Ben Greenfield details exactly what he packs for an Ironman race (Ironman Hawaii), emphasizing nutrition, swim and bike gear, tools, and travel logistics. He lists supplements and real-food substitutes, race-specific items (swim skin, race number strap), bike tools and spare tubes, helmet and sunglasses (carried on), and baggage choices (Rooster sports bag + wheel bag fly free). The guidance is practical and aimed at triathletes but many nutrition and travel tips are applicable to general travelers.
Chapters
Alright, so let's take a look at everything that you actually need when you travel to a race like Ironman Hawaii. First of all, we've got all our nutrition supplements that you saw in a previous video as well as kind of our real foods or food substitutes that I take along with me as well. These are extra electrolyte tablets to load up with salt during the race. And this is the actual swim skin that I'll be using to make myself more buoyant during the race. All of these things will be packed into my bike bag by the way, race number to strap my race number to my belt, as well as a stick for self massage, a Compex electro stimulation device. And this will actually allow me to, well, let's put it this way, go to BenGreenfieldFitness.com and do a search for electrostimulation. Okay, we've got some of our nutrition in a Ziploc bag there. We've got some of the things that they won't let you take in your airline bag of course, cologne that's a must for traveling to a race. A couple bottles of scape sunscreen which in my opinion is the best sunscreen to use when you're out in the heat like Hawaii Topical magnesium oil. This one back there is called Tri Slide that helps you get in and out of something like a skin suit faster and also reduces shaping while you're riding your bike. And some rock solid which I'll use post race for any sore muscles. And hiding back there somewhere is the device that I will use to shave my legs prior to the race. Now in addition I've got a bag full of random bike tools, all the tools that I'll use to disassemble and put my bike back together, as well as extra tubes. And I also throw some action wipes in there to clean my hands. I get some lube and some oil as well as the device that I actually will carry all my nutrition on when I'm on the bike. A profile design water bottle deal that I worked up. A bag full of all the nutrition, the thousands of calories that I'll consume during the actual race. And then we jump down to my shoes which I drop my skewers in as well as my water bottle cage in my elastic shoelaces. And back behind there are all the spacers that I simply put into a sunglass case as well as my seat, which you can see is wrapped here in one of those foam tubes. These are the cranks wrapped in a paper wrapping to keep them protected during travel. And we also have, of course, the helmet that will be attached to a backpack and I'll take that with me on the plane and my sunglasses, which are in there in a sunglass case. And then finally the bike itself. This is what it looks like when it's all kind of taken apart and ready to drop into the bag. I use a bag called a rooster sports bag and that's combined with a wheel bag and both of those will fly for free on the airline. So folks, those are all of the different things that I take with me when I'm traveling to a race. And of course, for the nutrition supplements and foodstuffs. These work for anybody traveling to anywhere. You don't have to be an Ironman triathlete to travel healthy and to prepare and bring a lot of these things along with you. So once that all squeezes into my bike bag, I will be packed and ready to go to bed, wake up tomorrow morning and get on the plane.
