What is considered a fast/avg 100 yard swim?

It is all relative to where you are. I say improving 30" in a 1000 yd TT is great no matter where you started.

You might check on the internet in your area using "triathlon race results" or some reasonable facsimile thereof.  You can see the splits of people who have raced events you might be considering racing in, or at least get a good barometer of what people can do in these races, with regards to 100m/y splits.  For mere mortals such as myself, I consider anything under 2:00/100m as a "good" time.  That will vary slightly depending on the athlete, tide, crowd, current, jelly fish, and of course, the length you are swimming.

Chris

Same here 

Not really.  The swim is the great equalizer.  The top men and women come out of the water in very similar times (depending on race distances).

There were even a few Ironman races where there were pro women first out of the water (even ahead of the pro men).

I'd agree that anything in the 1:10 - 1:20 range will have you in the top 10% of the field.

When looking at times, be carefull at the races you are comparing too. You will see different times depending where the race are. Local smaller races in the country will have slower times than races in the bigger cities. If you look at the Lifetime Fitness Series race, you will have some very fast times.

Traditionaly, your typical races will be in the sub 1:15's/100's for a top 10. So I would have to agree with earlier post.

agreed.   My first tri had a significant uphill run/walk to the T1 timing mat after exiting the water.  must've been close to 1/4 of a mile.  the time spent getting to that mat was included in the swim time.

Based on my local race experience.

Average pace for 800 - 1600 yards 

2:00 is average, 1:45-1:30 is good, Under 1:30 is fast. 

If you are just talking a single 100yard swim, then you are probably talking 1:00 for fast

ALSO, lots of people wear a wesuit for the race and not in the pool.  So times could be about 10seconds/100 faster in the race results (more for MOP'ers and less for elite racers).  I assume that I will swim 5 to 10 seconds faster/100 during a race than any time trial I do in the pool - tested by wearing my wetsuit a couple times in the pool during a workout.

I also don't push off the wall as hard as I could.  I don't want the advantage, and it sometimes messes up my goggles unless they are really tight.

Don't forget that you can go hard during the swim and then won't have as much left for the bike and run. In the grand scheme of things, being 30 seconds behind in the swim but swimming efficiently and then passing the fast swimmers during the last stages of the run is better than shaving off that time in the swim by kicking too hard and wasting precious energy.