So You Re New to Triathlons? Welcome to the Community

Welcome on board!!

So you’re new to triathlons? Welcome to the community.

This document is an attempt to put some brief, introductory-level information together in a way that hopefully will get you started. It’s a mix of training advice, common topics, and some basic introductory discussion of gear.

It won’t cover everything you find relevant. It will include things you don’t think are relevant. If you’re already in training it will almost certainly include things with which you disagree. But with all those caveats, hopefully this will help you here or there. Triathlon Distance Terminology

Short Course

Short course races are the place where beginners first dip their toes in the triathlon waters. For the vast majority of people, these races are a personal challenge to just get over the line or to beat their time in the last race. While it's growing very quickly, Triathlon is still a small community and triathletes are a friendly bunch so there is no need to be nervous or intimidated.

There are 2 official short course distances:

 Sprint: 750m swim, 20km bike, 5km run.  Olympic: 1.5km swim, 40km bike, 10km run

Some races also offer a Try-A-Tri distance especially for beginners which is generally a shortened version of the Sprint distance, often with the swim distance greatly reduced.

Be assured if you sign up for any one of these races that you won’t be the only one taking on your first race!

Long Course

The terms Ironman and Half Ironman, and the numbers 70.3 and 140.6 in a circle are trademarks of the World Triathlon Corporation (“WTC”). If your race is run by WTC it will include those names and symbols and cost more; if it is run by another organization it will likely be called ‘half distance’ or ‘full distance’ or other terms along those lines.

 Half: 1.9km swim, 90km bike, 21.1km run.  Full: 3.8km swim, 180km bike, 42.2km run. Plan to Train, Train the Plan

Most triathlon training programs assume you can do six or more workouts a week of 30+ minutes each. If you haven’t worked out in years or are otherwise too out of shape for this, it may be a good idea to start with a “couch to…” program.

If you can already handle 30+ minute workouts most days, then pick a race that you want to build toward, ideally one 12 or more weeks in the future. If it’s your first triathlon event you should probably choose a Sprint distance race or look at a “Try-a-Tri” event. A Tri-a-Tri event is generally shorter in distance than sprint events, especially on the swim leg, yet still combines all three disciplines. Don’t be in too much of a hurry to ramp up your training. You don’t have to do a half-iron distance race this year if it’s your first year of training. Do sprints this year, maybe an Olympic, and see how that goes – you have plenty of time to build up to longer-distance races. That said, follow your dreams – but you don’t have to do everything all at once. The key is to establish good habits and build fitness for the long term without getting hurt.

Race Nutrition

Nutrition is a whole topic in itself and can be mind boggling when you hear people talking about carbs, proteins, grams of this and per hour of that. Nutrition is pretty important at half-iron and iron distance levels. However, for sprints you’re probably over thinking it. Just don’t do anything stupid the day before and eat something that’s going to make you sick. Don’t worry about carb- loading or gels. Eat a sensible meal the night before and a light breakfast the morning of. Many experienced triathletes will do a sprint dry, grabbing a cup of water during the run if necessary. Put a bottle of water or Gatorade on your bike if you want to feel a bit safer but you probably won’t need it. Triathlon Equipment Buying a Bicycle

General Purchasing Advice

First of all, feel free to show up for your first triathlon(s) in a mountain bike, old road bike, hybrid, whatever you have or can borrow. In a sprint triathlon this is pretty common. Once you’ve done some events, met some people, etc., ask around to get a good feel for which bicycle shops in your area are well thought of. The key is selecting a bike whose basic geometry fits you, and then getting it fit to you by a professional.

Here’s how this would work in an ideal world: You get a ‘generic fit’ from a professional fitter where some completely unbiased guy measures you and recommends a few brands and models of bicycles based on your build, flexibility, and other factors. You then test them all and choose the one that feels best within your price range. Then you get a professional fitting where they make all your angles and lengths match the bike perfectly. The fitting should probably be free if you buy from a shop.

In practice there may be a few compromises vs. this approach. You have a few decisions to make:

 Road Bike vs. Tri-/ Bike: Everything else being equal, tri bikes are faster, but the recommendation would be a road bike as your first bike. This is subjective, but you can argue that road bikes are easier to learn on, more comfortable, and safer for beginners. Plus, you’ll be much more welcome to show up and join any group rides in your area with a road bike.

