Krikland tri

Welcome to Tris! While I cant give a definitive answer if you feel that your swimming is up to par I would say go for the full sprint. Realize that most races have wave starts so everyone (from what I have seen/read) spreads out pretty well and pretty quickly, just stay to the outside so the fastest swimmers of the wave behind you can take to the inside and you should be fine.

If you are really worried about it though and just want to start do the mini/try-a-tri version and have fun with it!

Go for the full sprint distance!!! You CAN do it.  Worst case scenario is you slow up on the swim or swim wide to avoid the crowd. 

Last season in preparing for our first sprint my training partners (all newbies) and I did a couple of "mini tris" both at the pool and at the the local lake.  While we didn't have the chaos of the wave/mass start it helped us get ready for and think about the transitions and get better sense of the physical demands. 

For a guy who couldn't swim more than 25 meters without stopping it made a huge difference to do a couple of short (2-3) goof off sessions in a lake with the wetsuit on.  I quickly realized that I wasn't going to drown and if my breathing/control got out of hand that I could switch to side stroke.  I am still a terrible swimmer but getting better.

My theory is to simply survive the swim and then go fast on the bike and keep up on the run.  At Issaquah one of my training partners beat me in the swim by more than minute but I beat him over all by nearly 6 minutes at the finish line. 

Go for the full sprint distance.  You will be glad you did.

Definitely go for the sprint.  you still have two and a half months to prepare.  There are lots of smaller races that you could do as practice tris.   How about next week?    There is a  race in Elma on Fathers day (near olympia).  It doesn't start until ten am so you don't need to get up really early.

The Elma races are perfect for a first tri.  There is one every few weeks and they don't cost as much as others.  The swim is only 250 yards and the bike and run are mostly flat.  They are smaller races with and lots of food and awards for everyone.

Maybe I will look into one of the Elma races.  I could not find any race reports, so was having trouble deciding if it was worth driving down for one of those.  Right now I am focused on the Rock and Roll half the weekend after next.  If Elma has a july race maybe I will do that.

Thanks for the suggestion.

anytime.