What are average times for a sprint triathlon?

Question

I am training for a sprint triathlon. What are average times for a 1/2 mile swim, 12 mile bike and 3 mile run? Thanks

Answer 1

The winning time will be about an hour and ten minutes.

If I were doing it - I usually end up in the top of the bottom third (two thirds of people are faster than me) - I would do it in about an hour and thirty-five minutes.

A pretty decent swimmer can shot for 15 minutes on the swim - a really good swimmer can go faster.  Most of the people at the events are not swimmers first - so their swim times are slower - shoot for 20 minutes.

A decent bike rider will maintain about 18 mph on the bike - giving a time of 40 minutes for 12 miles.  A really good bike rider will go faster.  Don't use a mountain bike - get a bike with the light, skinny tires - it makes a big difference.

A really fast runner can do 3 miles in 15 minutes.  Alot of really good runners can get under 20 minutes.  You should shoot for about 25 minutes.

Some of the time in these events takes place in the transitions - when you get rid of your wetsuit and get onto the bike - and get off the bike and get ready to run.  The really fast triathletes get these times to like 40 seconds or less.  A normal person will do somewhere around two minutes each time.  Depending on how winded you are - or how much you take it easy between events - this time can add several minutes to your final time.  People use tricks for getting their transition times down.  I have a squirt bottle of water to clean off my feet - instead of toweling them.  Don't wear socks - the distances are all really short.  Some people have their bike shoes already clipped onto the bike - and get on and start riding - velcoring their feet in as they go.  Some people get special pull-ties for cinching their running shoes tight (instead of spending the time to tie them).  I am slow enough that I don't worry about this extra time - but if you are competetive and want to eke out thos extra minutes and seconds, there are some things you can do.

If you break 1 hr 25 minutes - you are doing pretty well.

Have fun ! ! ! !

Answer 2

On point the contributor before made on wearing socks - this is optional, agreed, but unless you are used to cycling or running without socks, or you have tough feet that don't blister easily, or you have some tricks to make sure you don't get blisters (vaseline in you shoes, etc), then wear socks. Make sure you have some talc in your socks and shoes, and this should make getting your wet feet into them easier - my transtion zone is like a snowfield when I come out of the swim - but - I never have blisters....choice is yours.

Don't worry about your time - pace yourself, just do the race, and analyse your times afterwards, and see where you can improve - I knockled 2m30sec of my first sprint time by doing the transisitions properly and pacing myself against times I know I can do.

If you think you need to calculate what you might do in the race, add up your best times for the swim, bike, run as separate events, and add 2-3 minutes on for transistions, and you will have an optimal target time. The reason why I say optimal, is because you will probably be able to do a run on its own in a good time, but think of running that fast after doing a swim and then a bike - fair to say that the run will be slower after doing that before. And on the swim - my best swim times come mid way through a 1 hour swim session, but you rarely have luxury (of the stamina) to do a 30 min warm up before a tri swim, so factor that in as well - the bike will be about right compared to your optimal time (at least mine is, but I really got for it on the bike) - Also, the event you are doing propbably has a past results archive - so look at that.