 Bike Shop vs. EBay etc.: You could possibly get a better deal on EBay or on alternative websites. If you’re a tinkerer or have an educated friend to help you, go for it. But bike shops can be a great source of information as most employees are cyclists and/or triathletes and so are talking with some degree of experience.

A Quick Introduction to Gearing Chainring: These are the big rings beside your pedals. The number represents the # of teeth. More teeth = more ‘work’ per turn of the pedals = faster per turn of the pedals. There are three main types you’ll be concerned about:

 Triple Chainring (ex: 50/40/30): These are usually for mountain bikes, hybrids, cyclists who ride some serious slopes, or people who are out of shape – that smallest ring is sometimes called the ‘granny ring.’  Standard (ex: 53/39): These are for bikers. No granny gear. Only having two rings makes shifting easier and cleaner.  Compact Chainring (ex: 50/34): These have two rings but have more relaxed gearing for hills or beginners at the cost of top-end speed. Most bikers would be better off with Compact than Standard – if you’re not contending for age group or overall wins, you’ll probably be better off Compact.

Cassette: This is the Christmas tree sticking out the side of the rear wheel. The number represents the # of teeth. More teeth = less ‘work’ per turn of the chainring = slower per turn of the pedals.

 The first thing to look at is the number of gears. 7-10 is the normal range, with 10 being the standard. If your bike comes with fewer than 10 gears in the cassette, it may be more difficult to upgrade components in the future should you wish to do so.  Then look at the range of gears. The big number is the ‘easiest’ gear for climbing, and the small number is the ‘hardest’ gear for descents.  The wider the range of gears, the more versatility you have, but the clunkier it will be every time you change gears and the less you can fine-tune your speed/comfort.

Translating into Speed: The formula is easy. Pedaling at a cadence (pedal rotations/minute) of 90, it’s(rounded off) “7.23 x (# Front Teeth) / (# Back Teeth).”

 Applying this formula to the biggest and smallest chain/gear combinations gives you a ‘speed range.’  If a hill is steep enough that you can only maintain ~6 mph and your lowest gear is ~9mph, that just means your cadence would have to drop to 60 rotations, not that you would fall over and die. Not ideal, but it happens! Bicycle Accessories

Essential

 Helmet: This is self-explanatory and also compulsory. If you are in the market for a helmet, purchase with safety and comfort in mind rather than street cred!  Track or Floor Pump / Frame Pump: You’ll need to inflate your tires before each ride. A track pump is best but then you have to consider what you do when you get a puncture on the road. This is where a frame pump comes in if you are not using CO2 canisters.  Tire Repair Kit: Ideally get this in a small saddle bag or other form you can attach to your bike. It should include a spare tube, CO2 canisters if you don’t carry a frame pump, tire levers, and inflation connector.  Bottle Cages and Bottles: You’ll probably want at least one but preferably two bottle cages and water bottles to place in them. A standard setup would be one on each of the main vertical tubes on your bike but there are several options.  Bike Shorts: Bike shorts have nice big pads to keep your undercarriage happy.

Optional

 Clip Shoes and Pedals: Yes, you will eventually want pedals and shoes that clip together. It might be scary the first time you clip in. You’ll get used to it quickly. Many beginners fall over once or twice at first. Consider it a rite of initiation. If you want official triathlon shoes, make sure that the tightening strap is a single strap that you pull away from the bike to tighten. Socks are optional; many triathletes go without for short or even long rides.  Computer: Most cyclists like to have a small computer on their bicycle to track their cadence, speed, and mileage. A small sensor is placed on your rear derailleur which simply counts how often a magnet on your wheel (speed) and pedal (cadence) go by. These come in wired and wireless, with most people preferring wireless at a reasonable incremental cost.  Trainer: A trainer is a small machine into which you hook your rear wheel. It allows you to bicycle in the comfort of your own home while watching TV or otherwise occupied. Trainers can be boring, or at least monotonous, so some people like to get Spinervals or other bike DVDs to make the time go faster or feel like they’re cycling with a group. Not only do trainers allow you to train whenever you want, they also keep you honest in terms of keeping up your energy level – there are no stoplights, hills to cruise down, etc.  Aero Bars: You can clip aero bars onto your road bike to get some of the effect of having a tri bike. You still won’t have necessarily have the same geometry, seat position, bar-end shifters, etc., of a tri bike but studies suggest that for a professional, clipping aero bars on a road bike gives you approximately 40% of the benefit of moving up to a tri bike at a fraction of the cost.  Aero Helmet: These are the silly looking teardrop helmets. I’ve heard some debate about whether they’re actually faster for riders with poor form who don’t do a good job of holding their head steady and straight. In the wind tunnel, and worn properly in appropriate conditions, however, there seems to be little doubt that these reduce drag substantially.  Race Wheels: These are expensive, anything from €500 - €2,000 and more for a new set. There is widespread evidence on line showing the benefits of race wheels but for beginners this is not an issue.  Front and Rear Lights: Essential for those hard enough to be out in the Irish winter! Other Gear

