Triathlon tips follow up

"Dear Facebook friend,

[random small talk]

Anyway, have wracked my mind for some tips and tricks. The main thing about triathlon is organisation, so they’re mostly about that side of things.

Here are a few:

•Check out the race site before hand if possible, and figure out where you enter and exit transition, and where you finish!
•Bring an emergency kit, with sunscreen, plasters, loo paper etc- you never know what might happen, and sometimes you find yourself with something someone else needs
•Get a “tri-box” or bag to pull all your gear and food in (my “tri-box” is a generic hot pink plastic box with a lid, and came from the Warehouse (or similar) for about $11.99);
•Put something bright in transition so you can find your way there (a towel is good, or a brightly coloured tri-box)
•Have a towel and some water in transition for getting sand off your feet
•Bring some spare shoes or jandals, so you can leave your running shoes in transition and not have to go barefoot!
•Try to rack your bike near something identifiable and stationary if you have the option
•Keep some food or drink in transition- the race could well take between 2:30 to 3:30, which is ages!
•Look at how the cool kids rack their bikes and copy them (usually you hang the bike from the saddle, pointing out)
•Grease the openings of your running shoes with Vaseline, gets them on much faster when your feet are wet from the swim! (talc in the shoes also helps)

In terms of the race itself, my main advice is to chill out. It’s easy to get excited in the swim, which as you’ve probably realised from doing the swim leg is not such a good idea, and then come into T1 all hot and bothered. That makes you fumble, so you leave on the bike with too much adrenaline and stress. Better to swim carefully and avoid the chaos, keep relaxed in T1 (even if it takes twice as long, that’s still only about 1 minute on top of your time…) and then head out and nail the bike.

Good luck and have fun!

Kate"

(PS: Mike and Aaron- it's a non wetsuit swim (so no wetsuit advice), and she's actually a sort of experienced race-doer (who knows not to try anything new), just not a triathlete. That's why your tips aren't in there- they are, however, both awesome, even though I do always find the cap and goggle thing a little too much to think about when I'm dashing out of the water, and I try new stuff all the time cos I'm into living dangerous!)