Sprint Triathlete going to Olympic and Half Ironman

Hi all -

I'm a 3 time sprint triathlete and I'm looking to start expanding out. This year my focus was on nutrition and weight loss, so I didn't sign up for any races (I also have a big home project underway and didn't want to commit to anything!). I've lost 30 pounds and am still going down, I was an Athena and I'm now about to cross the threshold where I won't be anymore. This year I've been training hard on bike and run, and need to start picking up the swim again as I head towards next year. First swim scheduled for tomorrow to get back at it .

I have been pretty happy with the sprint triathlons - really enjoyed training and doing them. However, I am more interested in doing longer distances. In order to get there - I hope to get some pointers on a few things:

- What to look for when signing up for my first Olympic and Half Iron races - any types of terrain, support, or other information I should be considering for my first ones?
- Nutrition! I've been doing a lot of reading on this. For my sprints I basically just hydrated and did nothing else. My last sprint that didn't work well for me - I felt it in the run. Really want to make sure I improve in this area. My stomach is somewhat sensitive, and I'm nervous about gels. Any "natural" options that people have used that work really well?
- Wetsuits. I've just be doing a tri suit. As a go to the longer distances, is a wetsuit a must? I've never swam with one so I probably don't know what I'm missing.

Looking forward to becoming a more active participant in the community. Thanks in advance for any cross-links you can give for some of the information above!

- Cat Robson