this is my third year racing and although i have heard all the benefits of drafting on the swim i have never been able to do it.
what’s the secret? how do you know if you/they are going in the right direction? how do you get on that pace that is that little bit faster than you could do otherwise? is it more a FOP thing or a MOP thing? i can do 1:30 pace for HIM swim i think . . . what would be my best strategy to get that to 1:28? or is there even that much or a difference?
Are you ready for the secret? Here it is: draft someone your speed or a little faster and take it easy. Do not draft off some one a lot faster and try and keep up. Sight infrequently, but not never. It is easier to swim on someone’s hip than behind them.
so basically you are saying drafting on the swim isn’t for gaining time but only saving energy?
but still . . . at what point do you determine when to settle and find that right person? do you go out hard and wait for someone to pass you and then follow them?
so basically you are saying drafting on the swim isn’t for gaining time but only saving energy?
but still . . . at what point do you determine when to settle and find that right person? do you go out hard and wait for someone to pass you and then follow them?
Hire a kid from the college swim team. Pay him his race fee and $100 to swim 5 seconds faster than your normal pace and sight for you, then drop. He doesn’t even need a bike.
Who said you can’t buy wins in triathlons…
I’m always at the front, so can’t help you with this one 
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so basically you are saying drafting on the swim isn’t for gaining time but only saving energy?
but still . . . at what point do you determine when to settle and find that right person? do you go out hard and wait for someone to pass you and then follow them?
Hire a kid from the college swim team. Pay him his race fee and $100 to swim 5 seconds faster than your normal pace and sight for you, then drop. He doesn’t even need a bike.
Who said you can’t buy wins in triathlons…
I like this idea 
Pay a kayaker to pull you. They’re more than likely volunteers so they should be cheap.
ok that’s pretty funny . . . but seriously, what is the best strategy?
from the lack of responses on here i’m starting to think it’s just something that pros do. i read somewhere once that the top swimmers pretty much sprint the first 100m or so just to get a gap and then settle into their pace . . . i’d like to try this but more often than not i can barely run to to T1 i’m so gassed from the swim . . . i worry i will make it at all if i sprint at the beginning.
I’ve been racing for four years and have a ton of trouble as well. I have just around the same swim ability as yourself also.
My problem is that the for 100 yards of any race is basically a sprint and then everyone settles down. During that sprint you find yourself mixed in with all sorts of ability (people who kill themselves for 100 yards, and people who are very strong and aren’t killing themselves.) I feel like the initial push throws off my ability to accurately assess my effort level leaving me unsure of whose feet are the right feet to stay with. I feel like I tend to try and hang with someone too fast and get dropped or if I find someone most likely the right pace I get antsy and talk myself into thinking they are too slow because my effort level is slightly lower than I’d like (but that’s the point of drafting!) And to add to all the complication the bodies of water usually only have a couple feet of visibility! UGH
It takes practice, and some luck. The hardest thing for me is that last season at least, I pulled to the left. So even if I found a group, I started to veer off course. IT helps to be able to go out pretty fast, then recover and ease into a rhythm. Otherwise the feet you want, will already be 50 yards ahead of you and lost for good.
That being said, in my last 70.3, I was lucky enough to find a large pack of about 5 or 6 that were swimming probably 2-3 seconds faster than my pace and I probably swam at least 30 seconds faster than I would have alone.
I’ve never had that luck in Olympic distance swims. At Hyvee Age Group race last year, I got gapped and off course early (lots of turns) early last year and swam mostly alone or was always too far inside the swim line.
It makes sense that a longer race would be slightly easier to grab onto someone. Thinking about it the only time I was able to have any luck drafting was at IMLP but there were a bunch of factors that went into that.
ok that’s pretty funny . . . but seriously, what is the best strategy?
from the lack of responses on here i’m starting to think it’s just something that pros do. i read somewhere once that the top swimmers pretty much sprint the first 100m or so just to get a gap and then settle into their pace . . . i’d like to try this but more often than not i can barely run to to T1 i’m so gassed from the swim . . . i worry i will make it at all if i sprint at the beginning.
It’s actually not that hard for me, and I swim about your pace. I just start towards the front (local races, not WTC), stay in the pack, and as the first couple of hundred meters are done, the group will thin out. As it does, put in a bit of effort to catch a pair of toes and hang onto them. As noted above, don’t pick a pair that kills you to catch; just find a pair that is going slightly faster than you and stay on them. At that point, the people you’re drafting likely sight better than you, but still check occasionally. It’s rare I swim alone these days…
If you’re FOP, seed yourself towards the front (1st or 2nd row) and go all out at the gun. After that just hold to the feet you find in front of you. If no feet, continue on your own, frequently looking for small groups around you. Then try to bridge to one of them. Better go slightly off course and end up in a group, than swim on your own for too long. Once you’re in a group and assuming you didn’t completely screw up your start, it’s usually best to just stay in that group. Even if it feels easy swimming behind someone, it takes huge amount of energy to extract yourself from a group and you’ll usually just save seconds. That being said, you should look around from time to time. You may find a small group or a lone swimmer passing your group not too far away. Then you can try to jump on their feet.
