The answers depend on a couple of factors:

1) How long will this distance take you to complete?

2) What is your recent longest training session (in time)?

If your longest training session compares to the time you expect to race, and you made that session on nothing more than water, then do the race on water. If you expect it to take 90 minutes or more, consider some form of nutrition (most likely a carb drink).

As a point of reference, my Oly times were on the order of 2 hours. However, I routinely did multi-hour training sessions (biking mostly, but quite a few runs approaching two hours). Unless I was in the 3 or more hour range for a ride, I used nothing more than water in training. So I raced on water only. Occasionally I'd do sprints with nothing at all. Your mileage may vary.

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The question you asked is somewhat loaded in that your body is different from others and it really depends on how long (time period) you will be racing

The race you described and being that its your first will probably take you a little more than an hour and most people say the body needs some type of nutrition if you will exercise over an hour. I am not a nutritionist but I will make a crack at helping you. I would eat or drink a carbohydrate rich breakfast a few hours before the start of the race. Depending on how your body feels with food in it depends on what time and the type of carbohydrates to include with the pre race meal. Complex carbohydrates will be best but take longer to digest, therefore I would eat them at least two hours before and hydrate but not overhydrate with a carbohydrate rich drink before the race. My goal is to have my body fuel level on full but not my stomach. I usually use one water bottle on my bike with cut (diluted) gatorade, use whatever type of simple (basically sugar) carbohydrate drink you like preferably in a diluted form. I have tried using one gel towards the end of the bike I don't know if this helped. (The sprints in my area are generally 800m swim 20 mile bike and 5K run ). I don't know how long exactly it takes the body to put simple sugars such as gels and the such to work but I would guess about ten minutes so if this is correct I would say that eating or drinking anything inside of ten minutes from the finish is not usable during the race but may help recovery.

I won't say this is the only way (or even the best way) to go but this is what I do.

Morning meal 3 hrs before race, don't overeat. I eat 2 pancakes, a small bowl of cereal and glass of water.

45 min before race I start my warmups and eat a power bar plus water.

1 gel on bike plus 30oz of water. (1 aerobottle full)

Suck down as much water that I can in 5 sec at T2.

Drink half a cup of water from every water station on the run and put the rest on my head. (The water, not the cup :)

jaretj

Farrell, First off congratulations on going for your first tri. T2 to the run you'll ask yourself, "how the f*$k did I get into this???" and a 100 yards from the finish you'll be sad its over. I'm not a nutritionist but one thing I can add is make sure you "practice" with your planned racing nutrition beforehand. If your first tri is this weekend and up until now you've been training with just water, then eat what and when you normally eat before a workout and do the race on just water (with MAYBE some cut gatoraid (or other) on the bike). I made a mistake once of taking literally A SIP of acceleraid (I had some left over after filling my Profile Aero Bottle) before the swim and 200 yds into the swim, feeling very strong I also felt (rather suddenly) very nauseous. I made a very basic mistake in that I altered my nutrition from what my body was used to. As an FYI, this is how I practise (and how I race), Rasberry HammerGel with 6-8 oz of water 10 minutes before swim, diluted (1/2 scoop per 12 oz) Acceleraid on the bike and water on the run. Certainly not gospel but it is what my body is used to. Have fun this weekend and best of luck. Post times.

Don't eat anything. In a sprint you are at anaerobic threshold the entire race so you probably won't absorb anything you eat anyway. Maybe if you get a little thirsty you can take down a couple swallows of Gatorade or something on the bike. I don't even bring a waterbottle or cage in a sprint. No way would I take a gel or bar. At that pace will probably get a stich on the run and have to slow down to wash it down with water. No intake works for me. The last two sprints I did, I won.

It is usually too short for a traditional "nutrition plan". However, depending on the length it will be important to:

1. Ensure you are well hydrated 48 hrs before the race and during the race. Eat a normal high carbo meal the night befor ealthough you will probably not really benefit much from that meal it never hurts.

2. Eat lighter breakfast day of. Somethign you are used to. Hopefully you have done some Sat or Sun longer workouts and I would eat what you did then.

3. Make sure you have lighter mix of gatorade or other feed for the bike. Avoid mixing too strong. You will cramp if it is too strong. Just water it down a bit.

4. I would avoid any solid calories 2 hrs before and during. If you need to eat just before or during the race then I would resort to soft calories like gels and fluid drink etc. However, if you have never used gels in the past you may want to stick with G rade etc.

THE GOLDEN RULE..... DONT DO ANYTHING NEW RACE DAY THAT YOU HAVE NOT ALREADY DONE SUCCESSFULLY IN THE WAY OF NUTRITION, CLOTHES, SHOES OR MECHANICAL EQUIPMENT ON YOUR BIKE. Have a blast.

plain H20 is all I take in sprints. anything less than an hour and a half for me and it's just water. I'm going to hard in a sprint to effectively digest anything I put in my stomach.