 Running Shoes: Go to a reputable running shop and get them to carry out a Gait analysis (1 minute on a threadmill). If they can’t carry out a Gait analysis for you well then you are in the wrong shop! The Gait analysis will determine your running style and hence determine the right running shoe for you.  Tri-Suit: A tri suit is a one piece outfit that can be used through all three phases of the triathlon.  Body Glide and/or Chamois Butter: Some people need to apply these frequently to avoid chafing from running and/or biking. Others find they can do just fine without as long as they have a good saddle. If you’re getting sore in the saddle area these are a great first thing to try.  Running Clothes: You’d probably do well to get a few pairs of running shorts, shirts, and socks. Wearing cotton is a bad idea if you plan on sweating while you work out. Chances are your running shorts will have a liner; if so, don’t wear underwear underneath. Many triathletes run sockless for sprint or even Olympic distance runs.  Run Belt: This is a small elastic belt with a pair of attachments for race numbers. Many races require you to keep your number visible during the run. Grabbing a race belt with number pre-attached can be much easier than trying to pin a race number on to your shirt.  Wetsuit: Most, if not all, triathlon races in Ireland are wetsuit compulsory. It is prudent to seek expert advice in a triathlon shop or equivalent when purchasing a wetsuit.  GPS / Heart Rate Monitor: Many triathletes wear a watch that also functions as a heart rate monitor and/or GPS device. Polar and Garmin are popular brands. However, there are many apps available for Iphones etc that do a similar job. Training Intensity Many training plans will use some guideline to indicate how vigorous the workout should be. For instance, the fast portion of a tempo run should be at a higher effort level than a long weekend run. For people new to endurance training, the more common problem is training too hard. These methods can be a good way of making sure you don’t overstrain and increase your chance of injury.

Overleaf is a brief introduction to some of the most common ways of guiding and quantifying those effort levels. Rate of Perceived Exertion (RPE)

The least technical common measure of training intensity is Rate of Perceived Exertion, or RPE. It is most commonly expressed as a 10-point scale to measure effort level.

RPE Description 0 Sitting on your couch 2 Casual stroll around the neighbourhood 4 Putting forth effort but able to carry on conversation, could sustain for long period 6 Noticeable effort, can still speak but sentences require some effort, could sustain for an hour 8 Working hard, talking only possible in gasps, could sustain for 30 minutes 10 Full effort, breath gasping in and out, could sustain for 1-2 minutes

For beginners, most workouts should probably be in the 4-6 RPE range, especially running. Biking you probably want to spend at least some time in the 6-8 range. Only move up in the 8-10 range once you’ve been working out awhile and (ideally) have a plan that calls for it. Heart Rate Training (HRT)

This is a seemingly innocuous topic about which many people feel strongly. In principal, you establish a range of heart beat rate zones and attempt to target specific zones for certain workouts to guide your effort level.

HR Zone Description 1 Easy effort, rarely used except for recovery days 2 Sustainable effort level, many triathletes do the bulk of their training in this zone 3 This is a ‘tweener’ zone and beginners are often instructed to avoid spending much time at this level 4 High effort level, many triathletes use this for ‘threshold’ workouts to increase sustainable speed 5 Sprint, sustainable for only short periods of time, this level usually for intervals and short races

The controversial aspect of HRT is the method by which you assign heart rate ranges to those zones. Two variables are involved – some ‘high’ heart rate level, and a series of %s applied to that level. May variations exist, including Karvonen, Zoladz, Maffetone, and others – use Google if you want more detail on those.

The most commonly discussed methods of determining the ‘high’ heart rate level on BT are discussed below.

Maximum Heart-Rate

You can establish training zones based on your maximum heart rate.

 Age-Based Max HR: Maximum heart rate based your age, i.e., 220-age. So if you’re 40 it would be 180.  Observed Max HR: Train really hard a few times and check the maximum HR your watch observes.

