I believe that was the case pre covid. Maybe not the scenario post Covid19 as they work out the covid19 safe challenges?

I remember doing immt one year and the water temp was 58....the swim warm-up was very important. It's interesting that so many things are being implemented for athlete safety due to covid concerns, but not having a swim warm-up area, especially when the water is cold, makes absolutely no sense in this regard:( Feel so bad for those families....

From the Swim Smart page on the IM site:

7. Warm Up on Race Day

• Arrive early enough on race day for a proper warm-up prior to the start, preferably in the water.
• If you aren’t able to warm up in the water, spend between 5 and 10 minutes loosening up your muscles with arm swings and other gentle movements. A light jog or brisk walk can also help increase circulation and prepare your body to race.

I strongly believe in having a warm-up swim area at a race site, but the athlete information guide did state that an "in water warm up swim will not be available at this years event due to safety measures implemented at this venue" and that participants could swim in the lake at/near the race site the two days prior to the race.

My condolences to the family and friends of our fellow athlete who passed away on Saturday.

For me the personal trade off between:

1. dying in the swim impacted by lack of warmup or
2. not dying from contracting covid19 due to having to spead out line up thus cutting off swim warmup

I would prefer the swim warmup and be crammed with masks in line ups that are not distanced, since I will be outdoors with low risk of giving Covid19 to anyone or getting it. I'll take the cold swim warmup area for sure. If I am in the line up for racing this year, it does not mean I want to roll the dice on swim related death any more than normal years.

Totally agree...

Comparing deaths in triathlon to cancer and heart disease is just lazy. Make the comparison to other accidental, unnatural, deaths if you really want to make your point.

F#$% me...no in-water warm ups before races? If this is the case due to the fear of covid, you shouldn't even be having the race. People will end up bunched together anyway.

I brought swim bands to warm up, but they called for everyone who expected to swim faster than 30-something (the speakers on my end of t1 kept cutting out and I could not hear the actual number) to line up like 45 minutes before the start. Caught me by surprise and I had to throw my wetsuit on as fast as I could and did not have time to use the bands.

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Ed O'Malley
www.VeloVetta.com
Founder of VeloVetta Cycling Shoes
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Dan,

I agree! so why doesnt it happen anymore? Or why is the culture of RDs to not allow it?

Having switched to xterra, who still have allowed swim warm ups, is a godsend. It really helps everyone and I have done 4 years worth of xterras and all the major US races and worlds twice... not once has warming up prior been an issue. Folks get out of the water in time and it works so well.

But all "road" or traditional tris, no swim warm up.

Its a best practice and it needs to be adopted asap.

daved

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http://www.theundergroundcoach.com

Hey Dave, I don't think there is a culture of race directors not allowing it, there is simply less logistics if you don't have it. If you have a warmup area, you have lifguard it and figure out flow so it does not get in the way of the race and also have a means of athletes to leave warmup and go back in line.

I suspect one of the reasons MAY be because there is no way to keeping athletes Covid19 distanced in a warmup zone, whereas in the rest of the race, athletes can be distanced enough and have a deterministic flow that keeps are "permit givers happy". So in essence in the zeal to keep athletes distanced, permit givers may be creating more hazards/risk for athletes.

I personally do the jogging warmup when the swim warmup is not available, but if you are doing a full IM and actually even a half IM, you really don't want to jog more distance than you have to all day.

Hey Dev,

Sure but I’m talking even Pre-COVID and I also was a race director (of sorts) I helped a local guy who runs (now) many races including open water events.

He had options to do swim warm ups and time after time just didn’t. Mentioning reasons of logistics sure but I think what Dan and I are saying is...

The safety issue should be a reason TO do a swim warm up. Not the opposite... which seems to be an assumed practice and paradigm.

Daved

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http://www.theundergroundcoach.com

There was no swim warm up at either Chattanooga or Port Elizabeth 70.3 Worlds.

At Port Elizabeth there were Athletes getting reprimanded for going into the surf to get water into there wet suits. Would be surprised if they allowed it in Sept.

1 in 5 people die of cancer.

btw, I would say 7 out of 170 Ironman events having a death is not rare.

And even 1 out of 60,000 for a one day event. If someone dropped dead at every college football game or Ed Sheeran concert, that would be kinda a big deal.

I guess you could make an argument that every other cause of death other than cancer and heart disease is rare, but what's the point?

You can quibble about what the definition of "rare" is, but death at triathlons is a thing.

i was not aware there was a culture of no swim warm-up in triathlon. if that's the case, i think we need to address this.

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Dan Empfield
aka Slowman

Oh I 1000% agree. Back in 2012 I did extensive consultation with then IM COO Steve Meckfessel and with Andrew Messick since I had done so many Mdot races all over the world and could share to them information from the field on the viability of swim warmups or no swim warmups and why. I also pushed for the rolling start back then which I know many hated for saftey reasons. Many who came to the sport post year 2000 had this misguided view that 1500-3000 person hand to hand combat mass starts were a "tradition" that should not be messed with but the reality is that most Ironman events were smaller fields originally in the 80's and 90's and even by 1993 IM Germany (now Challenge Roth) had split their race in to numerous waves given their crammed canal start.

