What mistakes do you see new triathletes making in our sport?

1. Running too hard too often.  Speed work is the icing on the cake.  Easy and, most importantly, consistent running will get you faster.  Unless you're running 4+ times a week with a base weekly mileage of at least 20 miles, you don't really need to add in much speed work.  At less than 20 miles a week you simply haven't built enough of a base.

2. Thinking long course is the be all end all of triathlon.  Unless you've been in the sport a number of years, you really don't have an appreciation of the time and energy commitment necessary to complete a 140.6 event.  I've done some 70.3's but I've done a lot of sprints.  Sprints are fun, easy to train for, and the recovery cost is pretty low.

3. Not giving the swim adequate attention.  I'm an adult onset swimmer so I know the struggle, but if you want to set yourself up for an enjoyable race you need to devote a decent amount of time to swim training.  Get lessons, swim frequently and vary your speeds and interval distances in training.  If a wetsuit swim is a requirement for you to complete the distance you haven't trained enough.  

1) Showing up at a race without completing a training plan.  Yes, they finish the race.  Yes, they have fun, but I have heard people telling their friends late in the run when things get tough or at the finish that they want to do the race again the following year but actually train for it the next time.  

2) Not doing a run-through of their race/transitions before race day.  I see people on race day asking if they should wear their bike shorts over their swim shorts, or if they should change shorts in T1, and other things that make it obvious they didn't practice for their Triathlons debute.

3) Nutrition.   Some people will show up for their first Sprint Triathlon with the nutrition plan for an Ironman.  Others will show up for their first 70.3 race after doing a few Sprint Triathlons with their Sprint Triathlon fuel plan. 

4) Nutrition.  Some people show up for a 35-mile group ride and can't start the ride until they take their pre-workouts carbs, then they hit the carbs every 10 miles of the ride to keep their energy up.  

5) Nutrition.  I went on a 100-mile ride with a lady whose coach told her not to take any carbs until she was 2 hours into her ride to reduce her dependency on carbs (see #4).  She told me she was on the Keto diet so I was wondering why she was taking carbs after two hours instead of some type of avocado drink.  I asked her more about her diet because the guy that got me into the sport was on the LCHF (Low Carb High Fat) diet and I wanted to learn more about it.  She told me how she ate white rice every Wednesday and a few other things that I knew from the guy that got me into the sport were NOT Keto.  I also knew people that said on their KETO diet they had to substitute their carbs out for fruit and whole grains.  Hmmm???

6) Not taking rest days.

7) going too fast at the beginning of the race. 

Not that any of those things are wrong from the get-go (except #5) just that they are things that they will change as they figure things out and find better ways to do stuff.   

Ha! No, I don't coach.  My comments are just personal opinion.  I've been training and racing since 2013.  I like to race.  Sprints afford me the opportunity to race fairly often.  I have several training friends that have completed 140.6 races so I know the time and financial commitment they require.   I train enough that I'm confident I could complete a full; however,  I have too many other hobbies that would have to be shelved to adequately prepare to "race" a 140.6.