Congrats to everyone who made it out of the water today. Saw sooo many swimmers drop out after making the turn into the current. Hopefully
Ironman with rethink running the swim course down the middle of the bay again next year.
This is nuts! What happened exactly? Seeing a lot of athletes on the tracker who usually swim a 30-40 min get out in ~1hr. I thought they were held up by race officials because something happened. Just a strong tide?
Yes. Lots of people swimming and not moving forward at all. Last year the swim went out wider and missed the current but took athletes across a sandbar where they had to walk. I’m guessing that’s why they changed it this year.
Yes. Lots of people swimming and not moving forward at all. Last year the swim went out wider and missed the current but took athletes across a sandbar where they had to walk. I’m guessing that’s why they changed it this year.
Based on the prelim results, it looks like the fastest swimmers were out in about 30 min, so about 7-ish min slower than normal. So, not too surprising that a 40 min swimmer might take 60 min. The swim was hard but aren’t we all looking for a “challenge” in these races???
People were literally swimming in place, making no forward progress. It looked like they were on a treadmill. I’ll try and post a video later.
Yes. Lots of people swimming and not moving forward at all. Last year the swim went out wider and missed the current but took athletes across a sandbar where they had to walk. I’m guessing that’s why they changed it this year.
Based on the prelim results, it looks like the fastest swimmers were out in about 30 min, so about 7-ish min slower than normal. So, not too surprising that a 40 min swimmer might take 60 min. The swim was hard but aren’t we all looking for a “challenge” in these races???
One of my friends who normally swims 34 was out in 44 but he normally rides 2:30 and took around 2:55. Was bike long ?
People were literally swimming in place, making no forward progress. It looked like they were on a treadmill. I’ll try and post a video later.
Two years ago in Oceanside when they moved tyne swim to the harbor it was similar on the beachside. During some practice swims I remember thinking, “just get passed this next swell and it should ease up…” only to have the exact same experience. Definitely would have been a fun challenge to battle something like that in a race, but for those people who need near the full time to swim an “easy” course it would have been very unfair to start their day with a DNF.
So with these ocean start swims, should IM require a couple people to swim it the morning of with boat guides and lights to give a final approval?
The swim was hard but aren’t we all looking for a “challenge” in these races???
Personally, I don’t disagree at all for myself. But the product IM is selling is to more of a mass market endurance crowd.
I feel bad for all the time and hope and money inexperienced endurance athletes put in, only to have their dreams of a hard but achievable day become an impossible one.
Yes. Lots of people swimming and not moving forward at all. Last year the swim went out wider and missed the current but took athletes across a sandbar where they had to walk. I’m guessing that’s why they changed it this year.
Based on the prelim results, it looks like the fastest swimmers were out in about 30 min, so about 7-ish min slower than normal. So, not too surprising that a 40 min swimmer might take 60 min. The swim was hard but aren’t we all looking for a “challenge” in these races???
One of my friends who normally swims 34 was out in 44 but he normally rides 2:30 and took around 2:55. Was bike long ?
I don’t know about the bike length but he might have just been tired from the extra effort on the swim??? Not saying this about your friend but as you well know, many people simply do not train enough for the swim. It will be interesting to see the final DNF percentage.
Yeah while that is possible to be tired from the swim he should be fine as he has done many sub 1:10 full IM swims. Maybe he got sea sick (or had a flat)
The swim was hard but aren’t we all looking for a “challenge” in these races???
Personally, I don’t disagree at all for myself. But the product IM is selling is to more of a mass market endurance crowd.
I feel bad for all the time and hope and money inexperienced endurance athletes put in, only to have their dreams of a hard but achievable day become an impossible one.
It’s not only the undertrained. I’m sure there are experienced folks in the older AGs who could easily swim 1.2mi, but are too slow to overcome a strong current.
The swim was hard but aren’t we all looking for a “challenge” in these races???
Personally, I don’t disagree at all for myself. But the product IM is selling is to more of a mass market endurance crowd.
I feel bad for all the time and hope and money inexperienced endurance athletes put in, only to have their dreams of a hard but achievable day become an impossible one.
It’s not only the undertrained. I’m sure there are experienced folks in the older AGs who could easily swim 1.2mi, but are too slow to overcome a strong current.
perhaps they’ll start swimming more. Swims get constantly cancelled, it’s about time also the swim becomes an actual challenge, rather than a 30 mins warm up…
Otherwise they can all go do duathlons.
The swim was hard but aren’t we all looking for a “challenge” in these races???
Personally, I don’t disagree at all for myself. But the product IM is selling is to more of a mass market endurance crowd.
I feel bad for all the time and hope and money inexperienced endurance athletes put in, only to have their dreams of a hard but achievable day become an impossible one.
It’s not only the undertrained. I’m sure there are experienced folks in the older AGs who could easily swim 1.2mi, but are too slow to overcome a strong current.
perhaps they’ll start swimming more. Swims get constantly cancelled, it’s about time also the swim becomes an actual challenge, rather than a 30 mins warm up…
Otherwise they can all go do duathlons.
Why not just make the race cutoff 4:30…anyone who can’t make it should just train more. Let’s make these races a real challenge. Anyone who doesn’t like it can just go do the local fun run.
The swim was hard but aren’t we all looking for a “challenge” in these races???
Personally, I don’t disagree at all for myself. But the product IM is selling is to more of a mass market endurance crowd.