I've done basically no swimming, a few two to three hour bike rides and lots of high mileage running, my long runs being around 13 miles. My training was for college cross country. I have no idea what to expect for the swim, but I'd like to finish the run in under 19 minutes and the bike portion in under 35.

Also, what should I wear during this things? I don't have a pair of tri specific shorts, should i definetly get a pair or can i substitue a normal pair of biking shorts?

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I'm a runner pretending to be a Triathlete

I'll second Freedie's comments. A sprint is way too short to worry about "in-race" nutrition. Use a weak solution of gatorade or some carbo/electrolyte drink or just water and make sure that you hydrate and eat well leading up to the race and eat something light like a a couple of Powerbars for breakfast at least an hour and a half prior to the race start and keep drinking during your warmup. Good luck!

A pair of bike shorts should work fine, don't worry about a shirt of any type unless you use the tight type tri tops you can swim in. Putting a shirt on a wet body is hard and you will loose valuable time, unless ofcourse it is mandated that you wear a shirt.

I just finished my 2nd sprint and sort of screwed up my nutrition on it so I might be able to tell you what NOT to do. The night before, I ate pizza... which has good carbs, but since i've been on such a good diet lately, I think the pizza sat there and I never passed anything before the race. The next morning I ate my usual pb&j and a banana and downed some water. I ate a gel an hour before the race (which I never really used in training) and drank 500ml of straight gatorade (which I typically use after training.) Well, when I started the run, I couldn't catch my breath for practically the whole 5k. I felt totally bloated. It was pretty bad. I don't know if it was overhydration or dehydration or what? Next race I will race on water, eat only easily-digestible carbs for dinner the night before, and just sip water beforehand.

Also, in my first race, I wore a speedo under my wetsuit and put bike shorts and a sleeveless bike shirt on at T1... my T1 was pretty slow, but I ran in those clothes and my T2 was decent. Last weekend I wore some new tri shorts and a tri shirt under my wetsuit. I cut off over a minute on my T1 and my T2 was quick... comparable to the front of the pack. Tri clothes are expensive, though, and if you are just planning on finishing, like I was in my first race, you'll do just fine (and maybe feel more comfortable) in clothes you already have.

Good luck!

I will join my first sprint race.i was hesitating whether eat something or not. I think,i wil go with this tactic.eat/drink little,but sufficient energy for a good tempo running. Your tactic is great.

Sprint tri = ZERO nutrition.

You are not going to bonk in a 1-1.5 hr event.

Don't overeat nite before.
Breakfast - something light and easily digestible, 2-3 hrs prior to race.

Anything on/in your gut any later than that may come back to haunt you during the race.

Maybe have a water bottle you can sip from pre-race, just to keep dry mouth away.
If you want a half-full water bottle on the bike for the same reason, that's fine, but likely unnecessary.

Less is more. Don't overthink it.

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float , hammer , and jog

I agree with others. Stick with the KISS principle.

I will usually take a few sips of water on the bike (especially if it's warm - cold water just is refreshing for me) and grab water on the run just to swish and spit out to avoid cottonmouth.

Other than that nothing.

Thread from 2003?

I abandoned that routine long ago. Now I eat 2 pop tarts on the way to the race and a bottle of Gatorade/Infinit with it. If I'm especially hungry I'll eat another pop tart.

For a sprint race, I start my warm up 30 min before the race with a 10 min jog, eat 1 gel afterwards, swim for 5-10 min, eat another gel before the swim start. On the bike I'll eat 1 gel, maybe another if I want to and drink to thirst (which normally means up to half a bottle). On the run I just run and don't take anything.

Quoted from August 3 2003:

I won't say this is the only way (or even the best way) to go but this is what I do.

Morning meal 3 hrs before race, don't overeat. I eat 2 pancakes, a small bowl of cereal and glass of water.

45 min before race I start my warmups and eat a power bar plus water.

1 gel on bike plus 30oz of water. (1 aerobottle full)

Suck down as much water that I can in 5 sec at T2.

Drink half a cup of water from every water station on the run and put the rest on my head. (The water, not the cup :)

jaretj

Eat breakfast that consists of

1. Small amount of Protein
2. Small amount of Carbs
3. Small amount of Fat

Example: White rice, scrambled eggs and half an avocado

Do this 2-3 hrs prior to your wave start and you'll be fine. Sip electrolytes prior to race just to keep mouth moist. Lastly don't over eat the night before and have your last solid meal before 7pm.... That's it.

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"Train so you have no regrets @ the finish line"