Best tech for endurance athletes: Gadgets to help you go long

Keeping tabs on your ticker during a triathlon presents unique challenges. Most heart rate monitors don’t play nice in the water and chest straps rarely stay put when you rip off a wetsuit in transition. Enter the Polar OH1+. The clever lightweight sensor clips to your goggle strap near your temple to dish out accurate heart rate while you’re smashing out the swim leg and then moves to your forearm or bicep for the bike and the run.

It’s waterproof to 30 metres and with ANT+ and BLE, it connects to loads of kit including watches, treadmills, cycling computers and apps. The internal memory stores 200 hours of blood, sweat and tears and the 12 hour battery life runs just short of the average Ironman finish time. So get a wriggle on.

If you’re gearing up to run an ultra, you need footwear that’s built to withstand the battering all your training miles will rack up. They also need to provide comfort and performance come race day. On’s new Cloudswift do both. Designed to eat asphalt, these shoes are the first to sport new Helion foam. This ‘superfoam’ is designed to be light and soften the impact of hard yards. It also delivers excellent energy return and crucially offers that endurance-friendly durability, that’ll see you from your first training session, right to the finish line.

According to science, 85% of the aerodynamic drag while pedalling a bike comes from the clobber you’re wearing. So it doesn’t take Stephen Hawking to figure out that a more streamlined tri suit means a faster bike split. The QDC Drag2Zero was developed in partnership with cycling’s leading aerodynamicist, Simon Smart of Smart Aero Technology.

It’s wind-tunnel tested surface texture is aerodynamically optimised to minimise drag for speeds of 32 to 50kmh. The suit has bonded seams reduce the dreaded chafe, UPF 50+ protection and mesh side panels to manage body temperature efficiently while drying super fast. Oh, and special padding to protect your bottom bits from taking a battering.

Even when the weather’s being kind – and let’s face it in the UK that’s not very often – the minute you hit stop on your Garmin after training, your body’s core temperature starts to plummet. That can wreak havoc on your post-workout recovery.

That’s no good when you need to go again in the morning. With a waterproof and windproof outer layer, and incredibly fluffy insulating fabrics inside, the DryRobe provides instant head-to-toe protection and sofa-snuggle warmth even in the wildest conditions. Ideal for race-day too, it’s also deliberately baggy so you can change out of wet gear without showing the world your, er, shrivelled bits.

Endurance races involve a lot of logistics and whether you’re packing a drop bag for halfway into a 100km ultra or you need your kit neatly organised for a smooth triathlon transition, it pays to pack smart. KitBrix bags are designed for exactly this task. The ‘brix’ can be zipped together in different colour combos with front pockets for swim, bike and run icons, that make transitions a doddle, even for tired minds.

Each bag has a rugged waterproof base that stops water soaking up from poolside or soggy ground, while the double lined tarpaulin inside, keeps your kit dry. One 20L bag will happily carry your wetsuit, shoes, a towel and it’s also nice and easy to wipe clean or hose down after your event. The zips are water resistant zips to prevent rusting and the 1.3kg bag can cope with salt water too. If your endurance challenge is taking you far afield, Kitbrix are cabin baggage-friendly so you can keep you essential items with you rather than risk them being sent to Jaipur.