First Triathlon - Beginners Questions

For a sprint (really, any tri shorter than an Ironman) expect to swim, bike, and run in the same outfit because there won't be a place to change. 

Yes, whatever you wear under your wetsuit will get wet. 

For transition, you'll have enough space for your bike and not much else.  Expect the next bike to be almost touching your handlebars, so that's really all the "space" you'll have.  You can put your helmet on the handlebars.  Set your bike shoes and running shoes (if you're not biking in running shoes) under the bike.  If you want a hand towel to wipe off your feet, lay it across the handlebar or top tube. 

I did my first two tri's wearing swim trunks, running shoes, and pulling an old cotton t-shirt on in T1.  Tri shorts or a tri-suit are nicer, but not required if you don't want to spend the $$. 

I will be at the Hawk Island Tri in Lansing.

Good luck!

http://www.trisports.com/triathlon-clothing.html

This will give you a ton of different things to buy.  You can find something that peaks your interest and search for it somewhere else also. 

My team wears the TYR stuff.  You can find cheaper stuff too.  Looks like this:

http://www.trisports.com/tyr-m-tank.html

http://www.trisports.com/tyr-m-9-trishort.html

You should wear something tight as mentioned above. For a sprint, you won't want to have to change clothes, because your transition is supposed to be as fast as possible. Whatever you decide to wear, it should be comfortable for all three sports. I suggest you practice your transition during your bricks several times before your race. That really helped me in my first tri as I knew exactly what to do when I got there.

Good luck! Have fun!

In case you haven't already, get some practice time in that wetsuit! Doing a long swim in a wetsuit can be kind of freaky sometimes the first few times. A lot like some people have problems with their open water swims.

Get used to how it can make you float, so you will have confidence in it if you should need to stop and catch your breath with minimal swimming motion, or need to stop and sight.

1) As others have said, some tri specific clothing is the way to go under the wetsuit.  I wear tri shorts and an Under ARmour-type compression shirt.  The tri shorts have padding for the bike but not so much that it'll get soaked and water logged like bike shorts might.  They dry quickly once you hop on the bike.  They also sell one piece tri suits, but they can be a bit pricey.  The tri shorts ran me around $30 - $40 and the compression shirts for as little as $10 at Walmart.  No underwear under the shorts.

2) I don't know of any restrictions on what you're allowed in transition but you want to keep it fairly simple. I also bike in my running shoes.  Helmet on top of the bike, bike goggles in the helmet, socks and shoes laid out on top of a small towel (for wiping sand off my wet feet after the swim) on the ground underneath the bike where you can grab them easily.I also keep a little fuel handy in transition (gatorade, gel) if needed.  In the races I do it pays to have a runner's belt there too with your number on it too for before the run.  Trying to put the number on with safety pins in my first tri was painful and time consuming.

3) Yep bike and run in the same shorts.  See above regarding tri shorts.  If not using tri shorts I would think for a sprint riding the bike in swim trunks/jammers without any padding would be preferable to running in wet bike shorts, which I've not done myself but I've heard is not pleasant.

In the transition area you certainly need your helmet, sunglasses, shoes, socks, etc.  You generally can't bring anything obnoxious in to mark your spot (balloons, chalk, etc.).  You can't bring anything huge in that will impede other racers.  You also cannot bring any glass in - that is typically a DQ offense (one of the few bad no-nos out there).

No, you certainly can do that.  My first tri I didn't have a wetsuit and had an under armour shirt.  I swam in just tri shorts and planned to put the shirt on in t1.  I had the numbers pinned to the shirt beforehand as you are planning.  Putting the shirt on in T1 turned out to be a big headache with the stretching of the compression wear, the race number ripping, the fact that my torso was wet making the shirt harder to get on and so forth.  All kinds of newbie fun.     So for my next tri's I got the wetsuit, shirt on under the wetsuit in the swim, got the race belt and put it on with the race number in T2.  Even in non wetsuit legal races now I wear the shirt in the swim since it's skin tight anyway and do everything else the same after that as with the wetsuit.

A bike jersey will probably work more easily since they don't stretch so much.

As far as my base layer (my undies) I have had good success wearing a brand of light compression short called helo. Not sure if anyone has pointed them out yet, but you can check them out at www.heloclothes.com.

Good luck on your first tri Man - it's a great experience!

Get bungee shoelaces for your running shoes.  that $5 investment will save you a good 30 seconds.  Best bang for the buck of any triathlon item.

Have fun.  Think of it as a big fitness party.