thanks for the advice. As for race strategy, am I better off going all out, or close to all out on the bike leg and just surviving the run, or holding back a little and saving for the run? While I should be pretty competitive in the bike leg, my run time will be terrible (I've run 1 5k race in my life finishing in 25 minutes). So my thought is since I'm going to drop major time on the run anyway, I should try to maximize my advantage on the bike.