LP this summer will be my first IM and I am wondering about where to start the swim (yeah, I know - in the water…)
All the open water races I have done usually have a turn rather quickly - not a long stretch like I think is at LP. For a strong swimmer, is it better to start further away from the buoy line and avoid the mayhem - swimming at an angle towards the turnaround buoy?
Is this even an option? The biggest mass start I have done is about 400 swimmers - where the field is no wider than about 30 yards and swimming the “hypotenuse” is no big loss of yardage. Is LP alot different?
The swim at LP is a dream come true…beautiful water, scenic lake and a nice little yellow line to direct you the entire swim. Oh, and all the scuba divers waving at you. If only all IM swims could be like Placid.
If you look at start photos…A LOT of people are camped out on shore when the gun goes off. I.e - less people in the water. It’s a rough start like any IM (it’s a bit more narrow…or least appears to be)…but my advise is to start as “up front” as your time suggest. If you’re not swimming under 60, please don’t start in front. If comfortably under 60 min, go ahead and toe the line on the inside…find the yellow line and stay there.
Smitty you seem to think this would be worthy of a pretty high seed? I know how much it sucks to have to swim over people in the way and I prefer not to do that to others.
I’m relatively new to the IM game, but I thought that the problem with LP was that the swim start was so crowded that it was tough to seed yourself properly, or else people didn’t bother. I seeded myself where I should have been according to the instructions(for a 1:10 swim), but ended up in the front half of the crowd because of the many latecomers. Before the gun went off, there was a lot of crowding. Then I just got the crap beat out of me by the fast swimmers stuck behind and the many knuckleheads who apparently didn’t realize that there were 2200 other people in the water with them. I’m told it varies from year to year, and where you are situated. Apparently I was in the pimp-slap-o-rama section.
So, IMH(but not subject area domain expert)O, if you think you’re going under an hour, get as far forward as possible. If your going over 1:05, stay back and wait for it to clear out a bit. If you’re somewhere in the middle, well God help you.
It’s about a half-mile straight shot to the first turn. You can afford to start a little off to one side to avoid the initial crush and then gradually angel your way to the fastest iine without added appreciable distance to your swim. It really is a half mile ouit, a half mile back then reapeat after a very short beach turn-around. Good luck.
With that kind of swim time, find any place in the front. I don’t think it will matter much where, except I wouldn’t go right on the buoy line on the left. You will leave me back in the washing machine quickly.
Smitty you seem to think this would be worthy of a pretty high seed? I know how much it sucks to have to swim over people in the way and I prefer not to do that to others.
High 50’s anywhere in the front. It gets a little crowed to the left because everyone wants to hug the line on the bottom. So if you like to mix it up go there. If you like things a little less crowded move to right. It’s 900 metres out to the first turn. If Joe Pythagoras is right if you move 100 metres to the right you only swim an extra 6 metres or so by the time you hit the first turn. By then if you’re in the high 50’s things should have thinned out by then.
At IMLP it is “legal” to swim on the inside of the buoys, just as long as you do the turns on the outside. So, you could line up near the front and scoot to the inside if you want to avoid potential pummelings. Even for a crappy swimmer like me, the LP swim was a dream due to the continuous yellow buoy line; it pretty much eliminated the need to sight except, I don’t know, whenever I felt the need for some spatial reassurance…or something.
I have raced LP 5x’s, I swim 58-1:02, I have always lined up on the middle to far right, I swim at an angle all the way to the first turn, usually start cutting in by the peninsula on the right. I always have clean & clear H2O, usually their are maybe 2-5 swimmers with me on my line, everytime I breath to the left, I see the massive group trying to swim the line, I may lose a few seconds, but I do not get mauled and beat up before the bike.
is right if you move 100 metres to the right you only swim an extra 6 metres or so by the time you hit the first turn. By then if you’re in the high 50’s things should have thinned out by then.