Re: Paulo: Ok kinda creepy... Just kidding ;-)

Your little pep talk helped, it did. Kinda like having someone to whom you are accountable...

And K's forgiven you ha ha

AP

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"How bad could it be?" - SimpleS

So you were hoping to swim under 1:30 and swam a 1:14? Pretty darn good. Can I ask why you thought it was appropriate to start front and center on the swim? I know you said it worked well for you, but how does that affect the people who try to appropriately self-seed so that the swim isn't a cluster/fight/dangerous? I can see why this would casuse aggression amongst faster swimmers who may have started in an appropriate location

The whole point of self seeding is just that: I get to choose where the heck I start my swim. Personally I prefer to be passed than to do the passing and I have no illusion that the faster more aggressive swimmers will pass me just fine.

If faster swimmers want to start where I did, they should have just come and stood there about 3 minutes before the race started. That's when I ended up standing where I was.

AP

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"How bad could it be?" - SimpleS

Also, if my original post was misleading, but I wanted to beat my 1:30 from IMWA in 2005 at a minimum, which was an ocean swim in absolutely horrendous conditions. For IMC I was expecting between 1:10 and 1:20, so pretty bang on.

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"How bad could it be?" - SimpleS

I have no illusion that the faster more aggressive swimmers will pass me just fine.

First all, congrats on a great race. I would just like to point out that people who don't self seed properly is a huge pet peeve of mine. Nothing like trying to break 40 min on a 10 k only to have to dodge the people running 10 min/miles who start at the front. Swims are worse because of the poor visiability.

I am a fast swimmer, but when I run into someone slow it breaks my rhythm. I have to look up, chose which side, hope they don't kick me, etc. Last race, I lost my draft mule because of a 2 second delay of running into a slower swimmer.

I guess if you get there early and are aggressive and pushy, you have the right to be there, but people have the right to drive slow in the fast lane too. Doesn't make it less annoying.

FWIW, I managed to have a reasonable amount of space for the majority of the swim. I wasn't crowded except at the turn buoys. It seemed that most people around me were swimming at a similar pace. I passed a bunch of people, and noticed a few passing me (obviously these are the passers/passees that are close enough to notice). At the Oliver 1/2IM, with 1300 swimmers, I started much further back and found I was passing a lot of folks. Not at IMC. I don't think I mis-seeded myself at all. If I was 1hr or better, I would have been at the RH side, at the buoy line. But I'm not, so I didn't. You would have been at the buoy line. Every strong swimmer at IMC lines up there, or pretty darn close.

I agree mis-seeded people can be annoying. I actually do try to not mis-seed myself, and again, based on how much (little) traffic I encountered during that swim, I think I was pretty close. Sorry if the other posts led you to belive that I actually enjoy pissing people off... that's what the LR is for, right? ;-)

AP

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"How bad could it be?" - SimpleS

Bravo! I think I saw you on the bike! :0)

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Painting training always ...

Pics. These are an amalgamation of photos from three different people including me. You may see people you recognize. we took over 500 shots but didn't include all of them.


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Your race report was very inspiring (ok, and a little scary). Well done! Congratulations!

Thanks! Yeah, no one ever wants you-know-who to show up on race day, let alone Ironman race day... all I know is those poor shorts got burned post-race.... ;-)

AP

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"How bad could it be?" - SimpleS