O.k. so I have been reading all of the race reports of people drowning in triathlons—Quartermax and Tampa. I am already a bit nervous in the water and now this really freaks me out a bit. With just over two months before the Wisc IM—what can I do to become more comfortable? Are the IM races safe? If you swim on the outside by the kayaks, is there a penalty for stopping at one? Help me get more comfortable.
do more open water swims. if you really want to stay out of the pack you can go to the left of the inbetween buoys, inside basically. and go to the right of the end buoys, there is no rule that you have to keep to the right of all the bouys, only the end ones. i did this at Moo and had open water for all of it except rounding the corners. and pay attention that the first bouy you round you have to go at a 45% angle to the next one, not 90%. a lot of people swam off course the year i was there and it was hell to get through all them.
I’d say there are three things you should do to prepare:
- Make sure you can swim 4000m without stopping and do it several times before the race.
- Practice open water swimming. The first few times I went out I got pretty anxious. There is really little to be anxious about, but sometimes we just get freaked out by the unknown. Do it several times before the race.
- Relax. Especially if you are in a wetsuit, chances are you will be just fine. But anxiety is your worst enemy so just relax, especially at the start of the race. Let the fast swimmers go and get in a few seconds later.
You will have a blast! My weakness is swimming and at the turnaround at my first IM I was actually a little sad that it was almost over.
No penalty for hanging onto to a kayak if you need to, unless they end up towing you…
People drown in kiddie pools, too. Take a deep breath and relax. You’re going to be fine. If you start on the outside at Madison there’s plenty of room if you need to take a panic break. But, in all likelihood, if you have done a few races where you’ve started with 50+ people and have trained enough, you are not going to need to break. The only thing that surprised me about having 2500 people swimming around you is that it creates a considerable current. You can almost coast to the first turn buoy.
Start near the back and all the way to the outside. I started in the first row on the way outside and didn’t even have a bit of contact.
It’s not illegal to hang on to a kayak. If you panic, just take it easy, find a boat, and collect yourself. Just stay calm and relaxed and you will be fine! Don’t worry about time, breathe easily and keep it steady.
And make sure you do a lot of OW practice in your wetsuit. Some people panic just because they aren’t used to the chest constriction from the suit.
Have fun!
Jodi
Last year there was an open water swim race on the IM course in Madison. I think it was the 3rd Saturday in August. There were a lot of people there just using it as a training swim for IMWI last year (I think it was $30). It was invaluable to me - by the time the race came, I had done the distance on that course in that lake, so I was much more comfortable. It’s a mass start, so it’s a little crowded, but nothing close to the IM start. As others have said, stay to the side and you’ll find open water after a few minutes.
I’m not sure of the sponsor of that race, but it’s worth doing the research to find it.
No sweat - just stay inside the intermediate buoys or outside of the melee as others mentioned. It might be a useful exercise to round up some friends for a group OW swim and have them ‘simulate’ race day - give you a couple bumps, grab your ankles and such. Just keep in mind that nobody’s out to do you any harm and don’t take any contact personally - stay calm, find your groove and all will be well.
Mike
Train like you race, baby! This will help…
My insight from last year’s IMWI swim:
I started just to the right of the ski ramp (outside) and about mid pack. It was a slugfest. I didn’t get “clear” water until lap 2…if you can call it clear! After the first turn -I did swim on the inside of the intermediate bouy’s. The kayaks were near and I felt relatively safe. I came in @ 1:18 and around #900.
If I had to do it all over again…I would either start near the back of the pack along the bouy lines…or further away from the ski ramp. The ramp caused a bottleneck at the start.
FWIW - The swim was the most awesome part of the day. It was so crazy you couldn’t help but smile. I felt like a heavy weight fighter getting hit but not going down! I am not the best swimmer…but feel confident I can stay afloat.
Good luck.
IMWI will be my first BIG triathlon with a mass start of say over 200 people. Most of my races have wave starts in age groups of 40-50 people or so. Maybe the biggest was 100 or more.
I am also wondering where to seed myself for IMOO. FWIW I am shooting on right around a 1 hour swim. I’m pretty comfy in the open water and have decent, not fast, swim times. (20 minutes flat in the pool for 1,500 yards) so I think I want to be more near the front than the middle of the pack, but I’m just not sure.
I was thinking near the front and sprint for the first 100-300 yards and then settle in. Not sure what to do so looking for input!
I would suggest not sprinting the first 100-300 yards. It’s going to be a long day I am not sure starting off hard is the best race strategy.
paw
I swim right around 60 minutes for IM swim. At both LP and WI (deep water starts) I started in the very front row - in the middle at WI and near the outside at LP, took off quick when the gun went off and never had much contact at all. While it may seem silly to “sprint” so early on I think the energy ‘wasted’ to avoid the craziness going on behind you is more than worth it.
FWIW, I suck at beach starts - started in the front row twice at CDA and got clobbered just getting into the water. I got to taste what it is like when you DON’T get out ahead of everyone and its not fun. I say do what you can to get ahead of the pack early!
most faster swimmers line up front left at IMWI. you have to get out there somewhat early though, having to tread water for 20 min is not fun but worth it.
I am coming from a strong swimming background though and can sprint the first 200 or so of a long swim (1,500 or more) at about a 1:10 per/100 pace then settle into a comfy 1:25 or so pace and recover. If I swim steady I go about a 1:20-1:22 pace so I am thinking of getting out of the mash and then settling in.
Start in the first or second row. I swam 1:05 and was 3-4 rows back in the middle. I really didn’t get hit that bad at all, I just couldn’t get into any kind of rythym for a long time. I think I could have started a little further forward.
That is my inkling…to start somewhere along the front. I just don’t want to get mauled by the swimmers that are behind me and go all out the first 150 yards then die or slow up and then I have to fight back through them. (This happened to me 3 weeks ago at an olympic…got stuck behind a pack that took me half the swim to get around. Guy in front of me swam the first 100 at about a 1:05 pace then slowed way up and did breastroke every 10 seconds to sight!)
With all due respect, the causes of death haven’t been released…
More comfortable - Swim more! Play in the water more! Go water skiing, kneeboarding, play water basketball. Do everything you possibly can in the water. Buy a water chair and go sit in the water…become a fish. Go to a water safety course and learn to tread water. Be able to tread water for 20 minutes. And…of course, try to do most of this in a lake.
Safe? No…triathlons aren’t what I’d consider safe. The “most safe” IM is probably IMLP. Crystal clear lake with divers all over the place. I’m not trying to scare you…but you can’t rely on a kayak to provide help. You must assume the risk of swimming 2.4 miles unassisted.
You will have 2,000 other brothers and sisters willing to help, but your post literally scares the hell out of me…
doesn’t it feel cool to give advice from the other side of the curtain ie. been there done that 
Yeah, it’s awesome!
About the divers in the lake. Holy cow, that totally freaked me out! I caught one out of the corner of my eye and I thought it was a swimmer that went under. Scared the crap out of me! That would be such an awesome job, though. Could you imagine watching 2200 swimmers battle it out from the bottom of a lake?
Jodi