A friend of mine who is about to do his first tri asked me, ‘What mistakes did you make when you did your first race?’.
Mine was wearing bermuda beach shorts and starting the swim like an Olympian only to discover that 20yrds out, I was spent and became a semi-floating hazard for the rest.
I couldn’t work out why nobody else was drafting either…it seemed a much faster way to ride.
Hindsight being 20/20, what mistakes did you make that might be helpful to avoid?
The usual stuff:
WAY too much crap in transition and WAY too many calories taken in for a sprint.
Steve
Mine was a double-whammy:
Never did an open-water swim, and never actually wore my wetsuit while swimming, before the race.
I spent all 500 meters “swimming” on my back, with a very nice lady in a kayak yelling encouragement/waiting for me to drown.
Entering and existing the transition the wrong way, totally screwed my splits, not to mention I had trouble getting on the run course after exiting through the cycle course.
Mine is relatively novel but still pretty damn stupid:
Someone (who doesn’t swim much) told me to wear a T-shirt underneath my cheapo wetsuit to prevent chaffing. I did. And swam 10% slower for my gullibility.
My biggest mistake is crashing in my last race (and my last for a while …)
My first tri was 21 years ago so my memory is a little foggy but I do remember drinking half of the lake during the swim. Also I wore nylon running shorts on the bike. Some chafing involved.
I was to manly to wear spandex and did the entire race in board shorts.
left t2 with helmet on
completely blew myself out on the bike and very nearly walked the entire run
registered for st. croix
As I was not a swimmer, my first race was the old Dessert Princess Duathlon (10k,62k,10k) (t-shirt was run->bike-die). As a few previous posters, I was way to manly to run and ride in bike shorts so I wore my Tri-Fit (I’m an old guy) running shorts. The bike was on that kind of gravely road so about 2/3 of the way in I had to stand and ride as it hurt to much to sit on the saddle. How did Kenny Souza do it in a speedo?
I’ve also forgetton my bike shoes for a race…
A whole bunch in here.
http://forum.slowtwitch.com/gforum.cgi?post=1420970;search_string=;#1420970
I backstroked my first race too. I was plenty scared but still managed to beat a few people.
jaretj
I wasted time putting on socks for the bike in T1 and actually tied my shoes (no elastic laces) in T2.
I didn’t have clipless pedals. That sucked big time. But I guess I didn’t have them at any of my races until the end of my second year in tri. I wore big baggy basketball shorts too; that was dumb.
I think the first race in general though, most people are so nervous about it that they’re anal about making sure they do at least the basics right. It’s when you do it for a while that you slip up. Like thinking that I could run a half-iron without socks. It’s not a bad idea, if you like the thought of changing the color of you shoe heel from white to red.
I was in my big ring going up a huge hill and I didn’t realize it. I got to the point where I couldn’t turn the cranks any more so I had to walk it. Figured out later that I had lower gears and I didn’t know! 
The next year I went back for revenge (Milton Tri). I got up the hill easily and then flatted at the top. That race is just plain bad luck for me.
At half-IM I went out too fast on the bike, fell behind on my nutrition and then when I felt bad, assumed it was because I was bonking. I tried to cram my calories into the end of the ride and had a subsequent stomach meltdown. Walked about 9 of 13 miles.
Chad
That hill in Milton is a killer. I had to walk it the first time I raced on it. It was my first race on a tri bike. The gearing was 55/44 and 11-21. Not so good for hills.
The very first tri i did, I was on a mountain bike, and the front brakes were on the whole bik, oops.
Entered.
Missed a turn (well marked) on the run. Cost me 200 extra yards. My wife beat me by 28 seconds OA. I’ll bring the memory of that one to my grave…she’ll make sure of it.
Let me count the ways:
Not checking bike, only to discover chain had come off when trying to mount; wearing gloves (nice ones actually, color coordinated); wearing socks; not stuffing the “what the hell is the plastic mesh for anyway” in the aero bottle, resulting in Gatorade showers with every bump; not sucking in my stomach when approaching a photographer.
not sucking in my stomach when approaching a photographer
Ha!