Five mistakes to avoid in your first triathlon

As a hybrid athlete, I love doing hard things. That said, I don’t love making those hard things harder than they need to be.

This past year, I set out to tackle my first triathlon: the 2024 Western MA Ironman 70.3. Only a year into my hybrid athlete journey, this was a big step for me. Coming off a 50k ultramarathon in October 2023, I knew I was in good shape for running and cycling. However, my swimming skills were nonexistent.

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I knew how to swim—or at least, I thought I did. I guess I knew how to “not drown,” but having literally never swam laps in my life, I was quickly humbled. It turns out that it doesn’t matter how fit you are if your form is so bad that you can’t breathe. After lots of YouTube videos, a swimming lesson in my fiancé’s parents' pool, and a LOT of laps later, I kind of knew what I was doing. I was ready to take on the half Ironman.

Or, at least, I thought I was. There were five rookie mistakes I made that cost me a lot of time. Hopefully, this article helps you avoid making the same mistakes.

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#1: Not doing enough open-water swims

My triathlon was in early June, which means most of the training happened in March, April, and May. In New England, water is VERY cold during those months. I did two outdoor swims in April, with 45-degree water, and thought that was enough. It was numbingly cold, and that cold made it really hard to breathe.

What I didn’t realize was that the difficulty I had breathing wasn’t ONLY due to the cold—I also wasn’t used to the constricting tightness of the wetsuit. This came back to bite me on race day. I couldn’t breathe properly, which meant I couldn’t maintain my regular stroke and cadence. This caused mild panic and added at least a few minutes to my swim time.

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#2: Not bringing gloves for the bike

Race day weather was far from ideal. Amid a week of 70s and sunny skies, we managed to have the one day of rain and 50-degree temperatures. This hit me hard on the bike—my hands got so cold that my fingers were completely numb by the time I got off. No big deal for the run, right?

Wrong. While my hands were fine when I was running, the problem was getting to the point of running. It took me a whopping 12 minutes to tie my shoes in the second transition because my fingers weren’t working. Total disaster, and it caused me to miss my goal time.

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#3: Not double-checking the course maps

When I signed up for the race, I took a screenshot of the course maps and elevation charts. I referenced those screenshots several times between then and race day, but I never went back to check the website again. Turns out they changed the running course in that time. What was supposed to be a total of 250 feet of elevation gain turned into a whopping 750 feet. Imagine my surprise when the hills just kept on coming!

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#4: Not driving the course

I fully intended to drive the bike and run courses ahead of race day, but the timing didn’t work out. We got caught up at check-in, grabbed dinner, and then it got dark, so we decided to retire for the evening. Driving the course ahead of time would have helped me better strategize how to attack it versus going in completely blind.

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#5: Not pre-portioning my nutrition

This one was just silly, to be honest. I brought a bunch of gels, fruit snacks, and a banana, but I didn’t have it sectioned off between the run and bike. At each transition, I quickly counted what I thought I needed and brought it with me. While it ended up being enough, (a) it took time I didn’t have and (b) I ended up bringing too much. In hindsight, I should have had pre-portioned bags for each transition stop so that it took zero brainpower.

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Despite all of the above, my triathlon experience was fantastic. I truly had a blast. I’m currently gearing up for Ironman Arizona 2025, and you can bet I won’t be making the same mistakes again. I hope you found this helpful—good luck in your first tri!

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