Purpose of sprints?

Some people focus exclusively on getting good at sprint distance races, but a lot of people use them as stepping stones to longer distances, or just do them for a fun training day, because racing is fun.  They also tend to be cheaper and don't require much (if any) time for recovery.

I'm doing my first HIM in 6 weeks, but I'm doing a sprint this weekend just for fun. 

Racing a sprint as fast as you can is a special kind of pain I never suffered in a HIM.  Once you try, you'll realize that even though it is called a "sprint," if you do it right it's not easy.  And no stamina is being built in a sprint. More like breakingdown your muscles very painfully

Many like the distance (sprint and oly).  Many don't want to invest the time required to do HIMs or IMs.

A sprint race is like a gateway drug.  You eventually say "hey, I can do an OLY", then you do the OLY and say "I can do a HIM"...and that's as far as I know right now.

I do not second the Sprints are cheap however...in SoCal I havn't done one yet for less than $100

Look at it this way, if you had to train 15 hours a week for a year to do a IM or HIM, and it totally sucked and you hated it and you busted your nuts for 6-16 hours that day to do it, you would find something else to do.

A sprint takes only 2 or 3 months training 4-6 hours a week to be in shape to finish, and you are done in 1:30-2 hours, much less time commitment, you may actually enjoy it and want to see how fast you can do your next one or train for a longer race, and if you hated it, you only spent a minimal amount of time training, and if you love it, like i did, you find more sprints or move up in distance. I am doing my first OLY next year, and have not decided if i want to go longer..........yet

I am one of those who have no desire to go long - no HIM or IM for me. 

My favorite distance is the oly.  Usually sign up for a sprint in the early season to "warm up".  It's a fun, no pressure race.  Something to look forward to after training blindly for 5 months in the winter. 

Speed vs endurance.  Look at track and field.  Some people excel at the 100 meter race and some people are better built for the endurance of a 10k or marathon. 

~mr

X2

most ppl would not commit to a tri that requires a lot of training, but almost anyone could look at sprint distance and say, i can swim 400m, or i can bike 13 miles, or i can run a 5k... with a little bit of training.

It's not really a matter of speed vs endurance; every triathlon is an endurance event as even the shortest are going to last around an hour.  Speed events are over in two minutes or less (an 800m on the track is the limit for a true speed event for an elite athlete) so comparing a sprint triathlon to a 100m is not a true analogy; a sprint triathlon would be more comparable to a half marathon for most athletes in terms of duration.

I am a short course triathlete (sprint and OD); I've done one long course (HIM) and will probably go back and do another one in the next few years.  IM is nothing more than a passing fancy for me; it has nothing to do with training time (my volume is usually around what many IM athletes are doing - my focus is just different) but my focus is getting as fast as possible over the shorter distances.  IMO, my HIM was a long boring day; maybe as I get fitter and am able to get under 5 hours it will feel more like a race to me but for now I am focused on trying to get under 1:05 for a sprint and 2:10 of an OD.

Shane

Yup! It's difficult to incorporate IM training into an 80-hour work week.

I've been doing sprints and oly exclusively for over 10 yrs.  No desire nor time to go longer.  For me, I'm doing tris for health and fitness, and research shows that training 3-5hr/wk consistently is all that is req'd to reap the cardio benefits of exercise.

And as Shane said, "sprints" are not really like sprints as in 100m dash, it's still an endurance event.

Maybe I'm thinking more in terms of training.  You can train for a sprint with a lot of speed work and intervals but  you need not spend 5 hrs on a bike training your slow twitch muscles like you need to for an IM or HIM and obviously you train differently for a 5K run than a 26.2 mile run.  

Fundamentally, for the shorter distances the focus is on speed....and the longer distances, the focus is on endurance.

~Mike

JohnAgs3 - 2008-10-02 8:13 AM Agreed on many points of the above. I do sprints because they are fun, I love going fast, you can do a bunch of 'em, I can still have a professional career and a family life. Its hard enough with a solid sprint training schedule..I can't even imagine trying to incorporate a HIM/IM plan in there (I can, but I would probably spend a lot of money on divorce lawyers But I also agree with the above comment that "sprints arent easy" and yet...so many people will say to me "oh...that doesnt sound so bad, I thought it was tougher than that". Yea..well, then I'll see you at the swim start! Completing a sprint can be done by just about anyone with some mental toughness and a little bit of training. COMPETING is a different level. So if it doesnt hurt, you arent going hard enough.

Amen brother.

I've done 11 tri's, 9 Sprints, an Oly and a tweener (in between both distances).  I'm getting getting pretty competitive in the Sprints and love em.

I look at it this way and  this is only my opinion. 

Sprints and Oly's, you are redlining everything.  HR.  MPH.  Pace.  Everything.  Pushing it as fast and as hard as you can in that 1:00-1:15 (competitive times).  Getting comfortable with extreme pain.

HIM's and IM's you aren't redlining as much (HR up in the high LTHR area) and the pacing is different.  The pain is different.  It is from extreme repetition over hours and hours.  Sure, there is pain, but it is from blisters, or sore legs from over use, etc.

I got ALL kinds of respect for those that go long.  All kinds.  But I know I don't want to do it.  I love going all out for that short amount of time and just obliterating my legs, lungs and heart.  THAT is my adrenaline rush.