Take your time on the first race and enjoy it....there's no need to suffer on you're first tri.

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"WHEW...I really regret that workout!"..............Noone

Don't rush anything, start slowly, cruise through transitions and enjoy the experience.

It's harder than you think to put a shirt on wet when you are tired coming out of the swim.

I don't have a wetsuit...so that may be an interesting part of the race...I plan on just wearing my zoot tri tights and hoping for the best. I have tried to not get too gucci with it upfront.

I hate to be that guy...but if your going to try to integrate with the tri community please learn how to spell the sport we all love the correct way. It is spelled TRIATHLON, not Triathalon. Welcome to the club! Hope you enjoy it and get hooked. Thank you for serving our country.

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Make Inside Out Sports your next online tri shop! http://www.insideoutsports.com/

Wow...I've been spelling all the __-lon's wrong my whole life. Please excuse my ignorance.

No worries man, I spell stuff wrong all the time. I live in Raleigh, what race are you doing in Wake Forest?

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Make Inside Out Sports your next online tri shop! http://www.insideoutsports.com/

Inside Out Sports at Beaverdam on/around Falls Lake. Pretty excited...hopefully the water isn't too cold.

Awesome, I volunteered at that race about 2 years ago. I know the owners of FS Series, they put on good races. You'll have a lot of fun, just take it slow and enjoy it. Your first race should not be about times, PRs, or anything. Just enjoy every part of it and finish.

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Make Inside Out Sports your next online tri shop! http://www.insideoutsports.com/

Most first-time triathletes have never experienced anything like a mass swim start (except people who grew up playing water polo and such). A good idea for a newb tri swimmer is to let the wave go, count to 10, then get in the water. This can avoid the washing machine altogether, and 10 seconds is usually nothing. Bring dark goggles if there's any chance of sun. It's common for a swim course to go right at the rising sun.

Most of all: have fun (!). In tris, it's just about guaranteed.

Great, thanks! Hopefully my youthful bull-headedness doesn't take over. I'd rather just cruise through and enjoy my first of hopefully many for years to come!

Fantastic advice. I will definitely wait a bit since I don't plan on breaking any records anyways!

If it's an open water swim, try to find a way to get in some practice ahead of time. My local club was doing an open water swim clinic 2 weeks before my first event, and it was immensely valuable - from learning to sight, positioning and drafting to the experience of being in the open water, it was the single most important thing I did during training. The pool != open water.

Good luck.

Take your time setting up in transition, and make sure you know which end you are supposed to enter and exit. My first race I didn't do this and ended up being very confused. I always walk through this now at a race.

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Jim

**Note above poster works for a retailer selling bikes and related gear*

I looked at a lot of Youtube videos on transitions before my first race, that was a big help. Also rack your bike by the seat, with the front wheel toward you if you can see your number. All your stuff goes by your front wheel. I see people confused by that at almost every race I do.

Aside from taking it easy and having a good time, I'd say to try and do two things:

1) Once you set your transition up, take some time and walk the paths you'll be taking in transition (i.e. coming in from the swim to your rack, exiting transition with your bike, etc.). If it's a large field it's easy to forget where your rack is.

2) If they allow it, try and get in a practice swim before your wave start. Nothing intense; just get a feel for the water temp and ease any nerves you might have.

Good luck!

Get an idea of the course and as someone mentioned where you are racking your bike in transition. It helps to look and see where you will enter for T1 and T2 and where you will exit.

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"I think I've cracked the code. double letters are cheaters except for perfect squares (a, d, i, p and y). So Leddy isn't a cheater... "

Thank you for your service. As others have stated just just it easy and enjoy the process! Be careful, it's addicting and your family, friends, and wallet will hate you.

Enjoy it! You will always remember your first triathlon... and if you're like many of us here, you'll be itching to do the next one almost immediately after its over.

Trust your training and your abilities and pace yourself through the race. I'm a strong biker and an average runner, and I ended up with a surprisingly fast bike split but only a run/walk to the finish.

