I did my first triathlon on the weekend. I consider myself a much better runner than I am a swimmer or cyclist, but in this event my times, in comparison to others, indicate that my swim was my best leg, bike next, and run last. I guess this comes down to inexperience and burning up too much in the first two legs and saving nothing for the run. The other thing I learned, however, is how thirsty you can get in 45 minutes or so of exercise after a salt water swim. Silly me didn't have a drink on the bike, so had to wait until half way through the run leg to quench my thirst. Next triathlon is this weekends BRW Corporate Triathlon, and there will DEFINITELY be a drink waiting for me on my bike!

Drinking on the bike is very important, i find that if I don't take enough fluid on the bike I will cramp up severly towards the end of the run.

Congratulations on your first Triathlon Dominator.

Drinking is very important and I would have imagined you would practice this in your training if you are doing any 'brick' sessions.

Being dehydrated really takes it's toll on your endurance so yes I suspect your run would have been affected by this.

Best luck with your next one!

Hi Dominator,
Welcome to triathlon. Yes, drinking on the bike is very important, and I think it is a rule in triathlon that you have a drink bottle on your bike, but I may be wrong. I think some fall into the trap that sometimes you don't sweat on the bike as much because the wind can cool you down, and you forget to take a drink. Also after a salt water swim it is good to rinse the mouth out with fresh water.
I find that triathlon is all about pacing yourself over whatever distance, but it is very easy to burn out on the bike and not have enough in the tank for the run. I all comes together with pracice. Good Luck in your next race.

Yes, I know I should have been practicing with a drink on the bike. My excuse is that the triathlon was quite short (500m swim, 15km bike, 4km run). I didn't specifically train for it, just relied on fitness from running to get me through. I figured that it was going to take me around an hour to do the triathlon, and I'd never bother carrying a drink on a one hour run. If there was a rule requiring a drink bottle on the bike, it wasn't policed at this triathlon. You live and learn I guess.

As you've learnt, drinking on the bike is perhaps the MOST important nutritional/hydration strategy of a triathlon. Apart from your needs after the swim and during the ride itself, most importantly, it's what sets you up for the run - you'll never be able to catch up with your hydration needs on the run if you've scrimped while on the ride.

A couple of techniques that a lot of guys use are to set a reminder alarm on your watch - like the sort you might use for interval training. Set the watch to go off on 5 minute or 10 minute intervals for example - this will remind you to drink (sip), and to drink often.

Another good little tip after long salt-water swims is to have a packet of mints waiting for you in Transition (tic-tacs are common, but mentos are great if you prefer chewy). Combined with your first mouthful of freshwater, the mints will totally clear that salty residue from your mouth. It's a tip I picked up from quite a few IM competitors.

I find a good stiff drink sometimes calms my nerves :D .

But I would never drink and ride. That's just plain irresponsible ;)

I have a habit (on the longer swims) of always having a small chuck after the swim leg due to the incredible amount of salt water I have consumed. That makes it really easy to remember to drink lots on the bike because I have to get the taste out of my mouth. :)

The key is to not wait until you are thirty because that is a sign of dehydration. So drink before hands.
I don't really drink that much either the reason is that I can't really run and drink at the same time, so to prevent me from slowing down, I usually skip drinks stations.