Hey from York, PA

Hi - noob here. I've been running, biking, and swimming for about 3 years. Did a 5k last fall and an indoor tri in Feb. Looking to do my first sprint in August in Lancaster, PA. Over the next 3 years, I'd like to build up to 70.3 distances. Today, I can bike 34 miles, run 7, and swim 1800m (perhaps more with time).

There's a vast sea of information out there. Looking for help. I saw there was a mentor thread here, and looks like it was closed. Trying to bounce a lot of questions off of someone who's done this for awhile.

Just some of what I'm looking at...
1) What are the best places/brands for a tri suit? I have a bike suit, but no one wants to run with that thing soaking wet I don't want to throw $200 at a knock off item that tears on my first tri.
2) The indoor smart trainer setups. I tried a dumb trainer with an old hybrid bike. Fail. I like the idea of the wahoo kickr, but there's a lot of things that connect to other parts and I fear spending a thousand or more on a setup that won't work well. The axle on my gravel bike axle is also not the quick release, so that made for an interesting moment when I tried to set that up with the dumb trainer. Blew $150 on something I'll never use now, because Zwift with a dumb trainer is....dumb.
3) Training with power. All of these videos talk about watts. My jaw drops at pedal prices. Is everyone using powertap pedals or are there other items used for power which are more affordable and used by every day folks? I just bought some clip in pedals for $45 a month ago and some MTB shoes with cleats to clip in. Love it. Now I may have to get different pedals? Yuck. I saw one item is the crank which can measure power, but my guess is you have to take that somewhere to get it put on. And $500?? Ouch.

4) Coaches. I emailed one to check prices and that was a bit of an eye opener. I am not so much needing training plans as much as having some tri friends to bounce questions off of at the moment. I was looking to maybe get a coach I could meet with once a month for an hour in person and talk things out. Adjust. I have had a personal trainer to help me lost 162 pounds and while I'm pretty close to my goal weight, I like the idea of a coach for accountability.
5) Where to get a tri bike. I'm not looking to spend 10k. I bought a gravel bike last year (Specialized) and it's been great to ride on the rail trails near me for training. I'm thinking about a year out I'll be looking at a tri bike. My local bike shop has nothing like this.