Hi Kraig
I am the world’s worst swimmer. I treat the first leg of any tri as a glorified, wet, splashy, warm up. Just relax, don’t get beat up, think about all those cycling virgins you will crush once you get spinning.
As for looking cool, by the end of one of these things, even a ‘sprint’, everyone looks like death. Nothing cool about it.
Get into it - you never know, you might be hooked!
Kraig,
make sure to dive under the waves as they break on your way out. Dive down and touch bottom if possible then spring back up on the other side of the wave as it passes overhead. Sounds like pretty basic advice but it was surprising how many people were getting washed back in when the 8 footers rolled in.
SInce this race is unsanctioned and not really officiated on the bike, it’s basically a free for all with 1500 people on the road. Last year I found myself weaving all over the road looking for openings to go by. I actually found it easier to pass on the inside which is normally a big no no, but for whatever reason so many people ride to the left instead of the right that it almost leaves an open lane to the far right.
hammer the bike, it can be a fast course if you put the hammer down. It’s a sprint race so I wouldn’t pay attention to much to the power meter, just go hard and hammer it.
I’ll be down there watching, would love to put a face with the name, maybe we’ll run into each other.
the wetsuit makes up for a lot of evils. It helps keep you up where breathing is easier, and it put you in a more effficient body position. Follow the above advice about going out. Relax and roll your body with the strokes. Don’t start out in the middle where the mayhem is. This is where you will get run over, literally.
If you feel that you have accidentally, or purposefully, caught a wave on the way in, stick one arm out front (and the other down in front in front of your hip) and roll partially onto that (out front arm) side and arch your back, so that you don’t go straight over the falls, and if you do you won’t spear the sand.
If swimming in a pack makes you nervous, note the direction of the swim’s first turn, then set yourself up to start on the outside for that turn. Then you can deside how close you want to be to other people. You’ll swim a bit farther, but you’ll be in control.
Have fun!
Start the swim slow. No, slower. Really slow. Let the mayhem producers get out of the way, and gradually raise your effort level until you are comfortable.
DON’T dally in the transitions. I don’t care how badly out of breath you may feel, especially after the swim…haul your tail in and out of transition as fast as you started the swim slow…really fast! That’s free time.
When you begin running, don’t worry about your speed…just make short, choppy, quick steps, even if it feels inefficient…in a few hundred yards, you’ll begin to feel better, by the first mile, you’ll be running close to normally. It’s mile 2 and 3 on the run when you should really begin to hurt…it’s only temporary, go ahead and hurt bad.
Whatever you do, don’t monitor your heartrate. In a sprint, you never want an excuse to slow down.
Contrary to popular belief, doing your best in a sprint is, in many ways, more difficult than doing your best in longer events.
Good luck, have fun!
Kraig, I’d suggest :
rent, borrow or steal a wet suit for the event. They do help and if nothing else they are a floatation device.
At the start go to the back. In my first tri I started up front and had all kinds of faster people immediately swimming over top of me. Very unnerving to a newbie.
You’ll do really great on the bike. Expect to blow by all kinds of people but then expect many of them to pass you back on the run.
As you’re a roadie and it’s your first tri approach it as a TT with a warm up swim and a cool down jog attached at either end. Just have fun.
Kraig,
After 23-years of USCF road racing, I decided to take took the plunge. Other than riding the bike leg of a tri-relay on a couple occasions, prior to this year, I had no experience with the sport and kept saying that I was going to try my hand at it and finally did my first event a couple weeks ago. I went into the event with no real amibtions but felt confident about the swim based on the fact that I could usually complete 500-meters in an empty lap pool in under 8:00 minutes. Of course reality hit hard when I started the swim with 80 of my new found closest friends and about 50-meters into the lake swim, another swimmers hand inadvertantly pulled my goggles away from my face enough so that they filled with completely murky lake water rendering them useless for the remainder of the swim!
I opted to wear a HRM for swim and had started it about 2-seconds prior to the start of our wave (the final wave by the way) and when I glanced at my HRM upon exiting the water, I was embarassed at how much longer it had taken to complete 500-meters in open water compared to the same distance in a pool. Worse yet, as i walked/staggered up the boat ramp that was used to exit the lake, I became so light headed that I thought I was going to pass out but was able to regroup when I noticed that this would happen right in front of one of the “official” race photographers! A couple more steps and I regained my composure and started to act like “a man posessed” to borrow from Paul Sherwin or Phil Liggett!
I had originally planned to wear socks for the bike leg but time was against me and like someone else mentioned - the tranistion is free time and had my shoes on my feet, helmet on head/fastened, and glasses on face in just under 1-minute. Once I crossed the mount/dismount line and got on the bike, it was as if an automatic pilot had kicked on as I was back in familiar territory and without much regard for the ensuing run, I cranked it up as if the podium at the National TT championships was on the line. I was determined to pass back every single person in my age group before I got off that bike and in the end nearly did - according to my cyclometer, I pulled off the 4th fastest bike split overall and that includes the 15-20 seconds from the dismount line back to the racks at T2!
Off the bike, I put the socks on for the run and was back on the road for the 5K in about 1:05! Now understand that except for an 8-year stint in the military, running is not really my forte either. Other than running in the military (no choice there) and competing in a couple of Marathons 3-4 years ago (something that had to be done), nearly my entire adult life has been spent on a bike. Being as this was my first official transition to the run, it was different so I started slow. Ran an 8:00 minute/mile pace for the first mile then increased the tempo to 7:05 for the second, and racked up a 6:05 for mile three, followed by an all out effort to the finish line.