I feel bad for all the time and hope and money inexperienced endurance athletes put in, only to have their dreams of a hard but achievable day become an impossible one.
It’s not only the undertrained. I’m sure there are experienced folks in the older AGs who could easily swim 1.2mi, but are too slow to overcome a strong current.
perhaps they’ll start swimming more. Swims get constantly cancelled, it’s about time also the swim becomes an actual challenge, rather than a 30 mins warm up…
Otherwise they can all go do duathlons.
Why not just make the race cutoff 4:30…anyone who can’t make it should just train more. Let’s make these races a real challenge. Anyone who doesn’t like it can just go do the local fun run.
That’s a silly answer. Cut offs are incredibly generous, but the issue is that there’s still way too many bad swimmers/non swimmers that registers to those races without having a clue. Each time there’s so many that have never done a triathlon, an open water swim, etc.
They put themselves in danger and then expect mommy Ironman to fix it by cancelling the swim or being lenient just because they paid for it.
Then because you paid just get the medal and don’t do the race at all 
People were literally swimming in place, making no forward progress. It looked like they were on a treadmill. I’ll try and post a video later.
Two years ago in Oceanside when they moved tyne swim to the harbor it was similar on the beachside. During some practice swims I remember thinking, “just get passed this next swell and it should ease up…” only to have the exact same experience. Definitely would have been a fun challenge to battle something like that in a race, but for those people who need near the full time to swim an “easy” course it would have been very unfair to start their day with a DNF.
So with these ocean start swims, should IM require a couple people to swim it the morning of with boat guides and lights to give a final approval?
Are you saying they should have canceled the swim and turned everyone’s day into a duathlon?
If the reasoning is a true safety issue that’s always a valid reason to cancel/shorten the swim but if you’re advocating to impact 100% of the participants races to solve for a few DNFs that seems like an overreach.
Not every race can be a PR. Part of the experience of doing a long course race(hell any race) is being adaptive and figuring out how to get it done in the face of adversity. That can be a strong current, hot day, cold, rain, mechanical or the body just giving you the middle finger.
The swim was hard but aren’t we all looking for a “challenge” in these races???
Personally, I don’t disagree at all for myself. But the product IM is selling is to more of a mass market endurance crowd.
I feel bad for all the time and hope and money inexperienced endurance athletes put in, only to have their dreams of a hard but achievable day become an impossible one.
It’s not only the undertrained. I’m sure there are experienced folks in the older AGs who could easily swim 1.2mi, but are too slow to overcome a strong current.
perhaps they’ll start swimming more. Swims get constantly cancelled, it’s about time also the swim becomes an actual challenge, rather than a 30 mins warm up…
Otherwise they can all go do duathlons.
Why not just make the race cutoff 4:30…anyone who can’t make it should just train more. Let’s make these races a real challenge. Anyone who doesn’t like it can just go do the local fun run.
That’s a silly answer. Cut offs are incredibly generous, but the issue is that there’s still way too many bad swimmers/non swimmers that registers to those races without having a clue. Each time there’s so many that have never done a triathlon, an open water swim, etc.
They put themselves in danger and then expect mommy Ironman to fix it by cancelling the swim or being lenient just because they paid for it.
Then because you paid just get the medal and don’t do the race at all
Swimming into a current doesn’t require skill (like dealing with surf or chop); you just need to be fast. While some swimmers in a 70.3 are undertrained, some are well trained but just too slow to overcome the current.
This is different then the ridiculous stuff like at the NYC triathlon where they gave people pool noodles and let them just float down the course with the current.
I raced Morro Bay. Normally around 30 min HIM swim, went 39.
While swimming the current didnt seem too bad. (Meaning: I was clueless as usual as to pace, location in the swim, no different than every other race). Sad to see 39 min when I exited, thought I must have gone off course. Only later did we all learn how strong the current was. My Garmin showed a 1 min 40 sec per 100 swing between down current and upcurrent
Didnt hear much about the current in the lead up to the race. Just water temp. People were surprised. Also current got stronger as morning went on - so those self seeding for slower times and starting later had it worse.
Overall, other than that, its a fun race. Safe and fair bike, didnt see any drafting (current has its benefits), tough but fair run, lots of crowd support, easy logistics. Feel sorry for those caught in the current
High tide was at 9 am so it was just going to get worse. Not sure why Race director didn’t mention this going in. That said most finished under 1:10 (I think)
Bigger issue here IMO was the seemingly on the fly decision to allow folks to continue as official participants even if over the cutoff. I’m reading of swims over 1:30 getting worlds slots and knocking people who made all cutoffs off that list. That’s BS
Why not just make the race cutoff 4:30…anyone who can’t make it should just train more. Let’s make these races a real challenge. Anyone who doesn’t like it can just go do the local fun run.
I like this idea. treat is like an hour velodrome attempt. at 4:30 your position taken by gps. save $$ by not having course open 12 hours
Why not just make the race cutoff 4:30…anyone who can’t make it should just train more. Let’s make these races a real challenge. Anyone who doesn’t like it can just go do the local fun run.
I like this idea. treat is like an hour velodrome attempt. at 4:30 your position taken by gps. save $$ by not having course open 12 hours
Other than the logistical issues with placement in a group on a looped course with out and backs…
Favors the swim bikers more. Strategy changes to bike the last half of the ride all out then sprint for your life for place before the clock expires.
I could see this “everybody freeze, race is over” concept working for a different kind of race, but not one where people are scattered across miles of territory in rolling starts.