#TeamTCUK stay safe in the Alpine sun
15th July 2019 - 18:59
Sun protection is an essential piece of any triathlete's kit for outdoor training sessions and when racing. Good news. We've found a brilliant product that provides 8 hours of UVA & UVB sun filter protection (ideal for your race day supporters too!), is water & sweat resistant and is easy to apply.
Over to TCUK coach and athlete Kirsten Howells to tell you all about it!
A couple of weeks before we left for our annual training camp in Morzine in June this year, we received an email from Tom Austen from Pelotan (Tom is also one of our coached athletes and is taking part at Outlaw X later this year).
Tom was keen for us try Pelotan, a high-performance sun protection designed to allow endurance athletes (specifically cyclists and triathletes) to avoid damaging sunburn. Trusted by elite athletes (Team Sky used Pelotan last season and the brand are working with numerous high profile cyclists / triathletes), Pelotan is a ‘once a day’ SPF30 sun protection that lets the wearer stay longer in the saddle and perfect ultra-sharp tan lines from sunrise to sunset. Ideal for our epic rides in the French Alps!
Needless to say, we were more than happy to take Tom up on his offer and were delighted to receive several samples to take away with us to France.
Our first day of training began with a steady 75km ride and there wasn’t a cloud in the sky. All of the group applied Pelotan half an hour before we headed out and everyone commented on how good the product smelt and how easy it was to apply.
If you like coconuts, you’ll love the smell. And Pelotan comes in either a 200ml Spray or 50ml Roll-On which fits perfectly in a jersey pocket making it really easy to carry and reapply after a swim, brick session or in transition during a race.
We all continued to apply Pelotan every morning before we set out on the bikes or for a run and none of us got sunburnt and we all smelt nice, even Slurry Smithy! Over the course of the week, each of us developed a healthy glow and the cyclist’s trademark ‘shorts & jersey’ tan lines.
When it was time to return to the UK, there was a scramble to get hold of a Pelotan product to take home; that’s how impressed we all were. Every sunny ride I’ve been on since Morzine has included the application of Pelotan and it has protected my skin extremely well. Zero sunburn, not even on my nose which, as anyone who’s been to Morzine knows, is the key test for any sun protection! There was no Rudolf this year!
Whilst you might have prepared plans for your training, nutrition and transitions, it is just as important to adopt a proper sun care routine in order to avoid skin damage, which can impair training and overall performance and, in the longer term, cause serious health problems. Besides, who wants finish a race looking like a freshly cooked lobster?!
So, we wouldn’t hesitate to recommend Pelotan to anyone wanting to prevent skin damage whilst training AND racing. It really does what it says on the Roll-On and did we mention it smells delicious too?!
Pelotan are offering #TeamTCUK athletes 25% off their first purchase using the code TCUK25. The Spray is currently out of stock after a strong summer of sales but will be available again in August (we think the Roll-On is perfect for triathlon though!) Find out more and get your hands on your own bottle of Pelotan here: https://www.pelotan.cc/shop/