I am planning for my first triathlon in the spring and am in the market for a watch to track exercises, heart rate, etc.. The options are a bit overwhelming! Does anyone have one they strongly recommend or have had a good experience with? I am not in the market for a $1k Garmin, unfortunately! Open to buying secondhand.. TIA

What's the budget?

What distance triathlon?

Don't think a standard Apple Watch would make it through Ironman distance, for example. Not that I'd recommend it anyway.

$250ish ideally

Half Ironman

I'm personally a garmin fan so would say that. Forerunner 570 starts at $550 though. So I'd probably look for a used forerunner 955 or 600 series. I have a 5 year old 945 that's still going strong.

The Forerunner 255 has most of the features of newer Forerunners with a longer battery life because of no AMOLED. It was cheaper than new models already, and now it's on sale at Amazon.

Didn't realize the 200 series had swimming and triathlon workouts now. When I had the 235 (I think?) it had neither.

Definitely a good entry option.

Coros Pace 3 would be good. Its more geared toward running but tracks all activities. I have a 2 and its been working perfectly for 2 years.

I have worn a Garmin Fenix daily for the last 10 years or so. On the 5x. It's been great for all of my triathlon training and I have trained nearly daily for the last 6+ years.

For your budget a used 945 / 955 / 965 will be your best bet. The 970 is now a $750 watch. But for multisport it's probably the best watch out there.

A good resource is dcrainmaker.com if you want to get educated in this area.

The Garmin Instinct in in your price range and is a nice watch. I had it for awhile before I upgraded to the Fenix 7X

Ragoo said:

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I have worn a Garmin Fenix daily for the last 10 years or so. On the 5x. It's been great for all of my triathlon training and I have trained nearly daily for the last 6+ years.

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Apropos of this (and I am sure there are other threads here that might contain the information), what do you use for race day hydration and nutrition for a 70.3? It's not a race for me, I just want to complete it and retire from the sport (I hate running and swimming is always a struggle for me). It's been a while since I did a Tri and I can't remember what I used in the past.

Kool said:

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Ragoo said:

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I have worn a Garmin Fenix daily for the last 10 years or so. On the 5x. It's been great for all of my triathlon training and I have trained nearly daily for the last 6+ years.

---

Apropos of this (and I am sure there are other threads here that might contain the information), what do you use for race day hydration and nutrition for a 70.3? It's not a race for me, I just want to complete it and retire from the sport (I hate running and swimming is always a struggle for me). It's been a while since I did a Tri and I can't remember what I used in the past.

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For a 140.6 I would get up around 2 am and eat (oatmeal, chocolate milk, etc). Don't remember if I ever did that for 70.3 but I'm thinking no.

Pre-swim was always a caffeinated Gu. Be sure to chase it with water.

On the bike the goal is ~400 calories / hour. I typically used EFS sport drink and water for hydration. Hour one and three I would take in a Liquid Shot, hour two a Clif bar just to get some solids.

On the run I always did a Gu every 45 plus liquids (again EFS or whatever they had on the course).

Typically all of that would get me through. But everyone is different.

Kool said:

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Ragoo said:

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I have worn a Garmin Fenix daily for the last 10 years or so. On the 5x. It's been great for all of my triathlon training and I have trained nearly daily for the last 6+ years.

---

Apropos of this (and I am sure there are other threads here that might contain the information), what do you use for race day hydration and nutrition for a 70.3? It's not a race for me, I just want to complete it and retire from the sport (I hate running and swimming is always a struggle for me). It's been a while since I did a Tri and I can't remember what I used in the past.

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I am big into Skratch High Carb mix. You want to be taking 100-120 carb an hour and stay ahead on the bike. Course gels on the run every other aide station will work.

Perfect, thanks. It's an Ironman race, so it's very well supported on the run. Just need to figure out what to stuff into the bike and pre-loading

Ragoo said:

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Kool said:

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Ragoo said:

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I have worn a Garmin Fenix daily for the last 10 years or so. On the 5x. It's been great for all of my triathlon training and I have trained nearly daily for the last 6+ years.

---

Apropos of this (and I am sure there are other threads here that might contain the information), what do you use for race day hydration and nutrition for a 70.3? It's not a race for me, I just want to complete it and retire from the sport (I hate running and swimming is always a struggle for me). It's been a while since I did a Tri and I can't remember what I used in the past.

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I am big into Skratch High Carb mix. You want to be taking 100-120 carb an hour and stay ahead on the bike. Course gels on the run every other aide station will work.

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Gracias as well

I did whatever worked on the run. First it was my infinit. Then it was potato chips at the aid stations. After that it was chicken broth, that probably saved race.

ETA: for my full. For halves pretty well stuck to my infinit, water, and skratch bars.

Are you doing Waco?

Ragoo said:

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Are you doing Waco?

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No (Dis)gusta, GA. I did it 4 years ago when it was 96 degrees. Probably as close to hell as someone who doesn't live in Houston will get before they die.