
and about to start my rather gruelling day out there.
Now the Norseman Xtreme Triathlon is an event
that I have wanted to do for years,
mainly because it's just so different
from any other triathlon or event for that matter.
So with that in mind, it comes with some rather
unusual and different kit.
So I thought you'd find it quite interesting today
for me to run through my Norseman kit list.
(upbeat music)
Well to give you a little bit more background
on the Norseman event,
it is essentially over an Ironman distance.
So I've got a 3.8 kilometre swim, 180 kilometre bike
and finishing with a 42.2 kilometre run over
a point-to-point course.
Now a swimmer actually starts in the Hardangerfjord
in Eidfjord and the bike takes in the largest
mountain plateau in Northern Europe,
and then the run actually finishes at the top
of Mount Gaustatoppen,
taking in a total elevation of over 5235 metres.
Ouch.
Yeah, now this extreme triathlon also requires you
to have a support team.
So this support team can join me for segments
of the bike course,
also sections of the run course.
It's actually mandatory for one,
or at least one support team member
to join an athlete for the final five kilometres of the run
as you go to the summit of the mountain Gaustatoppen.
And for me, that is fortunately going to be Frazer
so I'm in good hands.
And conveniently by having that support team
actually means that I can take
loads of different changes of kit
for all weather conditions and eventualities.
So I'm gonna have loads of kit in the car,
ready for me, including a lot of food.
So let's start by running through my swim kit.
So for this, I'm actually going to be using
the Maverick thermal wetsuit from ROKA.
So this is a slightly beefed up, slightly warmer wetsuit.
It's a little bit thicker than your normal wetsuit.
Maybe not quite as flexible but it's still
a very nice wetsuit which I'm gonna need
given the water temperatures in the fjord can get
as low as around ten degrees.
And given that we've had a bit of a heatwave lately,
I've heard that it is melting some of the ice caps
and we've got that cold ice running into the waters.
That's not it though, I'm not stopping there
because I'm actually going to potentially wear
a thermal base layer.
So this is one from Orca.
They actually do a sleeved version
but I'm opting for a non-sleeved option
just 'cause I think having that base layer
coming down on the sleeves might just well,
cause a bit of chafing under the arms and what-not.
But I have been training with this
and it's actually really comfortable
and does make a big difference.
Under all of that, I'm actually gonna be opting for
this Orca Speed Suit, or Tri Suit.
This is the RS1 which you've probable seen
someone like Sebastian Kienle wearing.
I really like this suit.
I was toying with another suit,
but this is a super comfortable suit.
It's quite thin, but I'm probably going to be
putting some extra clothing on over the top of this
when I come out of the swim.
But I'll go through that a little bit later on.
I've also got the option of wearing some booties.
Again, I don't know about these until I get there
and I see just how cold the water is
but I do actually struggle with the cold quite a bit
so as you can tell I'm going prepared
'cause I really don't want my extremities to get cold
or cold through to bone
'cause that is pretty much race over for me
once that happens.
I'd rather just be comfortable and get through this.
This isn't a competition for me,
or at least that's what I'm trying to tell myself.
And finally, I'm going for a skull cap.
So this is something I just wear under the swim hat,
goggles on it over the top of it
and it just stop that ice cream head.
Not the greatest look, but makes a big difference.
Oh, and one last thing: my goggles.
So, I've been using the Roka F1 goggles for a while.
Haven't actually used these yet,
but these are an orange lens, so the idea of this
is it enhances the light and given that I'm gonna
be starting quite early in the morning,
it can be a little bit dark and this is gonna enhance
that light a little bit more.
Failing that, I'm just gonna have a really clear lens
so that's my option for the swim.
I will take some mirrored ones just in case,
but I'm fairly sure I'm gonna need those.
(upbeat music)
We're now on to the bike and I'll start
with the actual bike before I go onto the kit.
Now, I'm gonna be using my Canyon Speedmax
which I'm sure a lot of you have seen already
on this channel, quite a few times, 'cause I do really
quite like this bike.
In terms of its actual setup and componentry,
I have been toying with the idea of switching
from a 53 39 to maybe a 55 39.
Now 55 39 is not what they normally suggest
but I have run it in the past with a chain catcher
and a lot of pros do that, just so you got
that versatility of choice and,
I may actually, I think I'm just gonna leave it at 53 39,
just because I just wanna complete this race.
I'm not that worried about the performance so much,
other than getting that black T-shirt or going to the top.
I've currently got an 11 28 cassette on there.
Again, I may change that, I might go for something
even slightly easier because there are some punchy climbs
in this race.
In terms of the wheels, actually, at the moment,
I've got these lovely ENVE wheels on there,
although I'm tempted to go for something slightly deeper.
Frazer actually use Zip 808, or 858s
for his Countman race, so I may be borrowing those
off him for that race.
I'm running clincher, 25 mill,
just making sure I've got good traction.
I won't be pumping up to anything crazy.
Hydration, fuel setup, I'm just gonna have a bottle here.
I'll have my hydration setup here,
full of energy drink,
but, got something quite interesting here at the front end
because Martin from Race Wear which is a UK company,
does some fancy 3D printing for bike components
and computer mounts.
He does a lot of stuff actually for tour riders as well,
pro tour riders.
He's actually made me a mount specifically
for these aero bars which is really quite special.
It fits a Polar bike computer on the top,
and because we want to capture footage from the race,
he's actually managed to build a GoPro mount underneath.
But, this is all specific to the angle of my aero bars,
the thickness of my aero bars, all for this bike,
so absolutely amazing.
So thanks ever so much Martin.
Have currently got the Polar V650
which is quite a big computer.
