Sprint Tri-- need advice

calderst

Hi! I am preparing to do my first sprint triathlon in 3 weeks and I know there are a lot of athletes on here, so I'm hoping you can help! ... What do I wear??
The swimming portion is indoors (one of the main reasons I chose it-- swimming is my weakest!) so it does not require a wetsuit. All of the general tri info I have found regarding gear/transitions assumes wetsuits are involved. Obviously I will wear my swimsuit for the swimming-- but then do I just wear that for the rest? I've seen pictures of women in bike-style spandex shorts/swimsuits during the running portion-- do they swim in the shorts or add them during transitions? Is this something I need to get? My only cycling shorts are padded and I don't need them for the short ride-- & I'm assuming they'd be awful to run in. Should I just toss a pair of running shorts over my bathing suit before hopping on the bike? I'm just not sure what to expect and don't want to be hindered by the wrong apparel... I also don't have the money to spend on tri-specific stuff right now, esp without knowing if this is something I will continue doing. Any advice would be greatly appreciated!
And any general tri-specific advice is welcome! I'm getting a little nervous!

AZTrailRunner

You want to look for triathlon-specific clothing. The bike shorts have minimal padding that drains water quickly so you don't feel like you have a full diaper on when you get on the bike. The tops for women are great for swimming, biking, & running. Changing clothes in the T-area eats up a lot of time, and is remarkably frustrating trying to put dry clothes on a wet body.

If you don't have the budget to buy tri-specific clothing you may want to get some spandex-type bottoms and do the entire race in them. Tri clothing doesn't have to be that expensive, but can definitely bust the wallet for the elite stuff. I always bought my gear from trisports.com. Great customer service.

You may also want to try running without socks... since they are another time waster. I would go sockless up to Olympic distance triathlons. If you must wear socks, out them on ahead of time so they are stretched a little, and then roll them off so they resemble a condom, and then sit them on your shoes ready to go.

calderst

Thanks!!

trispire

Yay, congratulations on doing your first tri! I just did my first outdoor sprint a couple weeks ago.

I would get a tri suit. An entry level tri suit is 80-100 (I got a zoot suit on amazon that worked great for about 90 bucks).

I found it easiest to just wear one thing the entire race. I did have to wear a wetsuit but I just wore that over my tri suit.

You could wear a suit and then buy some tri shorts to throw on over your suit but I hear that can be uncomfortable with suit riding. If you buy a tri suit you just wear it for all 3 legs of the race