yeah Jordan, welcome to the wonderful addiction (world) of triathlon, good to have you. Anyways, im doing a "backwards" tri this wkd. The reason they do this is so that the pool isnt crowded and that the race has separated by then. These are easier than a normal tri in my opinion. I say this because it is much easier to bike after a run than to run after a bike. The toughest part of the race shouldnt be the first transition, it'll be second one. Not knowing of your swimming abilities, its tough to give advice. But coming off the bike, your legs may be tired, and you may be out of breath, as long as you can hold good technique throughout the swim you'll do fine. In my race, im going topless, just because the race top will drag pretty badly in the pool, and i dont want to spend the time taking it off in T2---ill just apply a bit more sunscreen.

You can do at least one small run to bike brick. Again, i think if you can run off of the bike, it'll be no prob to bike off of the run. Your legs will love the fact that there is less stress being placed upon them once you hop on your ride, and you can coast a bit too at first. Realize it may take 5 mins or so for your bike legs to return to you. But dont sweat it too much, have fun.

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I've done about a dozen of these over the years, and I've found that my calves cramp up after I jump in the pool and point my toes.

I'm not the most flexible guy in the world, so it might just be me. I've found that if I point my toes towards the bottom of the pool (instead of behind me), I don't cramp up. I do swim slower, but it's usually only a few laps, anyway.

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Mr Ed
Triathlete with one horsepower

We have a race somewhat similar to this on the east coast except that everything is actually done twice. Swim/Run/bike (2 loops) / run/ swim. It still finishes with a swim but this one ends with an ocean swim. I did it two years ago, and my advice is to make sure your swim technique is strong when you are fatigued. Many people tend to lose their form when they are tired and after the other two events you will probably be tired. I went into this race slightly under-prepared on the swim and once I got back to the ocean I was really only concerned with finishing and not drowning. This is very much different than finishing with a run. At least on a run if you give it 100% and blow up you can always walk. I guess in a pool you will never be too far from a wall, bottom or lane line to grab onto. Should be a lot of fun. All of the early season pool swims around here are done in a time trial with individuals starting at 10 sec. intervals. With several hundred racers and the slower ones starting last it can take a while. Last year I finished a sprint distance one before my wife and parents started.

I almost prefer the backwards tri. I'm not a runner and doing it fresh gives me some good times. I have found that if I spend a few extra moments and stretch out my calves I have an ok swim. The cramps can be pretty tough to get through in the pool. I have good swims because I get to push off on every lap. Have fun and race hard.

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Funny thing you should consider it a backwards race... When Triathlons first started, many a Triathlon (some 20 plus yrs. ago) were run/bike/swim (specially in Florida). Overtime, the swim/bike/run became the norm (as started on the west coast).

The reason seem obvious, it's a safety issue. If you tire on the run - you stop...if you tire on the bike - you stop...if you tire during the swim - you drown. In open water swims, this is more problematic. The run/bike/swim tris are generally done within controlled swim environments - called a pool.

Only advice I have is stretch out your legs on the bike - specially the calves. They can cramp up during push offs from the wall (assuming flip turns).

Joe Moya