Lactic Threshold

This is based on the results of a lactic threshold test. It takes approximately 50 minutes to do for each sport, usually running and cycling. Assuming you have a heart rate monitor with lap functionality, here’s the test:

 Setup: Try to do this on a trainer for bike or treadmill for run if possible. You want flat, controllable, and by yourself.  Warmup: Run or bike at a comfortable pace for 10 minutes.  Main Set I: Choose a pace you think you can sustain for 30 minutes. Go hard for 10 minutes.  Main Set II: Hit your lap button and continue going hard for another 20 minutes.  Cooldown: Hit your lap button and cooldown for 10 minutes.  Check Watch: Measure your average HR over the Main Set II and that’s your lactic threshold.

From there you repeat the test every month or two to recalibrate your training zones. This allows your improving fitness to be reflected in your training intensity. Though you will only want to do this test when you have been training for consistently for months.

Heart Rate Zones

If you are going to use HRT, you should use the lactic threshold method. If you’re a beginner, too out of shape to do the lactic threshold test, or just aren’t going to do it, then some people think that the observed max HR method works just fine. The age-based max HR is sketchier just because individuals can vary so widely from the population norm. Frankly though, if you’re a beginner, any method that convinces you to keep your effort level down is probably beneficial.

Once you’ve established your method and the key heart rate, here are common percentile ranges and a rounded-off example:

HR Zone Max HR Ex: Max HR 185 Threshold Ex: Threshold 170 1 60-70% 110-130 65-80% 110-140 2 70-80% 130-150 80-90% 140-150 3 80-90% 150-165 90-95% 150-160 4 90-95% 165-175 95-100% 160-170 5 95-100% 175-185 100%+ 170+

Note that the lactic threshold will be lower than your maximum heart rate, so the %s used will be correspondingly higher. Swim Training: Swim Smart Beginning Swimmers

First of all, don’t panic. Don’t freak out if you can barely swim a length without stopping. Many runners and cyclists want to approach swim training the way they approached running and biking at first, just hopping in the pool and trying to go farther and farther, trusting their body to learn how to improve itself. This is not the best way to approach swimming. Don’t grind out meaningless laps with terrible form. Get lessons. Watch Youtube videos, there are plenty out there. If you have a specific event length in mind, then absolutely you’ll want a few practices where you swim that length straight through. Otherwise, however, you’ll be better off getting lessons, then spending more of your practice time doing drills and shorter 100- or 200-yard intervals with 5-20 second rest periods that allow you to maintain good form and pace.

If you absolutely must swim before you have lessons and are desperate for tips, here are a few things to keep in mind early on:

 Balance: Do your best to keep your body balanced in the water. Particularly don’t let your feet hang down, that creates a ton of drag.  Rotate: Don’t lift your head out of the water to breathe. When you reach forward with your lead arm, rotate on your side a little and use that motion to clear your mouth breathe. If you lift your head, your feet or arm will immediately drop and create drag to compensate.  Breathe Slowly: If you find yourself dying for breath, try kicking easier. Only kick enough to keep your feet up, don’t try to push yourself forward with kicks.  Bilateral Breathing: Most beginners have a side on which they find it easier to breathe. Try to learn to breathe on either side, ideally working up to bilateral breathing, a ‘left- right-left-breathe, right-left-right-breathe’ pattern. If you can’t do that yet, try to breathe to one side going down and the other side coming back. The longer you practice breathing only on one side the harder it will be to break the habit later. In races, many swimmers only breathe to one side because that’s most efficient for them, but being able to choose which side based on conditions can be a big help.

Open Water Swims

Your first time swimming in open water you may freak out. Many do. Try to get some open water lake/ocean/etc. practice before your first triathlon with an open water swim, but never do that by yourself. When you do practice open water swims practice ‘sighting.’ Sighting means you look up every 6-12 strokes to make sure you’re still going in the right direction. If open water swims scare you greatly, consider starting off with a pool sprint or two where the swim is much shorter and done in a pool. In ‘pool sprints,’ swimmers usually volunteer their expected speed then begin one at a time rather than en-masse and swim a certain number of laps in the pool. Bike Training: General Outlook

The best way to get faster on the bicycle is to spend time in the saddle (you’ll sometimes see the acronym “TITS”). When biking it’s easy just to cruise around aimlessly feeling good about yourself, so make sure you’re pushing yourself when you’re out there. Biking is low impact, so you may be less likely to injure yourself with high effort level workouts biking than you would if you were running.

