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Minimum Required: Goggles. I say that goggles are required, but you could get by without them although I wouldn’t recommend it. That said, there have been plenty of triathletes who’ve had their goggles removed for them in the chaos of a mass swim start and lived to tell the tale. Don’t make generalizations about the usefulness of a particular pair of goggles based on the price or how fancy they appear. There are a lot of options for goggles out there, and the overriding factor for you should be how they fit the shape of your face. If you can press the goggles against your eye sockets and they form a seal, they’ll probably be a good fit. If you press them in and they immediately fall off, they will probably leak. Even worse than the leak is the headache you can get from continuing to ratchet down ill-fitting goggles in order to stop the leaks. Plus, you wind up with deep circles embossed around your eyes that make it look like an octopus has had you in a headlock.

There are full face masks that make you look like you’re going to the motocross, there are itty-bitty hard plastic goggles about the size of thimbles like an Olympic sprinter wears, and there are all points in between. The bottom line is to find a pair that fits and use them. Goggles are one of the few triathlon doodads that I shop for at big box department stores.

Minimum Required (Honorable Mention): Swim Cap. I put the swim cap in the honorable mention category because it is usually a required item, but in almost any reasonably-sized race, it will be provided by the race director. The swim cap is typically a bright color to allow spotters on the shore to see swimmers who may be upwards of a mile away. In most races, the colors vary based on gender and age group, so you can see where you stand in relation to your competition. Because most of your body heat escapes through your head, the swim cap is important in cold water to keep you warm. In fact, in really cold water, it may be a good idea to wear your own swim cap of neoprene or silicone with the race director’s rubber one on top.

Good idea to have: Wetsuit, silicone ear plugs. A wetsuit’s most important function is to keep you warm. For many, it brings the idea of spending a half hour or more in sub-60 degree water into the realm of possibility, whereas without a wetsuit, they might not even dip their toes in. Of almost equal importance to many triathletes who came to the sport from a non-swimming background is the fact that a wetsuit provides increased buoyancy especially in the lower body where the neoprene is the thickest. This buoyancy helps compensate for less-than-optimal body position in the water and can make you faster at any given effort level.

Silicone ear plugs won’t make you any faster, but they will make you warmer and happier. They mold to the shape of your ear which keeps water out and warmth in. They can also minimize the dizziness many swimmers feel when immediately exiting the water.

Now the only thing left is to get in the pool and get swimming!

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