NEW YORK -- Training for a triathlon is tough. I'm not going to try to fool you into believing technology will make it much easier, but it can help at least a bit.

With watches that monitor your speed and vital signs, there's little information about yourself during your workout you can't get these days.

The Garmin Forerunner 305 uses global positioning to keep track of your speed, distance and location.

“Your heart rate is the most important thing you'll see as far as the terrain you're riding on, the difficulty. Your heart rate can't lie, obviously, so it'll tell you how hard you're working,” said Conor Fournier of SBR Multisports. “It gives you the capability to see how fast and how far you're going and it's downloadable to your PC so you get detailed workouts.”

For the swimming portion, it's tough to take gear in the water with you other than your goggles, but there are now several waterproof mp3 players out there that either attach to your goggles or units that fit right along side.

“It just uses bone conduction, so it's very easy to hear under water,” said Fournier. “You can tell you're underwater, but it is clear.”

Even though there are waterproof cases for iPods themselves, SwiMP3s work with iTunes and hold about 60 songs.

If you're willing to spend a little cash, a $10,000 street bike made almost entirely of carbon fiber, has a frame set that weighs just less than two pounds.

“It’s the design of the frame, the materials used and then the components to build up the bike,” said Fournier. “It's fast, it's a stiff, responsive bike – it’s more aerodynamic than most road bikes.”

And it can rip 10 grand off your credit card, without even breaking a sweat.