Advice for pacing a first (

Generally speaking the amount of effort you can put into a race is determined by the amount of training you've done. If you've been consistently biking 50-75-100 miles/week, and running 20-30 miles/week, you can expect to be able to push fairly hard in the race. If you currently struggle to even finish the race distances at training pace then realistically that's the speed you should expect to race at as well.

If you have done relatively little training, pace according to your strengths. If you're a strong bike and weak runner, then hammer the bike. Conversely, if you are a weak biker and strong runner, then take it easy on the bike so you can pound out a solid run. However, if you attempt to go faster than your limited training dictates, you may end up having a struggle at the end.

Pacing wise. If you have done each of the disciplines individually at the race distance, you should have a good baseline to work from. The swim should be about spot on with your training. Add about 10-20% to your individual times on the bike and run after that. Use those times as a pacing guideline. If you get out there during the race and after a while feel good, then increase your speed.

Make notes of what went well and what didn't. Train to get better at the problem areas, while maintaining the good areas. Have fun!

Sounds like you need to do more running intervals, aka: track workouts. Good luck with your race!!

network cables

If you have less than a week to go, I suggest that you approach your first race as a fun event (aren't they all fun?) that will help to teach you a lot and help you in future races.  One thing you can do is, if the course is local, do a "practice" event at a moderate pace.  This will show you a little of what you can expect on race day.  Besides that, you cannot really change things too much now that will help you to train better in this short time, but you can prepare yourself mentally for race day.  

If you wear a heart rate monitor during the race, expect that your racing HR will be higher than your training HR. 

Negative split the bike part of the race by easing up in the first half and pushing a little harder in the last half.   What this will do for you is keep you from going out too fast.  Oftentimes, athletes go out too fast on the bike, causing later problems in their run (marathoners do this too – going out too fast too early, only to cause acidosis-related fatigue that forces them to slow down later). 

Know that the first part of the run (half mile or so) will feel bad.  Your legs will be like noodles and your HR may be elevated above your training runs.  I don't think there is any way around that so get used to it.  Hopefully, you didn't leave it all on the bike and the last 2 1/2 miles of the run will be stronger for you.

For those of you who have more time before their races, continue the brick workouts.  These are the best way to get used to that transition from bike to run and help in figuring out your appropriate pacing for the race.

Thanks to everyone for your solid advice!  I think I've done enough training to hammer it out... though my training is far from ideal considering I haven't followed a specific, structured program and I've already had 2 separate weeks of tapers this month for 2 tris that I was registered for and then were cancelled due to weather.  Ugh.

AND- good news is that I realized tonight on a run on a fresh pair of legs that my Nike+ had become not-so-calibrated and so the run of my brick last night was actually just under 9 min mile pace vs. the 11:35 that it told me!   Phew!  My last 5K was at 8:15 pace, and so I think I'll be happy if I can keep the run portion of the tri around 9 min mile pace (does this sound reasonable).

 Yes - I am definitely looking to have fun (as one of you advised) and am so excited to get this first tri under my belt, especially with all the extra anticipation with the cancelled tris.  I'm also very competitive, so I'll try to hammer it out as best as I can because I really don't want to end up regretting that I held back on the bike.