how much rest before a race?

Are you following any specific training plan?  If so, then there will be adequate rest and recovery periods built in the week or two before the race.  It's known as "tapering."

If not, I would back off your volume over the next two weeks.  Maintain your intensity, but jsut shorten things up and make sure to get enough rest and recovery in between efforts.

I personally take at least the day before a race completely off.  Longer races I will even take two.

Thanks for the reply.  I'm sort of following one of the training schedules listed.  i've slightly modified one to be more swim intensive as i'm a horrible swimmer.  I've started to taper off my training this week by 20% or so and then 40% or so next.  I'm wondering if i should completely take 2 days off before the race.  I'm not sure if it will be more beneficial or worse off for me as my body feels pretty tired already.

Just follow the plan. You'll probably feel better as the race gets closer. As a rule of thumb, you want to err on the side of too much rest in the days preceeding a race than too much. So, if you're still feeling tired during those final days before the race, rest up, or switch things up.

I, personally, am more apt to take off the day two days before the race, and the day before get in a short ride and run, both with some pickups thrown in. But I recommend you do what the plan says and what feels right to you. Everybody's different.

GOOD LUCK!!

One day before a sprint.  Hopefully, you have been incorporating a day off each week in your training already.

I always feel sluggish the few days leading up to a race when tapering - that's just part of it.  You have been doing intense workouts for a long period and to cut back may leave you feeling a little "off" I should say.  I have always done less overall work, but the same intensity leading up to a race - this keeps me fresh and my confidence up.  Generally the day before I do about 300m in the pool, 15-20 minutes on the bike and a mile run.  I like to go through everything I'm going to do the next day in my mind - it really helps.

If the race is on Sunday, I would take Friday off (if you are taking a day off), do something limited similar to the above on Saturday and you should be good to go!  Alot of it is experience as some people may prefer taking the day before off.

I actually did a 56m bike ride last year at a moderate pace the day before an Olympic Distance race and had one of my best races ever - obviously it was not a race I was gunning for, I was plannign on training through it.  However, up until then I had been tapering TOO much before races - this is extreme, but I have since started doing more than usual the week of the race and have been racing a lot better.