I'm probably gonna go for the smaller computer,
but this is what I had lying around the office today.
Now let's move on actually to the actual kit choices.
So we're round here now.
So this is my helmet.
I'm actually gonna be using the Kask Mistral
which is a helmet you guys would have seen
on the channel before, so, it's got a little bit
of a tail to it, similar shape to the Bambino,
but for me, this fits me really nicely.
It sits into my, the top of my back really well.
I've got a clear lens on here at the moment.
I'm probably gonna start off with that,
although, I do have the choice, which Kask
have kindly sent through to me for this race,
if I can open this.
I have got an orange lens.
Now you heard me talking about using an orange lens earlier
for the swimming, now this has the same properties
for the bike; it enhances the light
so if it is particularly dark on race day,
I can very easily just pull that off,
it's got magnets, and just click that one on.
Or if I don't need it at all, if the rain's particularly bad
and I can't see, I can just click it up there
so I will have probably a spare one in the car,
I even have a mirrored one
in case it's remarkably sunny, who knows.
And I'll just get Frazer to clean them
and everything for me.
Might as well, once he's there.
Now in terms of other kit on the bike,
you heard me talk about using the tri suit earlier
but probably putting some extra clothes on.
It is actually mandatory that we have
some form of high visibility,
so I have got a basic high vis vest here
which a lot of athletes will be using,
although, other athletes have opted for,
something slightly more substantial and better fitting
so I have got this through from Asos.
This is just their wind cape.
So it's quite thin, but it's really well fitted
and it's still got that high vis property,
so I'm ticking that box, that's fine with Norseman,
but depending on the conditions,
I'll switch between the two.
I've also got an Asos rain cape,
which I haven't got here today, but that's a really thick,
heavy duty cape, so that's gonna keep me nice and warm
if it is torrential and really cold.
I've got some extra stuff here, so I'm probably not
gonna be doing quite as quite a transition as usual,
so I'm gonna be putting on things like overshoes
if I feel it's particularly cold.
I'm just gonna make sure that I'm warm.
I've got gloves, I've got a little cap
that I can put on underneath my helmet,
if I really need to, but aero helmets
tend to be a little bit warmer.
I've got arm warmers, knee warmers,
ah, here we go.
Let's go onto food actually
because this is quite interesting.
So on the bike, I will be using,
I've been using Maurten quite a bit,
but I've been mixing up.
I've used SiS, I've used Enovit,
so I do quite like the Maurten stuff, so I'm probably
gonna start with that, but because I've realised
I really like just comfort food,
I'm gonna be taking out just stuff that I'm used to
so loads of chocolate-y bars, lots of Mars bars,
Boost bars, don't know if you get that where you are
but I do love them.
Lots of cans of Coke, so I'm gonna have that
stocked up in the car.
But yeah, um, that's pretty much it for the bike stuff.
Now let's move onto the run stuff.
(upbeat music)
Now depending on the weather conditions,
I may actually change completely out of my tri suit
into some normal running gear,
just so that I'm comfortable, I'm dry, and I'm warm.
But one thing I do need to make sure
is that I've got all my kit checked,
so I've got to have a bag that is checked before the race,
not just for myself, but also from Frazer,
he's gonna have a bag himself for that final 5K
and we each have some mandatory gear
that we need to carry within that.
Now, I've chucked a load of extra stuff in this bag
just so I can run through with you.
So I am gonna be running with that bag here.
It's just a small running pack, which I'll be honest,
I haven't used that often, maybe once or twice
but it is comfortable enough, it's fine.
So I chucked a few things in here.
I've got a hat, that I'll probably be taking
just in case it gets cold, so running gloves,
a head torch in case things get a bit emotional out there
and I'm there too long up the mountain.
I've chucked this in, I'll probably give this to Frazer,
it's just a first aid pack, hopefully I won't need that.
Um, socks, this will probably stay in transition,
change of socks just to make sure that my feet
are nice and dry.
I've gotta take some trousers with me
so I've got some sort of thin waterproof trousers here
that I could chuck on over the top.
I may actually have some tights as well,
just normal running tights.
I've got a long sleeve top here that I can chuck on.
I've also got sort of a wind proof, slight rain proof top,
not really sure what it is, but it'll keep me warm.
I've also, just so happens, I have a compass in here.
That's not mandatory, but I'm probably just gonna take it
just in case, and a hydration pack, so I have water
on the go just sticking out of here.
In terms of my footwear, I've actually been running
in the new On CloudStratus quite a lot in my training.
Personally my favourite running shoe,
it's a good mileage shoe.
I'm really happen with them.
I am gonna be heading off road, but,
I'm hardly gonna be running by that point,
I'm pretty much gonna be walking, so um,
yeah, I think this shoe will probably just work for all.
I did toy with the idea
of using their off road pair of shoes,
I'm so comfortable with these, I think are gonna do
for all, so.
Of course we are currently in the middle of a heat wave,
so I've talked about all this cold weather gear,
which is still necessary given that I am going up
to the top of mountains, some quite higher altitude.
It may be quite hot out there.
In the moment, I believe it's 32 degrees in Voss,
so I am also going to be packing vest shorts
and some warm weather gear, but A, it's still important,
given that I'm going to the top of mountain
that I have this cold weather gear too.
Well there we go, that is my Norseman kit list.
As you can probably tell,
this is fairly new territory to me.
I am figuring it out as I go.
I don't know if I've got too much or too little.
Hopefully it all comes together on race day.
So do stay tuned for my video from Norseman
which is coming in a few weeks time,
but if you would like to see Frazer's attempt
of an extreme triathlon when he did Count,
when he did extremely well, you can see that
by clicking down here and if you did enjoy today's video,
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