Lisburn Triathlon Advice 1st Aug 2010

Hi David

Firstly - good luck on Sunday. I'm doing Lough Neagh tomorrow instead.

I'd arrive in good time before the race. Give yourself a couple of hours if you think you can. It gives you a chance to soak up the atmosphere, look at the other (better) bikes and get a bit of a spin on the bike before you have to rack it. You can check out the transition area and the general lay of the land in a reasonably relaxed manner. I would certainly have my transition set up before the race brief - these tend to be quite close to the start on the ones I've done so you don't want to be rushing about in a panic trying to get your bike and shoes all set and be flustered for the start. I expect you have heat starts given it's a pool swim. You will need to be set up before the first heat anyway so you are not getting in the way of people in earlier heats getting on and off bikes.

I swim a lot and it doesn't really matter what you wear on a wet pool deck - it's slipy.  I cannot see a pair of trainers or flip flops doing anything more than give you a false sense of grip. That's just my opinion. I did Limavady in May, which was a pool swim. The distance to run on the pool side was minimal, so it wasn't an issue. I don't know  what the form is for Lisburn. They may well be offering advice from experience. But I've been a swimmer for 30 years ...
Of course you may be required to run over some uncomfortable cinders or something like that and it's not a slip issue at all. In which case take something with you in case, and use the pre-race reccy to make your mind up.

Other useful info. It's a sprint. Give 'er dixie. And make sure you enjoy it. My wife tells me I looked like I was going into shock at the end of my first. I still enjoyed it.

All the best

Mark