When I posted about my most recent triathlon, I mentioned that it was a course PR. Someone asked me if it was my sprint PR as well. And the answer is… well, not really. Triathlon PRs, primarily at the sprint distance, are a different animal and hard to compare.
Obviously, courses are different. You can have hilly and flat sprint triathlons. You can have pool swims, swims in a calm lake, swims in a moving river, or swims in the ocean. But the terrain of the course of a running race varies too.
The big difference that a lot of people miss is that the sprint distance isn’t always standardized. From what I understand, the “standard” sprint distance is approximately a 750m swim, 12.4 mile bike, and 5k run.
How does that compare to my triathlons this year?
Dragonfly Heart – 400m swim, 10 mile bike, 2 mile run
Fort Ritchie – 750m swim, 15 mile bike, 5k run
Iron Girl Columbia – 1000m swim, 16 mile bike, 3.3 mile run
So none of them fall into the standard distance (though Fort Ritchie is close). And because of the variations in distances, I can’t really compare them. Each race is distinctly different, not only because of terrain but because of distance. It’s like comparing a 5k race and a 5 mile race and saying which one is your PR.
Therefore, if you ask me today what my sprint triathlon PR is, I will just shrug.
The difference in distances is also important to note when you’re signing up for a race. Make sure you check out those distances before you sign up for a sprint. Iron Girl Columbia had a swim that was more than twice the distance of Dragonfly Heart, and both are billed as sprint races. A number of women during Iron Girl Columbia seemed shocked at how far the swim really was and some complained that it was mismeasured. Based on my swim time, I’d say it was just fine. They just hadn’t realized that sprint distance swims aren’t all the same.
I like the variation in distances. Each race is challenging in a different way. But it’s good to know what I’m up against when I reach the start line.