Triathlon - First Tri :) -- Trasition & Swimsuit questions

Hello,

I'm 17, and I'm going to be doing my first triathlon tomorrow (Olympic Distance). I've been training for about 4 months now, mainly the swimming and running because cycling is mainly my thing. In any case, I'm feeling pretty comfortable about the actual stages, however I don't have a clue as to what to expect with regards to transitions.

Are you allotted like a stall, where you lock up your bike, or do you even have to lock up your bike? How much space do you usually have? Am I allowed to keep all my water, snacks, towel, shoes, clothes, etc., there?

Also, seeing as I'm going to be doing the swimming in just a swimsuit, rather than a wetsuit, what are the best methods for T1? Right now I'm just thinking I'm going to wear short swim trunks or a speedo and dry off and throw on shorts and a jersey over it?

Lastly, looking at the lineup of racers for the event, I realized that I';m going to be the youngest competitor . . . the person closest in age to me is 23. Would you say I'm at a particular disadvantage for this? I'm not particularly worried about it . . . just wondered what your opinions were.

Thanks in advance! -- and any other information and tips would be very much appreciated, too.

--Stefan

Well, I hope the waters warm.

years ago, I did an olympic. I wore a pair of running shorts, they were kind of brief and biked ran in those.

For transition, depends on the set up. On my olympic we just laid our bikes in an orderly fashion on the ground. The beach was sandy prior to the grassy transition area. I had a wash basin and a gallon of water with towel to clean off my feet. Kept my running shoes right there also.

Age, disadvantage. Probably your biggest disadvantage will just be lack of experience. I just did my first half iron man and I was quite suprised at what I learned. I imagine you will be as well.

With that said, I'd suggest just go into this as a learning/fun experience, worry about performing next time once you get your transitions, and training pieces worked out.

I wish you the best of luck.

Hope your race went well today! Your questions inspired me to answer them on the sticky in this forum that Tom posted ("How does a triathlon work?"). Check it out!

Thanks for the help and wishes! -- sorry for the late reply . . . :( been REALLY busy since the tri and haven't been able to get online.

Turned out to be a beautiful day Saturday morning. Race started at 7:45am and everything went great, it was a lot of fun. Turned out I had a lot less to worry about than I thought. Using just a swimsuit turned out OK this time, but I'm definitely going to be doing more triathlon, in which case I'm going to invest in a tri suit.

I was happy with my performance, considering I only did it for myself this time and not so much for placing -- I was the youngest, at 17, and I made 27'th out of 32 competitors for the Olympic. My time was 03:27:48.0 . . . .

Here's a link to the race results page of the event, which by the way was Ocean Shores Big Weekend, from TriFreak: http://athleteslounge.com/results/event/2340/results.php?p=1

Anyway, thanks again, looking forward to see some of you guys at future tris. :D

--Stefan