It was my first ironman but I thought I was a couple minutes slower than what I could have done- partly because of fighting through the traffic from earlier waves but probably mostly due to the massive headwind/sidewind coming back and the ocean-like swells at the turnaround.

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Looking at the pro swim splits, the swim swam out long, looks like about 300/400 meters or so.

Monty, the pro swim was no wetsuit (and fresh water), but age groupers had wetsuit. Still seems a bit long.

I've had more stressful swims (mostly I'm just a better swimmer), but the significant waves definitely changed both the nature of my swim technique, and the dynamics of the MOP from my perspective. The furthest section of the course, where swimmers swim parallel to the shore before heading back to the exit, was a freakin zoo. A real mess that created a lot of chaos. (Presumably) average swimmers were reacting to the swells is suboptimal ways. I used far more strength and muscles than should be used in a normal swim.

All Ironmans have their challenges, and IMMT did not disappoint. I was 5 minutes off in the water. But I'm very MOP. Hardly compares to the infamous IM STG 140.6, but tough nonetheless.

It seemed a little long. The swells were nuts. Kind of fun though.

Monty, the pro swim was no wetsuit (and fresh water), but age groupers had wetsuit. Still seems a bit long. //

I assumed all that in my estimate. Swim for top swimming pros in those circumstances should be about 51 or 52..

Started to feel the swells near the end of first section and then obviously really noticed at the far end. Felt like I was swimming in a Great Lake rather than an interior lake. Also seemed very congested at times for us AG's (speaking as someone from a later stage, and most have been really hard for the females).

Sylvan was saying they put the buoys in the same spot every year

An age grouper did swim 49:xx

An age grouper did swim 49:xx

In a wetsuit? What are that persons chops? Lots of AG'ers could be world class swimmers. And they don't swim when the pros do, that is why I like to use pro times for my measure. And I did not say the course was long, I said it swam long, big difference there..

Significant chop on the way back in, probably close to white caps, couldn't tell for sure cause my goggles fogged up

Yes, in a wetsuit. Can't speak to his credentials, but I can say that I find it highly unlikely the age grouper had less challenging conditions than the pro men, given the timing and spacing of the waves. Ridiculously impressive time, for sure

I don't really have a dog in this hunt. I swam 1:00 and expected to swim 56 but that's low on my list of grievances for what turned out to be a disaster of a day for me

This AGer is a swimmer! He finished second in 2014 70.3 Worlds and won Kona the same year in AG 18-24. Pretty good athlete

This was my third time at IMMT and by far my slowest swim. The conditions were definitely a factor at the turn as was having to slalom around earlier swim waves. I really felt bad for the female pros. I would much prefer for the male pros to be given a 15 minute head start, the female pros a 10 minute head start and then the rest of us go off in a rolling start that is self-seeded according to predicted swim time.

Does anyone know how many people did not finish? I can't seem to find that info.

At the brunch today, Mike Reilly said it was around 200 people that did not finish.

I was told by that age grouper's coach on fb that he out swam Javier Gomez at Tremblant 70.3 world's so that gives you more context. He was a better swimmer than the entire pro field.

Monty, I agree with you that the course likely "swam long"

Is that a lot? What is the norm?

They said about 92% completion rate, which seems about normal in my experience.

Not relying on my gps as it read long. I do think the course swam long. It seemed to take a tonne of time on the first turn section across and back into shore relative to the out section. FWIW I came out 5mins slower than expected.

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If he swam with a wetsuit and the pros did not, and it was less than a two minute difference, how was he faster than the pros yesterday? Isn't a wetsuit worth more than a few minutes in an IM swim?

If he swam without a wetsuit, he would have likely done a 52:xx swim right?

What I see in the results is that the lead pack of men pros went 55+. SO giving the dude a very generous 4 minutes(usually close to 3 for pros), he does beat them in this case. Not sure where you got the 2 minute differential. But dude is the real deal it looks like, and perhaps swimming on his own was an advantage over a group that tends to want to stay together. He could have also been going for that swim prime knowing it would be the highlight of his race..

I felt it was long - as I swam 5min slower than last year (and it felt long while I was swimming it, i.e. Before I had chance to see the clock) despite being in slightly better swim shape. That being said, I'm just an average AG swimmer and my year over year personal comparison doesn't mean much.

The real telling stat is comparing pros who swam in both 2015 and 2016 and seeing the delta (yes there needs to be some adjustment for 2015 being wetsuit, though I'm not sure what time adjustment is worth):

1/ Mary Beth Ellis: 0:50:22 in 2015, 1:00:59 in 2016
2/ Jordan Rapp: 0:51:33 in 2015, 58:59 in 2016

I can't believe that 10:30 and 7:30 differentials are entirely attributable to wetsuit + some chop

Cheers,
Erik

Did you at least get any good stories out of it?

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My first IM and I am not a fish, but it was a bit rough and I overshot my expected time by 10 mins.
However, I took it very easy on the swim and came out of the water feeling very fresh, so I made up for it later on.

Was definitely rough from the turn and coming back...