Training for your first triathlon? A veteran coach shares 5 training upgrades

Guthrie personally trains with an older Garmin Epix Pro 2, while the Garmin fēnix 8 is the current model linked here. What Guthrie finds especially useful about a Garmin smartwatch is how many elements of training it can keep straight for you.

“They all do basically the same things,” he says. “They track all your sleep data, your pace, heart rate and running metrics. You can [even] load maps in.”

And it’s not all about numbers for Guthrie. It can also help take some of the guesswork out of following a workout. 

“I’m able to do a structured workout for my athletes that they can import into their watch,” Guthrie says. “I use [TrainingPeaks’] platform to deliver my workouts to the athletes. It’s got all the data from the workout session in there. Depending on the athlete and the equipment that they have, I can structure the workout.”

Once uploaded, “it’ll prompt them: warm-up, main set, if there are intervals, rest intervals, rest period, and then cooldown. The watch just tells them how to do it,” he says. “It’s a tool to help you negotiate the training aspect.”

On his Epix Pro 2, Guthrie has found the battery dependable. “The battery life is really great,” he says. “I can do an entire IRONMAN and still have 80 percent battery [or] 75 percent battery at the end of the day.”

That means the tiny battery is lasting through a 2.4-mile swim, a 112-mile bike ride, and a marathon.

But there’s one feature that surprised Guthrie that just makes life a little easier for him. 

“The best feature about it? It’s got a flashlight,” Guthrie says, which the current Garmin fēnix also has. “That was the number-one feature,” he says. “I got the higher-end version because it had that silly flashlight. I use it to get out of my garage or walk through my house and not wake up my kids in the morning. It’s great.”

“I have been wearing a Wahoo heart rate monitor for several years now,” says Guthrie. “It’s really helpful with beginners [because] they’re really keen on trying to understand what’s going on with them during the training part.”

For most starting out with triathlons, Guthrie says, “I get a lot of questions on the heart rate right when they go. And mostly they’re concerned about it getting too high.” 

But seeing that number climb isn’t necessarily cause for panic. “They get nervous,” he says about rising heart rates. “That’s the whole point of the exercise. We want to get your heart rate up, right?”

Even though his Garmin can track heart rate too, Guthrie prefers the chest strap for a more accurate reading. “The watches also have a heart rate monitor,” he says. “It’s just not quite as accurate as a chest strap [to me].” 

Accuracy may get it through the door, but a few practical details help keep it in his routine. “The thing I like about the Wahoo product is it’s rechargeable,” he says.

It’s also easy for him to get on. “I didn’t find it difficult to adjust,” he says. “I don’t think a lot of people have issues with it.”

Its simple, stretchy construction helps, too. Guthrie says, “it’s nylon. It’s stretchy.”

“It’s got a little hook and then the heart rate monitor snaps on, so you can actually wash the strap, which is nice.”

“What I found using carbon wheels for the last 20 years is that they stay true,” Guthrie says. “In other words, they roll true.” 

For Guthrie, that durability is the main reason carbon wheels have remained part of his setup for decades, and he sees it as a helpful upgrade for beginners to handle some literal roadblocks.

 “If you hit a hole with an older-style wheel, it could bend the wheel and you’d have to take it to the bike shop to have them adjust it,” he says. “So with these carbon wheels, they’re much more durable.” 

At $1,430 and up for the HED set, this isn’t a casual newbie purchase. It makes more sense as an upgrade for someone with an older bike or alloy wheels who’s ready to invest more in their setup. 

“You could easily spend three to five thousand dollars on a set of carbon wheels,” he says. 

“The profile on the wheel [is] deeper, so they’re thicker and they’re more aerodynamic and you just go faster.”

Wheel depth also gives riders different aerodynamic options depending on how much they want to invest. “You can go up from a low profile all the way up to 60 on the front and an 80 on the back, really deep dish,” Guthrie says of the HED brand. 

Again, he notes, “obviously, the deeper the wheels, the more expensive the wheels.”

For Guthrie, his radar tail light is one cycling tool he doesn’t ride without—and it can give new or seasoned cyclists an extra layer of awareness on the road. 

 “It’s a rechargeable light,” he says. “And it pairs with your bike computer and it beeps when a vehicle is approaching from behind.”

That warning gives him a heads up that a car is coming. “You actually see on the side of your bike computer a little dot, and you can see how close the vehicle’s coming,” Guthrie says. “You can also see how fast the vehicle is coming.”

Garmin says the Varia app indicates the position and speed of approaching cars.

That information can actually change how Guthrie handles his bike to keep himself safe. 

“If they’re zipping up from behind and you’re in your aero bars, you might want to think about getting off your aero bars and putting your hands on your handlebars,” he says.

The light itself is part of the appeal for him, too. “The one thing is the lights are really good,” he says. 

“You can see for miles up the road,” he says. Guthrie also notices the light changing its flash behavior as traffic approaches. “The Garmin light will flash more frequently,” he says.

Weather doesn’t always cooperate with a cycling training plan, and Guthrie says indoor options have come a long way since he first started.

“In the beginning the only thing that was available were rollers,” he says. “You just put your bike [on them] and they were hard to use and you got to balance.”

Smart trainers changed the game, and Guthrie points to Wahoo as one of the brands that helped push the category forward. “They blew up like crazy, especially during COVID,” he says. “Wahoo was really the one that took off.”

With the Wahoo KICKR, riders can bring their own bike inside and connect it directly into the trainer to create a stationary setup. 

“You’re able to hook your chain directly into the trainer,” Guthrie says. “You don’t have to worry about getting run over by cars or rain or snow or anything else.”

Guthrie also clarifies that “this is actually a very smart trainer,” and says you can connect to bike trails and routes “either through the Wahoo app or there are several other apps.” 

He jokes, “it’s like a computer game for your bike. You can pick a route which will actually control the tension on the rear wheel and mimic riding flats or hills or whatever.”

Guthrie also calls out two other app connection options for the trainer: “Zwift is definitely the most famous,” he says. 

And then there’s Rouvy. Guthrie says, “with [Rouvy], they have a partnership with Iron Man and you actually have Ironman courses on there.”