After the event was over and the race results were posted, I go to take a look and what do I find - I am on the officials “pink” sheets having been DQ’d - something about a wave start violation! Apparently the chip that was assigned to my race number had exited the water before my age groups wave had even started - argh! I could think of nothing else but getting my hands on those high school kids/colunteers that were playing grab a$$ while handing out timing chips! Fortunately the officials were able to sort out the fact that some timing chips had been coded/assigned to the wrong people and I was taken off the DQ list but in the end, the officials were only able to make estimates of the times of the triathletes who were involved (note to self: purchase timing chip for next race)!
Overall, when I registered for the event I had reservations because it was $50 to pre-register for the event - wow - I mean that is more than I paid for a recent USCF multi-day stage race! I started out firmly convinced that I was going to do this for fun and being competitive was a secondary consideration out on the course - obviusly that did not last long! Although I finished a disappointing 10th in my age group and 71st overall out of 450 or so competitors, I was encouraged while out on the bike and the run by the a number of competitors who offered well wishes as I passed - not something you often observe from fellow competitors in a USCF road race as normally all you hear is someone complaining about something or other!
In retrospect, if I had come out of the water 4-5 minutes faster, I could have placed in top 3 overall but you know what, despite how poorly I did in the water which and the problems with timing - it really does not matter because I had a blast and enjoyed sitting around with friends, joking about this and that while we waited for the awards ceremony. The next day I was also amazed at the fact that an event that only took me 1:16 (estimated) to complete, could make me feel as if I had spent the previous day in a 200K road race. I am now a convert and have new found respect for triathlete and may soon aspire to compete in 1/2 and full IM distance event - I wonder if you can wear water wings in those things?
best of luck,
Michael
i have to echo the comments of yc … go out slow on the swim … then slow down. you know that initial burst of adrenaline that makes the start of other endurance events exciting, carrying you through to the middle where you settle down and find out about your conditioning? well, for the non-fish on the board, giving in to that rush at the swim start can screw your whole race.
speaking from personal experience, where on my first tri i was too nervous to sufficiently warm-up, then (accidentally)swam with the leaders for the first 1/3 … heartrate went totally off the charts, had to float and breaststroke a lot to get in. spent the rest of the race kicking myself for being such a dumbass. probably spent 10 minutes in the swim just trying to recover from the frantic first five … not to mention how i paid for it on the run after trying to make up for it on the bike!!
and i had a plan to go out slow.
of course, i’m certain you’re waaay beyond where i was, but i really sucks to pass all these people on the bike, knowing that if you weren’t a dumbass you’d be putting time on them instead of catching up.
I’ll be out there too - this is now just my 2nd tri.
Agree with everyone else’s advice about starting the swim off to the side - I got ran over in my 1st race and it completey threw me out of whack for the swim.
It’s hard to think about form (roll, reach, glide) when you are having combat operations in the water and are totally sucking wind!
If you are going to be diving into/through the waves, and using the dolphin technique to scoot through the shallow water, make sure to have those goggles on tightly!
Dan
Kraig:
Put PowerCranks on your bike and it will help your swim!!!
Just kidding. Good luck with your race.
My advice for your first mass swim start is to stand behind 80% of the people at the start (trust me there will always be 20% that are slower than you). When the gun goes off, wish everyone in front of you a brief farewell and then start wading in after them. You’ll probably pass some of those hyped out people that made such a commotion at the start and then blew up after 500 yards as previously described in the above responses. Find your rhythm, and be happy with being smooth and consistent in the water. The rest will be gravy.
Good Luck…only thing I would add to all the other good advice posted is expect a little bumping along the way and just keep on swimming - don’t stop everytime someone invades your space.
Get to the race early enough to warm up.
You must absolutely warm up for the swim. The warm up is just to make sure you don’t hit the water and panic.
Get up some courage and start swimming. Swim as long as you can without coming up for a breath. Then keep swimming without breathing until you are about to die.
When you see an intense white light and you hear angelic voices telling you it’s OK to come into heaven, you can take a breath.
Now nothing during the swim will seem so bad, even if you get clobbered.
(It actually does really help if you are nervous for the swim)
matt
Diddo all previous comments. I have done this race 2 or 3 times. The surf can be flat as a pancake or 6-8 feet. Hope for the former. In 2002 more than a handful of women were washed back into shore. Start slow and on the outside (north side of the group). The swim has only 2 left turns and stay on the outside. It is much faster coming in than going out, so you can haul ass coming in. Definitely warm up - it’ll help immensely. If nothing else just jump in and splash around.
T1 is a parking lot hill coming out of transition, then basically flat and fast along PCH. The run is the same - about 1/2 mile of flat beach boardwalk, then a small hill, then pretty much flat. No water until you are up that small hill, if I remember right. I found the bike leg pretty open. Just stay to the right unless you’re passing.
It’s a great race with good support, so just have fun.
Kraig, if you wear that black face cover it will be hard to navigate the bike course, but it would probably unnerve your competitors…
http://www.biketechreview.com/misc/kw_position.htm
Good luck!
Kraig does something wierd with himself in the bathroom?
Good luck on the race, you have received some great advice.
Don’t let your children see this video! That is one scary clip, guarenteed to bring the boogy man to your window at night!