If that didn’t work, the first buoy is usually a second chance to find a pair of feet.
It’s actually pretty exciting when you’re aware of what’s going on around you and you can jump from feet to feet.
so basically you are saying drafting on the swim isn’t for gaining time but only saving energy?
but still . . . at what point do you determine when to settle and find that right person? do you go out hard and wait for someone to pass you and then follow them?
That is not necessarily true - you may be drafting off someone who is faster than you - but it doesn’t really matter.
A couple of points.
If you are swimming in someone else’s wake you are drafting. Do not have any expectation that it is somehow going to feel different. It probably wont.
If you are 2 minutes into a race and swimming close to someone in your own wave then they are an ideal candidate for drafting.
Change your mentality. When you find someone don’t think about passing and moving up, think about staying right where you are.
I find it easier to swim at a swimmers thigh about 2 feet to the left of them. I breath EVERY stroke to the right and just stay RIGHT there. This really happened: This weekend at CapTex Tri I went 500-600 Meters sighting maybe 3 times but I looked at my position compared to the swimmer more than 100 times! Of course adjust this based on the course and your trust level with the pack.
If done right, you may feel like you can pass. I hope you have figured out that you don’t pass.
Here’s what I do:
The first 100-200 yards is all me. I swim my race and my speed without a care in the world as to what is happening around me. I sight often and try to avoid as many flailers as possible. After about 200 yards, things start to settle down. All the energy and excitement has passed and people, including myself, have settled into a rhythm. Somewhere in my immediate vicinity will be another swimmer or 2 or 8. Now, assuming that I have a decent job of holding my line and citing up until this point, these blokes have too. I slowly move in their direction and drop in behind them. Yes, this means I may have to slow down just a smidgeon. They will be making bubbles, which help to serve as a guide. I will occasionally look forward but still with my head under water to see their feet. I sight every 10-15 strokes (depending on how well my mark is doing on the first few sightings, that number may change). I, personally, don’t like to draft on the hips. You get the same relative result, but I’ve not known most people to swim straight in open water. Once in a while, if a faster group is passing, I’ll drop my mark and make a new one on the faster group.
You should feel like you’re not working as hard as you think you should be, because this is the point of drafting. Even let them get to the beach ahead of you. This is alright since that have used more overall energy to get to that point. Your swim split and theirs will be mostly identical. Now, beat 'em up on the bike.
Some say off the front swimmers thigh. My question is: do you draft off the front of the thigh (quad) or the back (hamstring) or does it even matter? Should you be front to front when drafting?
I would not feel I could comfortably draft if I was breathing left and the front swimmer was to my right. I 'd have to look up just to see if I’m drafting near the swimmer. I would think back to back would be bad also.
I suppose front to front would set you up for the risk of getting kicked either in the face or the groin, by accident or intentional( it they know your ploy:( ).
If you do front to back with the lead swimmer with their back to you they would not know you are there.
Is the draft lane the same width regardless on what side of the front swimmer you are facing?
Sorry if sounding confusing.
If it were me, I’d be drafting off the back behind the lead swimmer’s feet. I’m less likely to experience physical contact there due to evasive maneuvers, which are ever so likely in a wave swim or TT swim format. This is personal preference and others may have differing preferences.
If you wanted to draft off the side, you’d want your head somewhere between the lead swimmers hip and knee. You’d be close enough so that you don’t touch each other in the course of your natural swim stroke but not far enough to be outside their wake. Also, if it were me, I’d be breathing on the same side as the lead swimmer. If s/he is on my right, I’d breathe right. If s/he is on the left, I’d breathe left. This allows me to keep my head in less turbulent water and keep tabs on my draftee.
Most swimmers don’t mind being drafted. It’s par for the course on a swim team of decent size. It’s expected that you won’t be alone in the water during the race. If you want to piss off a swimmer in the water, touch them. This is when you are likely to be kicked. But, assuming you are just swimming without contact, it’s highly likely that they won’t care.
Also, don’t expect them to look out for you at the buoys. I’ve been on both the giving and receiving end of heading someone into a buoy. You should know where the buoys are at all times.
AJ give lots of good info here
if someone try to swim at your hips…my advice, get rid of him ASAP. it s slowing you down. do it to others but dont let others do it to you!
as for what set of feet to pic, it s like dating… go for the hotest girl you can get… go for the fastest feet you can hold on to… it takes experience to gauge this…PRACTICE!
there is so much about open water swimming, it s a Art on it s own but it all come down to practice
I have a problem with this part! Most of the time when I have found some feet to draft, pretty quickly I start thinking that this person is going too slow, it feels too easy, I need to pass them! Then I drop the draft and work like a mofo to get by them. It is hard to convince yourself that you are actually better off staying where you are.
Yes I know what you mean. Other fact that you only get negative feedback ( this feels slow) when you draft is the problem. For what it is worth I have done 25 or so races and onky felt I drafted well twice.