1500m = 1640 yds
1.2 mi = 1980 yds

Entirely possible the course was the right length and you just sighted terribly. By zig zagging its pretty easy to rack up a lot of extra yards.

If you are pushing an hour for 1500m, you are not a good swimmer and usually that means have a harder time swimming straight and therefore much more likely to be zig zagging and picking up those extra yards as well.

Also, from other reports, the course may have been a hair long, but slight mismeasures happen, a LOT, even in IM branded races, the nationals, etc.

I swam two seperate halfs this year. Time on one was 29:30 and I was the only one to go sub 30, time on the other was 23:30ish (dont remember the exact seconds) and several otherss had times in the 23 range. I SHOULD be right about 24:30-25, so course A was a bit long, and course B was a bit short. Point is: it happens. Buoys blow, etc.

Davejustdave,

thanks for the reply. Agreed about my swimming, I suck. My question is more along the lines of: Should I have swam around the yellow buoys or swam around the red one?

I will be checking my Ambit2 later today.

if they didn't move the red buoy from Saturday, and you did two loops, you swam 1.2 miles :) Or 2357 yards if you believe my Garmin.

Mblocher,

I doubt anyone knows if the red buoy was moved. This was my first triathlon, shortened to a swim-athon. I just wanted to finish in under 4 hours. I will get back to working on my so-called swim technique.

thanks,

just checked my Garmin from yesterday and it reads 1539 yards. I swam around the red buoy at the far end both times, total time for my swim was 24:06

---

Mike Plumb, TriPower MultiSports
Professional Running, Cycling and Multisport Coaching, F.I.S.T. Certified
http://www.tripower.org

Mike,

Thanks for checking. Wow! I am slower than I thought. I didn't think that was possible.

Don't get discouraged. You probably did swim closer to the 1.2 miles. As I said, the slower you are swimming, usually the less straight you track.

Practice sighting in open water, and work on that technique. Youll get there.

And an oly is a lot to bite off for a first tri. Maybe sign up for a sprint in the spring with a shorter swim and an oly in the mid summer.

Keep at it and dont get down if your swim progress is slow. That's 100% normal

davejustdave,

I thought I could get thru the swim to get to the bike and run. Thanks for the encouragement, I will definitely continue with my training.

Hire a 1-on-1 a swim coach. Guessing you have a weak kick, and poor body position (swimming uphill). Even a crappy stroke would not be that slow.

Besides a faster swim split, you would be conserving a lot of energy. You do not want to swim poorly for an hour, then jump on a bike. You'll find your energy levels depleted too much.