Hey Kittycat - good questions for a newbie!! I wish I had known a bit more before my 1st Ironman!
When you register, you will get 4 or 5 plastic bags - Swim to Bike (T-1), Bike to Run (T-2), special need Bike, special needs Run, and maybe a dry clothes bag - I really can’t remember. When you get your registration packet, you will have a bunch of extra stickers with your race number - put one on EVERY bag - that is how they know who you are and what bag is yours!
When you get out of the swim, they read your race number off your arm (or you tell a lovely volunteer), they call it out, and someone will help get your bag for you - then to the tent where the nice volunteers will help lay your stuff out, help you change, put your swim gear into that bag so it doesn’t get lost and then they will put it back in the appropriate place so you can get it at the end of the day (usually the exact same place it was before the race). Sometime volunteers will get your bike for you - sometimes you have to get your bike, depends on the race.
Special needs for the bike is about 1/2 way (a few miles either way is not unusual), Volunteers will hand you your bag (they have spotters calling out your number) you will probably end up stopping to grab this, take out what you need, leave the rest behind and get going for the 2nd half of the bike.
T-2, hand your bike off to a volunteer, they will re-rack it. Again, the volunteers will help you get your bag by your race number, to the tent, off with the bike shoes, helmet, etc. On with the run stuff, they will help put all your bike stuff back in your T-2 bag and they will re-rack it (hang it up, put it in numerical order somewhere so you can find it after the race). Out of the tent, they’ll even put sunscreen on you if you want, and on to the run.
Special needs, about 1/2 way through the run, volunteers call out your number, they’ll get you your bag, get what you need if anything, leave the bag. Run like the wind to the finish line!
At the end of the night - your T-1 and T-2 bags should be where you put then the Saturday before - the volunteers line them back up - you definitely want to go back and get these.
Special needs bags are usually placed in cardboard boxes labeled with specific race numbers (one for bike, one for run) so they can be easily transported to the appropriate place on the bike and run course - they say you will not get these back, but both races I’ve done the next morning the boxes have been near the transition area and the bags are usually in the correct box - people scavenge the special needs bags and take what they want, whether it is theirs or not - you may get your stuff back, you may not, so don’t put anything in there you don’t want to lose just in case!
As you are running and biking by the aid stations - you can get what you need on the fly or stop, that is up to you. They are prepared to hand over stuff on the fly - just slow down and watch out for sudden stops in front of you!
In the tents, they have the boys tent and a girls tent so you can strip naked if you want to - some people change at every transition, some never change anything but their shoes, but the tent lets you chose what you want to do. And they only have female volunteers in ladies tent and male volunteers in the men’s tent so you don’t have to worry.
Your T-1 and T-2 bags need to be taken to the transition area on Saturday before the race (when you check in your bike too). You will have access to your bike and your T-1 and T-2 bags before the race on Sunday morning if you need to add something to either and to pump up your tires. You can also add drink bottles to your bike in the am so they don’t sit out on Saturday and all night. You drop your special needs bags off the morning of the race.
It will all make a lot more sense when you see how it’s laid out!!
