© Eric Wynn 2012
That photo from Ironman Texas 2012 might be my favorite photo from racing as I close the book on my 10th year as a triathlete. A decade is a long time, and it’d be hard to summarize it all in a single blog post, let alone a single picture, though I think that does as good a job as any of summarizing. The cliche is that a picture is worth a thousand words; I think this one is worth quite a bit more.
The tape on my back is a “postural spider” of kinesiotape, made by SpiderTech, which was one of the most important product discoveries I made in 2010 as I worked to come back from accident. If you see photos of me racing in Arizona that fall, I had a pink (I think I like the black a bit better; it matches better anyway) “knee spider” on as trying to get ready for a marathon on short notice had its consequences. But as I said to Dr. Kevin Jardine, who created SpiderTech, in a letter, “Thanks for keeping my knee – and my dream – together.”
Since that race, I’ve continued to rely on SpiderTech tape in training and in racing, though never quite as dramatically as that first Ironman back in 2010. But at the end of 2011 – starting with ITU Long Distance World Championships, when you couldn’t actually see my back because of the bike-run format of the race due to cold weather – I found a true performance application for SpiderTech tape, and it’s been a fixture on my back on race ever since. The postural spider helps offset long hours in the aerobars, and I find it helps me to keep my posture in the water and preserve my swim training during the big Ironman build, and on race day, I feel like it makes it easier to maintain good posture while running after spending 4+ hours cemented to my aerobars.
SpiderTech has sponsored a continental cycling team for several years now, but this fall, they’ve made a renewed commitment to triathlon, and I am privileged to be able to renew my role as a brand ambasssador as a part of that effort. This is a product that I believe in a great deal, and SpiderTech has been nice enough to set up a permanent discount code good for 10% off any order placed on the SpiderTech website at store.spidertech.com/welcome. Just use code spiderjordan (I don’t think it’s case sensitive).
Kinesiotape is interesting stuff. There are a bunch of different explanations of how it works. There are folks who say that it can’t – though in my experience many haven’t actually tried. But for me, it was and continues to be an asset and a tool in my toolkit. I’m proud to wear the tape and proud to represent the brand. Feel free to ask any questions via the comments or contact form. I don’t have all (or even most) of the answers, but hopefully I have some. It’s a special thing to work with a company that has helped you so much, and I feel quite lucky that my job as a professional triathlete continues to reward with with both a life and a living, as Winston Churchill might say.
Jordan Rapp 
My big problem has always been making the tape stay on. Even for shorter events, usually by the time i get out of the water, the tape is coming off. What do you do to make it stay on for 8 hours?
LikeLike
@Senior Homer – In my experience, that's really dependent on the quality of the tape. On high ROM joints – like the knee – I'll get 3-5 days easily out of a SpiderTech application. Just make sure the joint is clean (it helps if you shave), and try to avoid touching the adhesive side of the tape if possible. For low ROM applications – like on the back – it lasts two weeks or more. But SpiderTech is the top-shelf stuff made by Nitto-Denko. For really tough applications – the ankle is the hardest, in my opinion – you can use some of the Cramer Tuf-Skin spray-adhesive designed for athletic taping. But I rarely need that. Are you using SpiderTech or some other brand of tape?
LikeLike
I've been using other brands in the past. As you said, some joints are harder and my problem area is my ankle. When I exit the water, it has already started flapping and this continues as the tape slowly deteriorates over the day. perhaps the brand I've been using isn't up to snuff. I've give your stuff a shot and look into the spray.
Thanks for your help.
LikeLike