Years ago, my swimming was so poor, I would lose to a peice of driftwood. A lot of work in the pool over the years and I eventually found myself swimming in a crowd! Hopefully, triathlon isn't a "bungee jump" for you and over time, you will improve.

Brett

I'm hoping to do my first tri in 5 weeks or so. As an ex-swimmer, I expect to be front of pack after the swim and to start heading rapidly backwards from then on.

You sir/maam have a home at Team Secondhand Racing.

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customerjon @gmail.com is where information happens.

My swimming gets me out of the water MOP. I'm then always amazed how many people I can pass on the bike but then watch in equal amazement as they all pass me back again on the run.

Definately my running needs a lot more work.

There are a few of us here TriBent. I did a race in November where I was mid to end of pack on the swim, had the second fastest bike split and then on the run went from second in the AG to 20-something with one of the slowest run splits. Some of the boys in the club chatted amongst themselves wondering if I'd done all the laps on the bike, "since no one can be that fast on the bike and that slow on the run." Well heck yes you can!

clm

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clm
Nashville, TN
https://twitter.com/ironclm | http://ironclm.typepad.com

Yes sireee. You have plenty of company here. Back of the pack in all three sports. The best thing about that is that you have no where to go but up.

Dawn

My naive bliss is increasingly being replaced by optimism of being a respectable BOP'er.

At the 1/2IM race, I'm just hoping to not disappear from anyone's sight. I'm hoping for under 6 hours if that tells you anything.

At first I got into this as an ultra-competitive person. The more I do tri-stuff, the more I enjoy it. Training is not merely something to do to reach an end [as it was initially], but training is simply what I do. It is a part of my life, just like work, just like family, etc.

A lot of my opinions towards triathlon and training are changing ... almost weekly.

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-- Every morning brings opportunity;
Each evening offers judgement. --

During a race, after rounding the swim buoy, I noticed out of the corner of my eye that I wasn't getting any farther away from it. I thought I was caught in a current so I started swimming harder. Still no progress. After several minutes of frustration I caught on to what was happening. The lifeguard on the paddle board was bringing in the buoy behind me. Welcome to the BOP.

You might be grumpy, but you're a funny grumpy.

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Andrew

"When will i learn, people do not want to hurt but will spend $500.00 bucks to go four seconds faster." - randall t

You are not alone.

My first tri I was 148 out of 149 out of the water. The only person I beat did the back crawl all the way. I met everyone kayaker that day as I probably swam .6 in what was supposed to be a .4 sprint. However I finished 75th.

My thoughts are that it is better to be the passer than the passee and by being the next to last out of the water I pretty much guarantee that I am not going to be passed by anyone on the bike and very few people on the run.

OK, now THAT is funny!

The first time it will be no problem. You'll be just glad to be there.

The second time you'll notice friends and slowtwitchers' accounts of races differ markedly from yours.

3rd and fourth you'll work to change it.

By the fifth race it gets old.

I am talking about not passing *ANYONE* after you get out of the water.

Being passed by literally HUNDREDS of people at a race while you bike and run. This assumes a few things bu this may be you.

My situation is that I am a way faster swimmer than I should be. My skills and genetics have led me to the front of the pack in the swim. My skills, size, conditioning and genetics lead me to the rear of the pack on the bike and the back of the pack on the run. I am working to change it but it is coming slowly.

But it really doesn't matter as long as you are relatively a good bit faster on the swim than the bike and run then it is likely you won't pass anyone for the rest of the day.

At first it seems OK, but it gets old. It takes some mental strength to go a to a half ironman and not pass anyone for 5 hours +.

In fact, my wife couldn't take it. She is also a back of the pack runner we run together on training runs very often. We did a relay race last year. It was escpae from fort delaware where 98 people or so got pulled because they couldn't make the swim with the current pushing us off course.

Anyway I got out in customary position right up front, handed off to another lady who is a mid pack cyclist and then handed off to my wife. My wife rus like I do and so started getting passed and then never stopped getting passed for the entire 10k. There was one guy cramped up and she thought Oh good I get to pass someone. But apparently he got up and passed her back I think.

Well, she couldn't take it, has told me she'll never do another relay tri with me again. It wa slittle solace to her to say it's like that for me every time I race.

Be strong my swimming friend!

Now here's a topic that I can relate to. Cerveloguy, I'm with you, I pass people on the bike and then they all go by me on the run. Last year, though, was the crowning acheivement. In one race, I flatted twice and walked in with four others (I think there was a lot of glass on the road). We decided to run anyway. I was fourth from last and I even passed someone (turns out he was 71 years old!).

Kevin, I was in the pack that got pulled out of the Delaware. Swam 3/4 of the way across and found out I was pushed 1/2 mile downstream. Spent twenty minutes trying to swim upstream with a guy in a boat laughing the whole time. Finally came over and pulled me in, saying that I was swimming against a 6 knot current. Later talked to a guy who made it across, he said that at the start, he swam upstream and then caught the current into the mouth of the canal. Only good news from that is knowing that I can swim hard for an hour and a half without drowning. Oh, and did you notice that Neil has raised this year's entry by 30%? It went from about $70 to $110? what's up with that? still might do it again, since it was my first race three years ago.

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I qualify as a BOPer too, tribent.......MOP on the swim and then it all goes downhill from there....well for everyone else, I seem to be always going uphill.

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KEEP ON TRI-NG

"My swimming gets me out of the water MOP. I'm then always amazed how many people I can pass on the bike but then watch in equal amazement as they all pass me back again on the run."

That's me almost exactly. Although my swim is a little better than MOP, I'm not close to the lead. I pass vast numbers of people on the bike and then watch many of them go back by me on the run. If I spent as much time working on my biking as I do on my running I would probably be close to winning the bike split, but I would still suck as a runner. It is frustrating to put so much effort into my running and have almost nothing to show for it.

Don

Words is that the permit fees were much higher this year for the race. Heard that through the grapevine though, not from Neil himself.

Easy to see it though, the rescue crew might be like your car insurance, everything is fine until you use them.

As I watched people try to swim upstream in water less than 6 feet deep I wondered why they didn't get closer to the bank and then walk through the shallow water back to the canal. I suppose in the heat of the moment it's harder to think of innovative ways to do things.

You know ... that is precisely how I feel in the water. In both Oly's I did last season I think I finish in the bottom 5% (Overall) for the swim. I start with the babies (23), so I don't have to worry about the bouys catching up to me, but it sure as hell is disheartening to see most of 3 waves pass you, and the leaders of the fourth.

Luckly I get stronger in the later events, I can usually put in a top 25% bike in my AG, and a top 10% AG run. With all this effort I usually can only manage to get back to the the top 1/3 of my AG, this just goes to show how slow of a swimmer I actually am. If only I was a better swimmer, getting better ... got a long way to go though. But it feels better to move up in the field as opposed to back like when I'm swimming.

I was tailed by a police car for about the last 7 miles of the Powerman AL bike course last year but it wasn't for speeding!

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jimmyk

I am in the same boat. I passed my first person last year on the bike. What a great feeling. I must say that not passing a lot of people makes you appreciate each pass all the more. I compensate by trying to reduce the number of people that pass me. On the run I have repassed people who get by me simply because their first pass gives me that little bit of extra motivation.

It's good to see that I'm not alone here, reading this forum sometimes gives me the impresion that everyone is ready for hawaii and have been doing this for ages.

I'm not last up of the water (30 min on 1500 m), but my bike time (1h15-1h30 on 40k) and my "running" (55min-1h10) makes me almost last every time.

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Bent Olav Olsen, recreational triathlete?