I did a little test at IMLP last weekend on the swim course to determine where a good starting place would be. Here are the results…
I started on the far right just in front of that big rock but behind the overhead flags. I then angled the swim so I would hit the underwater line halfway to the turnaround buoys. I had some light waves in my face but I kept a steady race day pace and got to the halfway point in 16:15. I then came back with the same pace but this time it was right on the buoy line. Time back was 15:00.
The next day I watched people do what I did and I tried to keep my eyes on the 58:00-1:02 minute crowd more towards the center of the race. They seemed to be the craziest most packed in bunch of swimmers. The guys who did what I did had a much easier time. So, the moral of the story is for just over a minute loss, you get a much easier swim at the start. Once you hook up with the main crowd, its back to every man for himself.
One other thing…did anyone see the dude with two casts on his wrists go into the water?
I’m a slower swimmer, so I wanted to stay out of the mess. I started to the far right (probably about 15 meters from the far right side) and just swam straight for the orange buoy at the end. It was a fairly clean swim. A little bumping, but nothing more than any other tri I’ve done. After the turn-around, it was very clear for me (I probably reached the turn-around at around 20 minutes).