Honestly you can do it just about anywhere (driveway, parking lot, etc) that you can simulate racking your bike. If it's a wetsuit legal race just start out in the wetsuit with it pulled down to your waist as this is generally how you'll enter T1. Get to the bike and practice pulling off your suit, putting on the shoes (if not doing a flying mount), on with sunglasses, on with helmet, unrack bike and go. Coming back practice dismounting, racking bike, helmet off, shoes on, grab everything else and put it on while running. The lack of water really isn't that big of a deal IMO.

Unless you have intentions to win, don't worry about transitions. Just focus on finishing it. There is plenty of advice out there on how to speed up transitions, but ultimately you will just need to find out what works for you, and that only comes with time.

For most people the T2 (bike to run transition) is the most difficult as your leg muscles have to reorient to work differently. In my first few triathlons I had real problems with leg muscle cramping when I started the run but after a couple hunderd meters they would typically clear up. So I would recommend doing a few run-bike brick workouts in your training to simulate that transition. That is the only aspect of transition that you probably should spend some time on. Don't worry about the clock on your first tri or how long your transition is, just take it in and enjoy the experience. If you like it and want to continue in the sport then you can start identifying ways to improve your time if that's one of your goals.

As far as your first open water swm goes, unless you are a strong swimmer start on the outside and back of the pack. Go out at a comfortable pace and don't worry about trying to stay up with anyone. One of the biggest mistakes new triathletes make is going out way too hard in the swim and then being wiped out for the other two legs. It is the shortest leg in total duration so there is little upside to working it hard and a big downside if you wipe yourself out. Save your real effort for the bike (the longest duration leg) and the run.

Some great advice here. Relax, enjoy the race and learn from the inevitable mistakes which will be made (we've all done it!). However, practising transitions isn't too hard as long as you can get wet you don't need to have swam first. The T1 difficulties are less to do with having swam than just being wet, stripping wetsuit etc. T2, well that's the one well worth practising with brick sessions of bike then quick change and run. Ideally lay out your kit as you will at the race (small area) and change as fast as you will on race day to sort out the order of what to do. After it's all a bit automatic and if you fancy a bit of a challenge have your partner/friend/neighbour kick your stuff out of position to simulate a real transition!

^^^ I was at a particularly difficult race one day, and was wiped out by the time I hit T1. I put my helmet on my bike saddle, got everything else ready, and pulled my bike off the rack to get started, with the helmet still on my saddle. An astute (and very lenient) race official came running over to me yelling at the top of her lungs, "Your helmet isn't on! Your helmet isn't on! If a race official sees this, they're going to disqualify you!!!" (She WAS a race official!) I immediately threw my helmet on, grateful that I wasn't DQ'd for such a stupid lapse of reason in a time of brain-fry. Technically, she should have DQ'd me, instead of just yelling at me. Every time I look at the tattoo I got after that race, I think of her. She saved my race.

First triathlons are all about having fun. Lots and lots and lots of fun. Practicing transitions is a great idea. But you don't have to go too crazy over it. My recommendation is to set up a transition on your driveway. Lean your bike up against the garage, or something similar. Start at the street in your swim gear, then come running up to your transition area, change into bike gear, run your bike to the road, mount, quick loop, dismount, back to T2, run gear, and run to your mail box for your mail. Do this a few more times, and you'll basically have the feel of things.

Good luck, and great racing. I'm really excited for you!!!
TriJoe.

I just want to emphasize the point of only bring what you need. Many times you come into T1/2 and people have stuff everywhere. Most of it is completely unnecessary and becomes an obstacle for other racers. The things you need should be on your bike or in your shoes. It won't be misplaced that way as you go about transition.

I just want to emphasize the point of only bring what you need. Many times you come into T1/2 and people have stuff everywhere. Most of it is completely unnecessary and becomes an obstacle for other racers. The things you need should be on your bike or in your shoes. It won't be misplaced that way as you go about transition.

x2. Helmet, shoes, shades, go. It's really that simple for most distances. Any hydration/food should already be on the bike

I didn't really practice transition for my first triathlon. I focused on the transition issues instead. As one person mentioned, the legs usually have trouble going from bike to run. I made sure I did a lot of this at the gym and outside when it was warm enough. I would bike my distance, hop off, take off my bike shoes, do some quick stretches, then pop on my running shoes and go. Worked perfectly.

I found the swim to bike transition to not be much of an issue, but I wasn't in a wet suit, so not sure how tough that is.

I do want to recommend getting at least 1 open water swim if you have never done actual open water swimming before. I had gone to a clinic and was shocked. Saying it was completely different than pool swimming is the biggest understatement ever. It really helped me and on race day I was not nervous when I jumped in and did my swim. This was the only open water thing I did for my swim training...all other training was in a pool...a nice and short 25 yard length pool :-/

Also, only bring what you need and if you don't have a transition bag, which I was too cheap to buy, make sure you pack your bag based on what order you will need it. I didn't care about transition time, but I did care about not having to think while transitioning...made a world of difference.