Wearable tech approaching tipping point for triathletes, finds survey
More than half of entries for next month's New York City Triathlon planning to use run watches, heart-rate monitors and other wearable devices to track their performance
Already hugely popular with iron-distance athletes, it looks like run watches, heart-rate monitors and other wearable devices that provide real-time feedback on your performance are becoming the norm for triathletes racing lesser distances.
Major tech consultancy Accenture found that more than half of athletes racing the Olympic-distance New York City Triathlon next month will be using the devices, the majority for the first time. “The research suggests that consumer wearables continue to surge in popularity, especially those tracking exercise and physical activity,” said John Ratzan, managing director at Accenture.
“The intelligence provided by wearable devices will allow this year’s NYC triathletes to easily gain continuous insight into their performance – in real time – giving them the data necessary to make adjustments to their pace, distance, heart rate and cadence during each leg of the race.”
Out of those people who won’t be using them in NYC next month, more than half said it’s because they “never looked into them”, while expense and effectiveness came in lower down the list according to Accenture.
This year’s New York City Triathlon will be held on 3 August for around 4,000 athletes, starting with a 1500m swim in the Hudson River, followed by a 40km bike on the Henry Hudson Parkway before finishing with a 10km run through Central Park in Manhattan.
Asked for their opinion on Twitter earlier, many 220 readers said gadgets are useful for pacing themselves properly on longer-distance races:
@220Triathlon use a powermeter for the bike, to make sure I don’t go too hard, and pace on the run, HR is pointless to monitor
— Steve Berry (@Steve_Berry) July 30, 2014
@220Triathlon but that is mainly for middle and long distance, anything shorter is go as hard as possible
— Steve Berry (@Steve_Berry) July 30, 2014
Echoing four-time Ironman world champ Chrissie Wellington, others felt that if training is done correctly then you should know what effort to aim at and race on feel alone:
@220Triathlon Yes. If you are properly trained you should know what effort your body can maintain
— Phillip Henwood (@phenwooduk) July 30, 2014
Some said they used to rely on gadgets but now prefer to go without:
@220Triathlon I used to use HR/watches but found it limited my expectations of performance in a race situ. Now I go au naturale 🙂
— Beyond Going Long (@beyondgoinglong) July 30, 2014
And others said they’d love to try heart-rate monitors and GPS watch in future:
@220Triathlon have to race on feel, but so wish I could try HR monitor and gps watch
— DЦτ⊆нγ♪♪♪ (@DJ_Dutchy) July 30, 2014
Some pointed out the mental fillip you can get from them:
@220Triathlon run/bike on HR and sense check against how I’m feeling. If HR in right zone but I’m feeling off, gives me a mental boost
— Giles Greenhalgh (@swimlikeastone) July 30, 2014
What do you think, are you a data disciple when racing or do you prefer to go on feel? Let us know in the comments below!
Jamie Beach
Former digital editor 
