I recently started training for a triathlon as well. I ended up going with a Trek 1500, it ran me right over $1000. Then I got the clip in pedals, shoes, bike rack for the car, shorts, etc which all ended up adding on probably around $500.

I went to most of the major bike shops in San Antonio; Bicycle Heaven, Bike World, Ride Away Bikes, etc. My two top bikes were the Trek 1500 http://www.trekbikes.com/bikes/2004/road/1500.jsp#largerview and Felt F80 http://www.feltracing.com/06/06_bikes/f80/, I think. I ended up going with the trek because it rode really nice and I liked the color, blue. The Felt bike was bright yellow.

Both Felt and Trek had bikes that were less expensive than mine, I know the basic Trek bike started around $650 I think, same for felt. I also looked at a few bikes made by specialized. Overall I felt like I was getting the best bang for my buck from trek. But all of the stores that I went to were super helpful. I just had to keep reminding myself that I didn't need to buy the best and spend a lot of money, that was my biggest obstacle to overcome.

What everyone told me though was to look at the components that come with the bike and that you'd much rather now sink a little bit more money into the bike than go back and start adding things 6 months from now because by the time you add so much stuff to the bike after a while it's just better to buy a new bike that has it all.