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[starvinginfant]

I am doing my first sprint triathlon July 27th. The running part is a 5k (no worries there) the swimming portion is 300 meters (really nervous, need to train like crazy) and the cycling portion is 10 miles (Not that worried, except my bike is a heavy steel POS from the 70s, might decide to upgrade before the race or convert to a single speed, the

Comments

[themarshal]

I swam my first sprint tri in an off-the rack spring wetsuit from Big-5, and rode the bike portion with a mountain bike. The biggest contributing factor to your performance is how well you've trained.

Definitely look into tri shorts, which are kind of like bike shorts but with less padding (so they dry quicker, and you can run in them). You'll probably have to look at stores which are more triathlon-centric, as your usual suspects (Big-5, REI, etc.) won't have much to offer.

[kirilaw]

It's your first tri, so my biggest piece of advice is: have fun! Don't worry too much about having the right equipment -- that can come later, if you get addicted. Get your crummy old bike tuned up and use it; don't buy a new bike until you know if you're going to stick with the sport -- then you'll know how much you really want to spend on a good one. :)

The only thing to remember for clothing is that you don't get to change, so make sure it's something you'll be comfortable doing all three legs in. Tri shorts are perfect for this, but again, a plain ol' swimsuit will work just fine for something of this length.