One great way to push yourself on the bike is to ride with groups. As a beginner, make sure that you can maintain whatever pace the ride leader says the particular ride targets. If you don’t have a road bike, ask about it – do not just assume you can show up with anything other than a road bike. Also ask the ride leader to help you out if he observes any etiquette breaches. It will take you a few rides (or years!) to get up to speed on all the various social niceties involved with group riding, so let me leader know you want to learn.

Finally, if you come upon another cyclist or group while you’re out for a ride, never join them or tuck in to draft without asking. And if you’re on a tri bike, you probably shouldn’t ask. Special Training Gear Trainers

Getting a trainer might help, especially if you’re in an area with spotty weather. Trainers can be boring, or at least monotonous, so try to put your bike trainer in front of a TV if that helps. Some cyclists like to get Spinervals or other bike DVDs to make the time go faster or feel like they’re cycling with a group. There’s another option called “rollers” that serve a similar purpose. Your bike literally just sits on rollers, forcing you to keep balance, so you can develop some handling/balance skills on them. Other Recommendations

Some basic tips for beginning cyclists include:

 Effort on Hills: Unless you’re doing actual hill work, try to keep your effort level somewhat constant rather than pushing super-hard up hills and then coasting down hills, this will help you maintain endurance in the long run.  Pedal Faster: It’s really tempting to muscle your way around, but that’s hard on your knees. Instead, shift down and try to keep your cadence around 90-95 rotations per minute. That’s 90-95 rotations with each leg. Optimal cadence will vary from person to person, but beginners sometimes err way too far on the low side. Keep the cadence up to work on your endurance without hurting yourself.  Shift Earlier: This is one thing good cyclists frequently point out to beginners who seem to try to stay in the same gear as long as possible. Don’t start up a hill in a huge gear, and don’t spin aimlessly at the top of one. Instead, anticipate changes in resistance and shift proactively.  Be Paranoid: Always have safety lights, wear helmets and eye protection, don’t listen to headphones, and obey traffic laws as if you were a car unless you know local laws saying otherwise. Assume that every car ahead of you wants to hit you, because most drivers just aren’t used to looking for cyclists. Watch out for cars that pass you that suddenly decide to make a right turn. Carry ID, tire repair kits, and some cash. Just be prudent. Run Training: Run More

A lot of people get hurt ramping up their running mileage or intensity too quickly. They decide to start running sprints in their second week of training, or go an extra three miles on their long run because it just feels so good. These kinds of decisions can often lead to injury. As a result much of the advice around run training is based around injury avoidance. Key Themes

Keep the Pace Easy

Many people recommend doing no speed work whatsoever until you have been doing significant mileage(often 20-30 or more miles per week) for some period of time (3-6 months or even a year). The consensus for beginners is to keep most or all of your training at a nice steady pace with a comfortable effort level.

It might be hard to make yourself slow down, but if you have to run at a 12:00 / mile pace to be comfortable then do it. If you need to walk half the time (or more!) in order to keep your breath, then walk.

This is part of why heart rate monitors can be a real game changer for beginners. They give you an objective measure to help reduce overtraining to help avoid injury. Ramp Up Slowly

Many aspiring triathletes are Type A people who want to see improvement fast. Once you have a few weeks of training in you may feel like you can really ramp up your speed and distance. This probably isn’t the best approach.

One widely quoted rule of thumb is not to increase your weekly mileage by more than 10%. If you’re below 10 miles/week it might be impossible to meet this rule literally. Once you build up to 10 miles/week, however, you might want to start observing this guideline. Yes, that means it will take 10 weeks go to from 10 miles/week to 20 miles/week, but it’s worth taking your time to reduce the chance of injury. Be sure to take occasional lower-volume recovery weeks.

Spread the Miles

Keep the day-to-day running load manageable. If you can go out for 4-6 easy, short runs or even walk/runs a week to start that is more ideal than trying to do two long runs or trying to ramp up your pace too quickly.

Ideally your weekly long run will be roughly one-third of your weekly mileage. If you’re following a plan with 2-3 runs/week, however, it’s unavoidable that your long run will be a larger percentage of your weekly miles. If you’re on one of those plans, consider adding an additional one or two mile run to a few of your bike or swim workouts through the week.

For instance, if you’re on a plan that calls for 30, 45, and 60 minute runs in a given week, the long run represents 44% of your running time. Adding a pair of easy 20 minute runs to other workouts, however, gives you additional low-stress miles and reduces the long run to 34% of your time.