In any case, I am for the warmups and for rolling starts which I had pushed hard on with Ironman. I am distraut if the swim warmup gets thrown out due to Covid19 formats. Feels like throwing out baby with bath water. I am not a sufficiently frequent customer to go and give them input from multiple venues anymore. Previously in a given year I may do 4-8 of their events all over.

The warm-up area could have the same rules as the start area. Stay distanced when entering the water. It would require additional signage, a couple more lifeguards and a couple more volunteers to remind people.

USAT nationals in Cleveland and Milwaukee (I think) didn't have a swim warm-up area and that was pre Covid. They did allow a warm-up swim of several minutes at the start line for those in the next wave before their wave began. That's an advantage of wave starts.

I don't think permit givers have any idea that they could be creating more hazards/risk for athletes when they require distancing at an outdoor event. That's on the RD to explain to the permit giver and seek a solution to avoid that hazard.

I was there this weekend. Firstly the pre race swim chute was packed...no distancing whatsoever (with the exception of the very front, sub 27 min people). So, if that’s the reason for no swim warmup, then it didn’t work.

There was a place to the right of the start that easily could have been a warmup area. For some reason they didn’t allow people to swim there on Friday or Saturday but was fine Thursday. Made no sense, they had no lifeguards on Thursday and could have easily had several on Saturday.

The real logistical challenge was getting from there to the swim chute. With the pros exiting and hoping on their bikes by 7:25 or so, everyone would need to be leaving the water by 7:10 latest to get safely across the first part of the bike course and then do the long walk around to swim start...challenging but maybe doable, especially since it look at least 45 minutes to get everyone in the water.

Alternatively, they could flip the start and go in on the right and exit on the left (facing the water) and have the swim start chute go off to the right down the hill...this would have allowed for free and easy warmups. IMO....

I’m no expert, and IM is, but I do think every effort should be made to allow in water warmups, especially in big crowded races with cold water...

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Randy Christofferson(http://www.rcmioga.blogspot.com

Insert Doubt. Erase Hope. Crush Dreams.

I'm pretty sure your number are off by a really long way. Total deaths in the US for 2019 was just short of 2.9 million from all causes.

And that's if it was even 61F. The very first year of IMSG, the lake was very cold, and 'inverted' with the winds in the days before the race. Race officials kept claiming it was 60 degrees. Had a guy on one of the surfboards where I stopped to catch my breath tell me it was actually 55.
I ended up bailing out because I could feel my core getting cold before I was even halfway through the swim. But there were SO many people in the med tent after the swim.

I have had similar experiences, and actually did get to speak to some higher ups in 2018 about this issue.....I remember one year in LP there were over 3000 in Mirror Lake for the mass start...that was madness and def not safe. It also seems to me, in the 90s and early 2000s, that it was a more experienced crowd? I don't know..maybe not..I always hung back and started where I should, so felt fine, but lots of people got pushed over/swam over etc....It needs to be addressed. Either they are trying to make the swim safer, or they are not...it shouldn't be different race to race.

I did the "dreaded" 2012 IMSTG and I recall not warming up but treading water long enough waiting for the mass start to acclimate to the cold temperature. Of course once the winds hit us the water temp was the least of our worries. Why is it that these IM races in Utah seemed "jinxed"?

Condolences to the family and friends of the person that passed!

I do not have the vast Ironman race experience of others. But all the races I have done that logistically could allow a warm-up have had warm ups, including the last WC race. The races that were logistically challenging were New Orleans (very limited access to the water from a dock), Augusta (only access from a temporary doc & downstream), Chattanooga (only access from a small dock & strong current).

River swims and others with restrictive access are very tricky for meaningful warm ups, especially if they are doing continuous TT starts. Those with group starts may be able to pull it off, but they would probably stretch-out the overall start considerably. Not sure that anyone has figured out a grand solution. (Races with easy logistic access to water that do not allow warm-ups have no excuse, IMO. But, I have not witnessed that first-hand.)

Edit: Is no swim warm-up a Covid thing, or just a coincidence of the races that may have been logistically challenged for warm-up.

i don't understand how covid could impact this. i have never been in close proximity to other swimmers in a warm up area. the unfortunate truth is that a warm up area is granted, but not liberally used. i would not race a race that did not allow for a warm up. that's a hard stop for me.

now, i did a race, the last triathlon i did, that didn't have a warm up. and i'm entered in that race again, this july, my first tri back most likely. i'm going to prevail on the race org to have a warm up this time.

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Dan Empfield
aka Slowman

Would be interesting to know whether either individual was recently vaccinated as we learn more about the interaction between the cardiac response to the vaccine in the context of extreme endurance sport.

that's a pretty small sample size, and pretty well prone to correlation. half of america's adults are fully vaccinated. i got my vaccine shots, and i live. probably 2/3 of the race competitors are fully vaccinated, and recently. they lived. i'm not sure what the point would be.

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Dan Empfield
aka Slowman