First time tri nerves and questions killing me. (Page 2)

First off, I'd suggest not worrying about your placement on your first triathlon.  You'll learn a lot about pacing, transitions, etc., just by doing this one.  You'll have plenty of races later when you can worry about placing high, and you may very well place high on this one. 

I'd start out particularly slow on the swim (cold water can really take your breath away) and build speed once you're feeling comfortable.  On the bike go fast, but make sure you can hold the pace and save a bit for the run.  On the run go at the fastest pace you can sustain for 20 minutes. 

I don't consider myself fast, and I'm probably 30 years older than you, but in sprint I expect to swim at about 1:40 or better per 100 meters (8:20 for 500 meters), I expect to ride over 22 mph on a flat course this year, and run around 6:50 per mile for a 5k on a flat course.  My swim times are respectable in most triathlons (the real swimmers can beat me easily, but I'm often in the top 10% overall).  The fast guys in my AG (45-49) and any other AG for that matter can beat me handily on the bike (23+ mph) and whip me on the run (6 to 6:30 miles aren't usual in my AG, and faster in younger AGs).  I place well when the fast guys don't show up!

Brian

Brian 

Of all the sprint tri results I've found the fastest people are about 10 minutes tops in a sprint distance swim.  I'm assuming 700 meters.  I can't see where any results show a racer swimming a time of 5 minutes.  Not that it doesn't happen I just haven't seen that yet.

You're not comparing apples to apples.  Some sprint races will do a distance of 700 meters, some 750, some 800, some 500.  You just can't compare without knowing the distance of the race.  In addition, bike distances are different as well.  Your sprint lists 11, the first one I'll do this year is 14 and I've seen 12 tossed in as bike distances in sprints as well.  

I tried to find last years results but couldn't. The winning time depends entirely on who shows up (as others have said). Two things from my perspective: First, the fast guys in tris I have done can be VERY fast. A good bike average for an 11 mile ride might be in the 25+mph range (one sprint race I did, the winning bike time was 36 mins for 15 miles and the 5K run time was 17 mins. This was NOT an elite race either...just some really fast people racing). Second, don't underestimate the run after biking under race conditions. I know you've trained this but racing is different. Either way, good luck. Try not to stress about your position in the race and just race as hard as you can. And enjoy it. Its your first one!

If it's a chip-timed race (which it seems like most are), your time will not start until you cross the starting line/starting mat.  So, you can hang back and wait for the rush of people to get going before you without being penalized.

Couple of comments on this one.  This race's equivelant was my first tri last year, you can check my race report for details. The course bike map looks a little different, I think we had 3 laps around the village.  

One suggestion that might help is to remove your entire wetsuit after the swim if the transition and swim start layout are the same. The end of the swim and the start of the run were at least a quarter mile apart. You'll be totally dry after that and it's harder to get the wetsuit off.  It was August when I did the race so didn't have a wetsuit on.

The results page from the Lake Las Vegas tri last year can be found at : http://www.sunsetracing.com/llv-race-results. 

Ironman, Half-Ironman, and Olympic/International distance races are pretty well defined, but that doesn't always tell you much. 

A sprint triathlon is really anything else, and they're generally shorter than an Olympic distance race.  One of the "Sprints" in our area was a 1.5 mile swim, a 20 mile bike, and a 6 mile run.  (Yes, the race director for that race was a former swimmer. )  He wanted something where the fastest finishers were about equal on all three splits (in this case, 40-45 minutes). 

I've done sprints where the swim was as short as 500 yards and as long as 800 meters.  Times may (or may not) include the run from the water to the transition area.  In my races, this run was usually 100-200 yards, but I've seen races where this run was over a quarter mile.  I've also seen or heard of sprints where the swim is 200 or 250 yards. 

If there IS a start mat/line, which in most cases, there is not. At least not in the triathlons I've done - running races, yes, there is usually a starting mat that you cross. If it's a wave swim start, your timing chip goes off when your wave goes. If it's a pool start, you are given a seed time, at which your timing chip goes off. That's why with pool swims, even if there are people who don't show up in the slots before you, they still make you wait until it's "your" slot.

Around here it's all in-water starts.  No beach starts where you run across a mat (clock starts) then into the water.  The clock starts when the gun goes off for each wave.  Don't know about the OPs race, though.

Brian

http://multirace.com/

click on event results and pick a triathlon you will see all the racers results.  these are all florida races.

to give you an idea winners of the sprints i have done:

Tradition Triathlon - 42:50  (1/4 m, 10m, 2.5m)

Mack Cycle Trilogy - 48:01 (1/4m, 10m, 3.1m)

American Financial - 44:02 (1/4m, 10m, 2.5m)

CAUTION:  these are elite men but just showing you what times you are looking at. 

My thinking was that, especially as a first-timer, he may not want to dive right into the scrum in his first OWS and add wrestling to race jitters and cold water. A well planned and rehearsed T1 could easily make up that 15-20 seconds on most of the field.

If you want to keep out of the scrum, but not give up too much time waiting for the group to start.....begin off to the side but towards the front.  That way, you've got a little room and you can still sprint out front if you're feeling good....or you can start slow and relaxed, and then move towards the middle once the group spreads out a bit.