Also, race with the food/drink you train with. I had a not so plesant experience at my first olympic distance drinking some kind of sports drink from the aid stations.

1) If you're not a swimmer (i.e., age group/high school/collegiate competition swimmer), then pause a moment when the gun goes off, let the psychos scramble out of the way, and then just cruise the swim. It's just a warm up. Relax and enjoy.

2) T1 is not a race (on your first Tri). It's a changing station. Practice getting wet stuff off and bike stuff on starting NOW, so you have a method on race day. Also, you do NOT need to dry off after the swim. You'll be dripping wet with sweat soon enough. Also, flying mounts onto the bike is NOT recommended for your first race. Get to the Mount Line (it helps if you stay just off to the side a bit), get on the bike (practice allowing it to be rolling forward), and start riding.

3) Enjoy the bike. Easy gears up the hills, don't go too nuts on the downhills. Keep your head on a swivel for the Uberbikers coming up from behind, cars, squirrels, pot holes, and anything else you can think of that will want to jump out in front of you when you least need it. DRINK. DRINK. EAT. DRINK.

4) T2 is easy, helmet off, sneakers on, go. Don't waste energy rushing things or doing unnecessary things (like changing shirts, or toweling off).

5) The first half of the run should feel eassssy. A 10K is a serious run; don't blow yourself up on the first 3K. DRINK at every water stop. I walk through the water stops to ensure I get all the water in my mouth. On the back half, you should be feeling almost normal if you haven't burnt too many matches. Start reeling people in. You'll hear the finish line before you see it. NOW you can burn matches!! Light the whole fucking book on fire! GO! GO! GO!

6) Party like it's your birthday!

Hope this helps!

Brian

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Swim. Bike. Run. Repeat as necessary.
Welcome to the Church of Briantriology!

Thank you to everyone who took the time to share some advice. I took everyone's advice and the race went great. The only advice I was unsuccessful at taking was to stay back for the beginning of the swim. Somehow I ended up in the very front row…terrible. My military SCUBA wet suit slowed me down and I was kicked and hit for a while…pretty unenjoyable.

Now, with my first triathlon down (and now I know how to properly spell triathlon), I am already salivating to go out and train tomorrow so I can improve the next time around. Can't wait to race again.

Like everyone else said, take it slow and have fun. For me, the goal is to be mentally calm and determined because you might hit a point where your will is going to be severely tested. My tip is to make small goals throughout the triathlon and they'll add up before you know it!

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Cycling: A way of life.

Congratulations!

"Only an Olympic" - that's all I do. It's still 2-3 hours of effort, exceeding the 5K experience at least 4-fold (and that's if you're fast as hell....)

Advice, worth all 0.02:

1. As others have mentioned - unless you're a swimmer, stay back on the start of the swim. The 10 seconds you give yourself there will be worth it. Oh - and put your goggles UNDER your swim cap.
2. Work on swim sighting, it's harder than you think. If you haven't done any open water before, be prepared: when your head is down you're practically blind.
3. Real open water is icky; especially freshwater. Prepare yourself for squishy things, opaque water, and seaweed.
4. Watch the volunteers on the bike leg; they sometimes forget to point you in the right direction at intersections. Don't be bashful about asking (i.e. yelling "WHICH WAY!")
5. Ease into the run. Start slow and speed up as you feel comfortable doing so.

Oh, and transitions:

a. have a towel to dry off your feet.
b. an under-amour compression shirt is great as an all-tri shirt. Swim in it, bike in it, run in it. Unless you bought a tri-suit.
c. if you wear a wetsuit, it will give you fits trying to get the damn thing off your feet. The ridiculous dance than ensues is part of the tribalistic culture that makes you part of the tri-club.
d. running in your cycling shoes out of transition is hard. running out of transition in bare feet then trying to put on your cycling shoes while on the bike is hard. Choose your poison: the second is faster when you finally figure it out.
e. Kiss your wife at transition. Always helps my run.

Again, Good Luck!!!!

nice work! from one active duty service member to another, thank you for your service and God bless!

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"I would definitely smell her seat after a century ride"