cold weather racing

The temps for the race on Saturday are going to be a bit nippy - low to mid 50s. I did a ride last week when the temps were about 50 and my knees were very stiff afterwards for the rest of the day. Looking for suggestions to ward off this stiffness, worried it will impact my run. I bought some knee warmers, but T time would suffer if I put them on after the swim. I was also thinking about some sports cream or something, but was concerned about what that would do to my wetsuit.

Ideas, anyone? Thanks.

Larry