How You Get Faster

The answer is “run more.” Not necessarily longer, or harder, or faster, or do more tempo runs, or intervals, but simply more. More days, more miles. Other Notes

 Running Surfaces: Even running easy adds a lot of stress to your joints. If you have local trails you can run on that would be ideal. Most runners would say to avoid concrete and asphalt if you can. That said, a lot of shops run on concrete and asphalt because those are their choices. Remember that asphalt is ‘softer’ than concrete, but be safe.  Barefoot Running: Many shops have been inspired by Born to Run to try barefoot running (often with Vibrams, Nike Free, etc.), with varying degrees of success. Feel free to dabble with this, but if you do, go slowly! It can really load your leg muscles in new ways, so take your time building up barefoot miles.  Running Cadence: Many runners recommend targeting 180 steps/minute. Footpods are available to count your steps. Certain websites list songs by ‘bpm’ to help runners target specific cadences when running to the music.  Be Natural: The most persuasive approach I’ve seen is to keep it as simple as possible when you are first starting – get a good shoe, run slow, and run often, and your body will teach itself how to move efficiently. Race Day Pre-Race For your “A” race, the race toward which your training plan has been geared, your plan probably calls for you to taper your training the last week. If you’re tapering and start feeling lethargic, generally disappointed, a touch irritable, maybe even mildly sick, don’t worry, that’s normal.

If it’s your first triathlon, try to go to the information session the night before if there is one. Make sure you drink plenty of water the days leading up to the race – although you should be doing that anyway. Don’t do anything crazy with your diet before the race. Have a healthy/normal dinner, light breakfast.

If it’s a sprint, don’t worry about nutrition during the event. Put some Gatorade on your bike if you really want to but gels are almost certainly overkill.

One of the golden rules is: Never try anything new in a race. Sometimes it’s unavoidable…but avoid it if you can.

On race morning, get there early, at least 90 minutes or more before the start. Check in and do packet pickup if you haven’t already. Attach any numbers they give you as instructed to your helmet, bicycle, and/or race belt. Rack your bike on the appropriate rack – look for the area designated to your race number and put your bike there. Observe how others triathletes rack their bikes. Make sure your tires are inflated properly and do a visual inspection of your bike. If you discover a small problem with your bike, there are probably some bike shop mechanics around with a tent set up to help out.

Put a very small towel beside your bike, ideally a hand towel or normal towel folded into quarters. On that towel put your helmet, bike shoes, socks (if any) and bike glasses in one small pile. Some people put bike helmet and glasses on the bike. Put your run shoes and run belt in another small pile. Keep this all compact if you don’t want to annoy your neighbours. Look around at how other people set up their transition areas. Notice that a few people have probably taken up a lot of room or have sloppy transition areas and pat yourself on the back for making an effort to be considerate.

Half an hour before start, get all your swim gear on and get to the swim start area. If it’s an open water swim (OWS) you probably have the chance to hop in and warm up for 15 minutes. It’s a great idea to do so, particularly if you’re still somewhat new to OWS and/or wetsuits, and you can pat yourself on the back for having practiced this while you watch other new people start to freak out.

If you do start to freak out a bit during an OWS, don’t worry, you’re not the first. I’d practiced OWS, but in my first event I got kicked in the face and wound up grabbing a dock 20 yards from shore, but I still finished. Tread water if you have to and control your breathing. If necessary, wave for a kayak or whatever support they have in the water. You can get a breather, calm down, and continue, they won’t toss you out. Transitions

Practice your transitions. A beginner going through the motions can easily lose three minutes vs. the field with slow transitions. Do you have any idea how hard those three minutes would be to make up in the 5k? The weekend before your race, take your gear outside and just do the transitions three times to get a feel for how efficiently you can do it.

I don’t claim to have this down to a science and experienced people probably have a more systematic/efficient approach to these steps, but your transitions will look something like the following:

 T1: Run to your bike, remove wetsuit (if wearing one), goggles, and swim cap. Put on bike shoes, helmet, and glasses. Never take your bike off the rack without having your helmet on! Run with your bike to the mount line. Cross the mount line, get on your bike, and go.  T2: Hop off your bike at the dismount line, run to your transition area. Rack your bike, remove bike gear, put on running shoes and belt, and go.  Advanced Methods: The items above are just the basics. As you become faster you will start to learn more about advanced transition methods like flying mounts and dismounts. As a beginner, keep it simple for now.

Finally, good luck and above all enjoy it!