Anyone know any estimates of how much benefit you can get from drafting on the swim?
Another way to ask the question: If I can swim at a pace of 1:25 per 100 meters, how fast is the guy I should try to draft behind?
Thanks!
Tony
Its been a bit since I swam but if you can find someone 5-10secs faster you can draft at the same energy consumption.
Depends on the size of the person you’re drafting, how well you draft and position yourself. Worst case is probably 3-4 seconds/100m (just a guess based on swimming in a pool), best case is close to 10 seconds/100m or so (based on my times in open water swims…and yes, I realize that’s over 2 minutes a mile).
The single best piece of advice I’ve ever had in regard to maximizing triathlon swim times was to work very hard on your 400m time. Being able to swim very fast for 400m at the start, and then drop down into threshold pace, and hold it for the remainder, can get you a time 2-3 minutes faster than you could swim solo.
Scott
Ironman Canada, 1997- Got a good set of feet for the whole swim: 1:06 something.
Ironman New Zealand, 2004- Just kind of swam around on my own: 1:10:09 (I think).
It makes a huge difference, especially when you get on a really fast set of feet.
So how close do you need to be to be effective? Fingertips how close to their feet? I’d hate to be continually touching their toes cause it’s a concentration killer.
Not to mention touching toes more than 2-3 times is an invitation for the other guy to try to break your face. Most people don’t mind being drafter off of. It’s partof the game and all. But touching, touch too much, and the person ahead of you is likely to do a brief slowdown, and then a couple kicks near your head to tell you you’re tailgating too close.
And if he/she wants to be really nasty, they won’t be pointing their toes at the time, so you’ll get an ankle bone in the face. Not pleasant.
I agree, drafting on the swim is all part of the game and I don’t mind people drafting off me (with a silver T1 it’s hard to miss me) but likewise if people keep touching my feet or catching my toes I’ll let them know how I feel about it…
I’m a hypocrete. When I draft off someone in the pool, I can swim 2:30 for 200m. On my own my PB is 2:39. Pretty big difference. <3 Drafting.
I don’t mind drafting in races, because its what makes this sport so unique. The only problem is when people try to swim over you, kicking you and punching you all over. In that case they’ll get a nice swift kick to the face or an elbow or something to let them know to get the f*ck off.
on a related note, if you get kicked in the face, and your goggles come off, how do you put them back on in deep water, do you just tread water off to the side, then get back into the race?
A huge benefit. I draft off the same person every race.
If that person is not there, I just try to get behind someone who is up front and stay with them as long as I can…
Put it this way…Depending on conditions, I can swim a normal 1500 meters in an OLY course somewhere to the tune of 22-23 minutes. When I draft, I can get out in under 21 closer to 20 minutes sometimes better. This is with my wetsuit…and I only train my swim 3x/week no more than 2500 yards. NOw, the key is finding the right draft and using that water tunnel. If you get in the right position, you will be amazed as to how much easier it is to swim…Usually what happens to me is after about 1000 meters, I start to loose my draft as the guy pulls away. But by then , i have already made up more time that I would have by myself.
It really depends on how fast/how big the swimmer your drafting is compared to you.
From being a relatively small (5-7, 135 lbs) swimmer, if I get latched onto the back of one of our tall/big (6-1, 175 lbs) swimmers who is almost the exact same speed as me, I can almost fall asleep behind him. But either way, it is best to find a group of swimmers in a race that is at your speed or just a little faster and enjoy the wake. 
So how close do you need to be to be effective? Fingertips how close to their feet? I’d hate to be continually touching their toes cause it’s a concentration killer.
Swimming right off their hip gives the best draft (i.e. along side them, as close as possible, your arm extends to their hip at full extension). Watch someone swimming and notice their wake, that’s why off the hip is the best. Swimming directly behind is still good, but not as good.
Scott
Interesting. It would appear to my logic that swimming directly behind the swimmer ahead would be best. But who knows? May I ask what is your source for the following (I want to learn more):
“Swimming right off their hip gives the best draft (i.e. along side them, as close as possible…”
“Find feet” was the best advice I ever got about swimming. Beware though, I am a piss-poor swimmer and I drafted off a woman in a race who was MUCH faster than me. Halfway through the swim I had to roll on my back and gasp for several seconds. I spent the rest of the race following someone else (who happened to be swimming breast stroke, but things are better now…)
Anyway, faster than you is good, but make sure they’re in your ballpark. My HR was higher than it gets in the run.
