Triathlon - Need A Gift Idea For A New Triathlete

My wife is training for her first Triathlon sometime next summer. I'm looking for a gift idea, perhaps something handy that she hasn't thought of. She has the basic clothing, gear, bike and heart monitor. Anything else you experienced people might reocmmend?

does she have aerobars?

I agree with aerobars if she doesn't have them yet.

Wetsuit, racing suit, tri books, post-race massage gift certificate. There is always something.

A racebelt makes a great stocking stuffer for the tri-geek in your life.

How about those webbed gloves you wear when you're swimming in the water? They create more resistance, so you end up working harder, then when you finally take them off after training with them for a while, you are just so much faster!

Plus, it's cheap... ;)

Koffee

Oh, and Zoomers (Koffee's post reminded me). They're short fins that really strengthen your kick.

Aero bars is a must have, Seat post mounted cages that go behind the seat to hold 2 more water bottles, a race belt is a good stocking stuffer, also good is a transistion bag so she can organize all of her gear for the transistions.

Wow, outstanding suggestions. I'm off to the LBS this afternoon for aerobars certainly and perhaps the behind the seatdouble h2o holder.

What is a race belt?

A race belt can be seen here (http://www.totaltri.com/shop/cgi-bin/cp-app.cgi?usr=51F4497459&rnd=3931961&rrc=N&affl=&cip=66.218.55.183&act=&aff=&pg=prod&ref=33&cat=&catstr=) with a description of what it does.

i think the best is the post race full body 1 hr massage with a european facial and manicure at a day spa. Most excellent. Only drawback now is if my wife doesn't get at least one a year she is dissappointed.

From a women's perspective, :p , a comfortable saddle is a MUST. There are some places God did not intend to fall asleep (go numb). I have a San Marco Trigel saddle. There is extra gel in the front of the saddle. When riding, we spend a lot of time in the saddle. When you add the aerobars, more pressure is placed on the front. Good Luck!!

I love the massage idea. Offer your wife a homemade gift certificate for a personal massage post hard training days. MY girlfriend always volunteered to massage me after my friday training days. Those were 100km+ rides. Its fun and really a bonding experience. Benefits aside.

Another good small gift is speed laces

Just to add to the massage idea, especially if they are from you. It reinforces to her that you support and encouragement her desire to train and race. At least thats how it worked in my head. Couldn't hurt.