Triathlon - first race Sunday

Well, its finally here my first race.... am I ready...Well hope so... One last question before the race is I train with my HR monitor on and don't know if I should take the time to put it on or not. Its a sprint so I guess I should just push myself until I feel like barfing and I don't need a monitor to tell me that. But I have noticed when I am training my mind has a tendency to wander (dam butterflies) and the monitor is a way I make sure I am pushing it. I am not at a winning pace so should I just put it on or use the barf-o-meter method?

Although I train with my HRM, I don't use it while I race because I like to keep my transitions as simple as possible. But if you think your mind will wander during the race, it may be a big benefit to you. Maybe use it in conjunction with your barf-o-meter (I love that term!).

If you have been training with the monitor, you probably have a better sense of your level of exertion than you might think. Go for a run with it and try to guess you HR before looking at your monitor. If you are pretty close, you probably don't need the monitor for a sprint. If it comes to it, the barf-o-meter never fails- EVER!
That said, however, if you feel better with your monitor, by all means use it (as sprocketman suggests).
Good luck!

It's your first race, and you're already going to be running into a whole bunch of new things that you might not have thought of--strapping a hrm is going to be frustrating and will probably take longer than you suspect. Go unplugged, you'll probably enjoy it. If you find yourself wandering, pick something to focus on, like the guy's jersey in front of you: that always gets me focussed.

I used my heart rate monitor for my sprint triathlon. Mine's safe to use in the pool so I just put it on under my swim suit and kept it on the whole time. Of course I didn't look at it while I was swimming, but it was nice to have while I was riding. There was a massive hill on the bike and it was helpful to note what my my heart rate was just before my heart actually exploded...or rather felt like it would!

Congratulations on your race!!
Glad to hear that the monitor turned out not to be a hassle after all (sounds like).
Keep us posted on future races.