I learn everything the hard way.
Leigh
This ‘study’ was done 2 years ago. It wasn’t really a study, but more a series of observations. The same has been done by lots of national/collegiate teams. The numbers they quote are of less relevence (they were swimming quite fast, and in a plume, which is different than swimming in still water).
Watch the distance swimmers in any major swim meet. Swimmers not in the lead will be hugging the lane line next to the person in front of them. The lane lines get rid of most of the draft benefit, but not all of it (and obviously they can’t swim behind another person at all =). I haven’t seen the ‘one body length back’ being just as good as on the feet part quoted other places, and as I said, this was just some observations, so take it as you will.
Scott
The question that I always asked myself and wanted an answer to is: Which is it best type of swimmer to draft behind because there seemed to be two types of swimmers:
Swimmer A: Was like drafting in a washing machine - a huge amount of bubbles and turbulance to the point that it would affect your stroke.
Swimmer B: Was much smoother - it was like swimming in a plume or Endless Pool
Just curious. Anyone have any idea?
The language in the article summary is a little confusing. Here is the actual abstract from the study + another one that says (let me cut to the bottom line): “drafting good”:
Drafting Distance in Swimming
Medicine and Science in Sports and Exercise . Jul 2003. Vol. 35, Iss. 7; pg. 1176
Publication title: Medicine and Science in Sports and Exercise . Jul 2003. Vol. 35, Iss. 7; pg. 1176
This study investigates the effect of the distance separating the lead and draft swimmers on the metabolic and hydrodynamic responses of the draft swimmer. Methods: A nondrafting swim of 4 min at 95 of the best 1500-m pace for 11 swimmers was compared with swimming in a drafting position at four different distances directly behind another swimmer (0, 50, 100, and 150 cm). Swimming performance was assessed by stroke rate and stroke length;the metabolic response by oxygen uptake, heart rate, and blood lactate; and the rating of perceived exertion by the Borg scale. Passive drag was assessed at these drafting distances by passive towing. Then, passive drag was measured in six swimmers towed in six lateral drafting positions, with swimmers separated by 40 cm, and then measured in two positions at the rear of the lead swimmer with a reduced lateral distance between swimmers of 50 and 0 cm. Results: Oxygen uptake, heart rate, blood lactate, rating of perceived exertion,and stroke rate were significantly reduced and stroke length was significantly increased in all drafting positions compared with the nondrafting position. For drag, the most advantageous drafting distances were 0 and 50 cm back from the toes of the lead swimmer. Drag was reduced by 21 and 20,respectively. In lateral drafting, drag was significantly reduced by 6 and 7, respectively, at 50 and 100 cm back from the hands of the lead swimmer. Conclusions: Swimming behind another swimmer at a distance between 0 and 50 cm back from the toes was the most advantageous, whereas in lateral drafting the optimal distance was 50-100 cm back from the hands of the lead swimmer
Performance and drag during drafting swimming in highly trained triathletes
Chatard, Jean-Claude, Chollet, Didier, Millet, Gregoire. Medicine and Science in Sports and Exercise . Aug 1998. Vol. 30, Iss. 8; pg. 1276
A study examined the effect of drafting on swimming performance, metabolic response, and passive drag. Participants were eight triathletes. The results suggest that the benefit of drafting is important for the triathletes. They reveal that drafting corresponds to a large reduction of passive drag and is related to the ability of swimming and body shape, with faster and leaner subjects having a higher performance gain. Therefore, it can be concluded that swimming behind another swimmer in a race is advantageous
This helps a lot. I haven’t looked at the actual study yet. Did they compare the ideal ‘swim behind’ position with the ideal ‘swim behind lateral’ position. If yes, did they conclude which one of those 2 positions appeared better?
I haven’t read the whole study either, but from the abstract I think we can conclude that the “swim behind” position dominates. The range of drag reduction was 20-21 percent in swim behind vs. 6-7% in “swim lateral”.
The magazine article (apparently summarizing the research findings) says that the 6-7% drag reduction associated with the swim lateral position implies a 2-3% improvement in performance. Extrapolating to “swim behind”, 20% drag reduction implies somewhere around 7-10% performance improvement.
If I can then translate those numbers directly to pace times (which I think is legit), that implies:
1:30 / 100m pace you could go about 1:23 in “swim behind” draft position
1:20 / 100m pace you could go about 1:14 in “swim behind” draft position
That seems like quite a big gain…hope its right!
Tony