Why are hand paddles, fins and < 100 x 60 cm flotation devices allowed and encouraged on the swim?
Because you swim with your shoes on, it makes swimming really, really tough without some help.
Run 3 miles hard to a lake and then jump in and swim across as you are, and do this over and over. Swimming with shoes and socks is actually not completely terrible, but since you are doing it over and over again and need to be able to run hard in between, the pull buoy saves your legs.
There are teams who do such events without pull buoy and paddles, and some only use pull buoys and no paddles, but most teams use both. Tethers are also allowed but not required.
It becomes a big tactical decision for teams. How much faster am I in transition if I use neither device?
I did Casco Bay with a partner with whom I had only swam once. We ditched the tether, because we couldn’t keep it out of the trailing guy’s way. Neither of us trained with hand paddles, so we never tried to use those. The pull buoy worked well. We each held it to our outer thigh with bungee cord when running, and rotated it between the legs when swimming.
Elite swimrunners will be proficient with the paddles and tether, but you don’t really need it.
It’s a young sport and the techniques and gear probably will continue to evolve.
I heard they will be adding a bike segment soon. Everybody will get e-bikes because biking is hard.
Thanks, makes sense…
Based on that commentary, you ought to ride a standard “Eddy Merckx” style bike in a triathlon to keep it real.
I recommend highly to folks to actually try a SwimRun before making wise comments about it.
I heard they will be adding a bike segment soon. Everybody will get e-bikes because biking is hard.
Based on that commentary, you ought to ride a standard “Eddy Merckx” style bike in a triathlon to keep it real.
I recommend highly to folks to actually try a SwimRun before making wise comments about it.
I heard they will be adding a bike segment soon. Everybody will get e-bikes because biking is hard.
Ha. I’ve done the S.O.S. Tri… twice. That’s a swim-run across mountain top lakes woven between 15 miles of trail running, after biking up a mountain. My opinion is very valid. Good try though.
These races will get flack for the hand paddles until they drop them. Might as well get used to it.
easy solution for you. paddles are not mandatory in swimrun. don’t wear 'em.
I’m not sure what is “zen†about being a swimrun troll, and then justifying your comment with a humble brag. Lighten up.
Your opinion is valid if you are racing all your triathlons on a standard steel framed road bike with box rimmed wheels.
haha, good one. And a baggy kit.
Tim
So in reading up on the S.O.S. Triathlon (which you clearly use as validation), it states that a pull buoy is allowed. Why is that?
Also, are there really just 3 swim segments totaling 2.1 miles? Maybe the “mountain top lakes” make the swimming super-tough. Like uphill, or something.
SwimRun races in Europe have 6km to 10km of swimming with shoes, and 35 to 65km of running. But as I said before, it is easy for folks to bohoo something they have never done.
Chris Hauth and Rich Roll are pretty accomplished triathletes and they finished 2:46:40 behind the winners at the OTILLO WC who finished in sub 8 hours.
In the early days athletes did the OTILLO one like triathletes, wearing a backpack with shoes and socks during the swim and then the wetsuit and goggles in the backpack while running. But that is just not very efficient
These races will get flack for the hand paddles until they drop them. Might as well get used to it.
Ive never heard ÖTILLÖ swimrun get flack for paddles. As long as everyone is racing under the same rules does it matter? If somebody wants to make it more difficult for the sake of it being more difficult I’m sure the organizers would have no issue if people wanted to do the race with a 20 pound weight tied around their waist.
Why are people so sensitive about their chosen race/sport?
Swim/run is cool, don’t really care if they use paddles and pull buoys, swimming in shoes is difficult. I can see why they use them, makes sense.
SOS is cool, totally different vibe than a traditional tri (probably a whole lot like a nice swim/run event). I’ve also done SOS twice and while it’s like a swim/run, it really isn’t a swim/run. But why should it be? It’s actually considered a tri. The rules I have say flotation devices (i.e. pull buoy) can only be used to transport shoes.
And as Herbert said, i’ll let someone boohoo how “easy” SOS is after they’ve run up Godzilla 5 hours into the race and in the 17th mile of running
Breathe people, breathe LOL
Thank you
Why are people so sensitive about their chosen race/sport?
Swim/run is cool, don’t really care if they use paddles and pull buoys, swimming in shoes is difficult. I can see why they use them, makes sense.
SOS is cool, totally different vibe than a traditional tri (probably a whole lot like a nice swim/run event). I’ve also done SOS twice and while it’s like a swim/run, it really isn’t a swim/run. But why should it be? It’s actually considered a tri. The rules I have say flotation devices (i.e. pull buoy) can only be used to transport shoes.
And as Herbert said, i’ll let someone boohoo how “easy” SOS is after they’ve run up Godzilla 5 hours into the race and in the 17th mile of running
Breathe people, breathe LOL
I recommend highly to folks to actually try a SwimRun before making wise comments about it.
Gladly! We need more swimrun races in the U.S. first though!!!
I recommend highly to folks to actually try a SwimRun before making wise comments about it.
Gladly! We need more swimrun races in the U.S. first though!!!
I looked at the swimrun calendar and (while I don’t know if its’ complete) there’s what, maybe 5 races in the US if that? I’ve been looking at my local area to see if there’s an appropriate venue but ironically even though I am on the coast, there really isn’t anything in the greater L.A. area. I have done swim run training for SOS but it’s consisted of swimming at one location and running different routes from there.
SOS is badass – you’ll never hear me say anything negative about that challenge. It’s truly one of the original endurance challenges around.
We’ve reported on both SOS as well as ÖTILLÖ here on Slowtwitch for many many years for obvious reasons - they have character and finishing one requires putting on your big boy pants and coming ready for an adventure!