First Triathlon Advice

Lay out all your transition stuff, especially the night before, and practice walkthroughs so you can figure out your sequence of events. Not sure if you've done OWS, but practice that too, in the gear you will be wearing for the race. I second the "just finish" the bit of advice.

As far as gear, you can easily go overboard, so keep it simple and borrow/rent what you can until you figure out if triathlons are for you.

I will also echo the "just finish".

I have done a few sprint tris, you have penty of time to get ready. For the running, a couch to 5K program would be a good start. Once you're comfortable with the running, try going straight from a bike ride to a run - your legs will feel weird but it gets better with repetition.

For gear, keep it simple. I prefer to put the cages on my road bike so I don't have to change shoes during the race. My normal gear: a pan of water to rinse feet in quickly to remove any sand, etc. sticking to them after coming out of the water. A towel to help dry my feet before putting on socks & running shoes. Last items - bike helmet & sunglasses.

Which tri are you doing?

Have fun!

Add me to the list of n00bs signing up for their first Tri.

I'm doing a sprint in Aug. I've never done any swimming other than leisure and today was my first day in the pool. Holy carp I'll need all 6 months to get swimming ready!


**typos

I'm doing my first supersprint tri in Chicago this August! (I decided on supersprint because my swimming skills are so nonexistent that the sprint distance isn't realistic for me this year.) Please add me! I just joined a gym and I've been following a triathlon training plan.

Hello everyone, with my weight journey I decided to sign up for my first triathlon (sprint distance) and began training 4 weeks ago. The race is on June 8th in Michigan. I was a very strong swimmer, competing in high school and College. I also enjoy riding my road bike during the summer. My weakest event would be the run and I am also worried about the transitions. Any advice about training, race day, gear and anything else helpful would be much appreciated. Also I am trying to get my pecs back in order but do not have weights is there a way to get my pecs using a push up regiment? Thanks for all the help.

First, I liked the book Your First Triathlon by Joe Friel. It has checklists and training programs plus goes over all the basics.

Is it pool or open water? If open water I echo the wetsuit suggestions. I also strongly recommend you get a wetsuit meant for swimming. I took someone else's advice and cheaped out and bought a Canadian Tire job. It was a hard lesson learned (lots of chafing and I ended up basically doggy paddling cause I could move my arms right).
The other key to the swim is practice in similar conditions. I am really fortunate to have a local tri club. One of our top athetes (former pro) puts on a little intro workshop. I remember talking to a woman there who told me about how she had a panic attack in the water the first time. She was a former lifeguard and did not expect to have any problems. She told me to "just breathe". I had a really rough swim (combination of nerves, adreneline, all the people, still not being totally comfortable with open water plus the above noted wetsuit issue) and I remembered her story. I just focused on calming down and breathing and I made it. Really, just breathe. (this is not just for you but the other newbies reading too JIC)
If its open water, get some open water swims in. Our tri club starts open water in April or May (we are farther North than Michigan), with wetsuits of course. It IS different.

Practice transistion. It isn't recommended to do all 3 in one day unless its race day but do some brick workouts (going from bike to run). I honestly never really practiced water to bike.

For gear - it is what you can afford/what you have.
Wetsuit - if required - as noted above, strongly recommend if needed. You can rent them. Or you can find a sale or cheap entry level ones, Again, depending on how much you want to invest. After I returned the a/n horror to Canadian Tire I went with an Xterra entry level. They used to have a $99 model but I think its like $129. Google coupon codes, they always have one available for half off (that would give you the $129 prices, so its listed as $350 or something).
Under the wetsuit - If you wear a bathing suit you have to change. My first I wore a sports bra, running tank and running short tights. I just stripped off the suit and went on the bike in that.
You can invest in a tri suit. They come in one piece or a top and bottom. They have the built in chamois that is thinner so some comfort on the bike but doesn't get too weighed down with water. I now have a club tri suit but ran my first races without one. 20k on the bike isn't a huge distance so I didn't miss the shorts. For longer race I would go tri shorts.

Check out what your transition is liek. My favorite one is abit of a distance over a rocky path to the bike so I have a pair of flip flops waiting. The tougher people just rough it.

A tri bike is awesome but expensive, esp if you aren't sure you are going to stick with the sport. A road bike is nice. You can even get aero bars (becareful because sometimes the position they put you may not be ideal and can cause some pain). But really you can do it on any bike. If you have a mountain type bike, I would suggest switching out the tires for less knobby ones. I have a road bike, no aero bars. I do have clipless pedals, another nice to have, not necessary but really nice to have. Socks are a preference on the bike.

Helmet is a required must. Read the rules. Most require you to have the helmet on and buckled before you touch the bike. I put mine on my handle bars with the straps open. Its the first thing I do in transition so I don't forget.

Run is pretty easy. You may have to change shoes if you have bike shoes. May want to have a hat handy or an extra layer.

I set up my transition so everything is accessible in order. I usually have an extra long sleeve shirt, and a towel. Check the rules, they are often strict on space allowance. Most rules I've seen is you can have the width of your handle bars.

Practice what you will eat the morning of and during the race. A sprint you don't really need to eat anything but if you want to go ahead.

Honestly, I don't think you'll have a problem. The swim is what most people struggle with.

I was overweight and just learned to swim properly, a mediocre cyclist and barely a runner. I didn't even follow a formal training plan. I made it. My goal was just to finish and I did. I was last :laugh: but it was a very small race (less than 100). Its not that bad.

Read the rules, they usually go over them the day of too.

That's all I can think of now. Good luck and have fun. Becareful, its addicting.

ETA- and yes to everything the above poster said. Spotting is very important too. It take practice. 3 strokes, spot is what I do.