www.multisportgeek.com

In triathlon,  the swim,  bike and run splits are all dependent on a multitude of factors such as nutrition, fitness level,  injuries, the weather,  other racers and so forth.  In the transitions however,  a little forethought and practice can easily save you minutes over the course of the entire race.  It is during these periods where one can obtain “free speed”  provided that the proper sequence of events (stripping off wetsuits, rolling out with your bike, changing shoe and socks, donning glasses and hat, etc) are all practiced ahead of time.  One example of wasted time is the frantic tying of shoe laces before heading out onto the run portion of the course.  Something is never quite right about how I tie my laces and often time,  they come untied or loosen during the run!  Not a good situation to be in….

I ran across the YANKZ! Sure Lace System a few months ago at my local running store, was intrigued and decided to buy it.  The YANKZ! laces are basically an elastic lacing system that replaces your regular shoe laces.  When you first install them,  you start at the top of the shoe and work your way down to the bottom.  The laces are then locked in place at either end with a unique locking system that keeps everything in place and at just the right amount of tension.  When you first put your foot in the shoe,  it will probably be a bit snug so loosen the laces a little until it’s perfect.  Keep in mind that your foot is going to swell a bit once you start to run.  That’s pretty much all you need to do.  I installed my YANKZ! and adjusted them a few times until they were perfect and haven’t had to adjust them ONCE since I bought them.

I did an aquathon (swim & run) a while back , exited the water and went into transition alongside my friend.  He and I both took the same amount of time to strip off the wetsuits and get ready for the run portion but I must have saved at least 30 – 60 seconds by not having to mess around with my laces.  He actually commented on it after the race.  The other benefit is that you avoid the inevitable “one shoe is laced tighter than the other” syndrome.  Set the YANKZ! up perfectly right out of the box and they’ll stay that way every time you put on the shoe.  Plus,  they offer them in different colors and even have the ability to print graphics such as the USAT logo on the upper portion.

I love this product and am happy to give it an enthusiastic MultisportGeek thumbs up. You can find them at most running shoe stores with a retail price of around $8.00. If you would like further information on the Sure Lace System, watch an instructional video or see some of the other products that YANKZ! has to offer,  check out their website at www.yankz.com.

Now get out there and start training!

Tags: Running, Triathlon equipment, Triathlon shoes

This entry was posted on Wednesday, June 2nd, 2010 at 10:10 pm and is filed under Blog, Product Reviews, Running, Training. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.