In a triathlon or any race longer than 30 minutes and on up to Half IM, do you find it funny when you see people almost sprint at the beginning to get out in front only to die off after ten minutes or so. I can maybe see a point in a triathlon if you want to make sure you can get up with a slightly faster swimmer to draft off of or to just get out of the crowd, but it seems a little but unnecessary there and especially at the beginning of a running race when most people that do that would probably finish quite a bit slower than they start. Maybe it’s because I’m more of a swimmer that I think it’s a little too much. I usually like to get off to the side, let everyone fight it out and as I warm up to race pace (I never can get a proper warm up in before the gun) I start catching people. I find it’s better to stay relaxed and build up to the finish.
I guess I don’t know for sure if they are the same people or not, but there is such a contrast between the mass chaos at the start of any run or tri and the calm at the end of the run when some people may be walking or struggling to hold a decent pace or even finish. I wanna say, “come on! We have 5 more hours of this! Calm down!”
i just chalk it up to excitement or inexperience. if you do a running event only people blast off the line no matter what the distance…some of them have no business in the front (as they could easily get pushed down because of the huge field). it doesn’t bother me because i focus on my own race, but admit that it is an ego boost to start mowing people down one, two, or three at a time, 500 yards later.
I’d rather see them sprint at the beginning than wait until the last 25 meters to pretend they’re trying to win Gold at the 100…
But you’re right, it is funny to see them. Doesn’t really bother me in the least. If they become too aggressive in trying to swim over me instead of around, a well timed elbow/hand/leg seems to send the right message.
But the sprint at the beginning has to do with the adrenaline rush, I suppose…some people have a hard time controlling it. Kind of like my dog, if we go for a run all she wants to do is go full blast, sprint, “dammit can’t you run any faster cuz you’re holding me back and I have to get there now!!” kind of mentality…and that lasts for maybe a mile and then she’s dragging tail. And the next time we go, same thing…no memory at all.
I digress…we humans seem to resemble the animal kingdom in many ways, no?
On the one hand, I usually go like hell at the beginning of running races, but then, I’m moderately fast and hate having to fight through 300 people chatting or fiddling with their iPods. On the other hand, I go out too fast on the swim because it doesn’t seem like I’m going hard when everybody else is swimming away from me. For the swim start, though, I seed myself appropriately at the back of my wave.
I can’t tell you the number of times that I have read, here and elsewhere, that it is sound strategy to go all-out for the first two-to-three hundred yards so that you can stay with the front group when everybody settles down, at which point you can draft your way to a lovely swim. I have never had this work in practice, although once, when the fourth following wave swam over me, I drafted this 70 year old lay for the last hundred yards.
My goal for this weekend’s race is to take it easy on the swim, go moderately on the bike, and run like hell, same as always.
As far as those people who seed themselves at the front despite having no reasonable expectation of a top performance, I suppose that it is a matter of common courtesy as much as anything else.
Dont know about IM length, but for olympic distance, if you can swim fast, starting the swim in a 200-300 yd. “sprint” is quite necessary to get out in front of the field, to be able to select the best line, and then not to have to pass people breaststoking for the next 1/4 mile. In a running race, if you can run, and there are 1,000 people starting at once, I can also see the need to keep up a fast pace for a few hundred yds. to thin out the mass-start crowd.
But obviously in either case, if you go out like a madman and then slow to a crawl, it defeats the purpose. And, yes, lots of people seem to do that. I think the people that need to sprint off the start are the ones who go pretty damn fast when they ‘slow’ to their final race pace. Other than those folks, take it easy…
"I’d rather see them sprint at the beginning than wait until the last 25 meters to pretend they’re trying to win Gold at the 100… " You mean like this joker to my left? He came toasting by sounding like he was gonna explode but with this shit eating grin on his face. I resisted the urge to stoop and raise up on him.
It’s not the sprinting that bothers me, it is the unrealistic seeding people do of themselves (speaking about Ironman here). There is so much ego in the first 6 deep, and I just end up passing alot of them (although they are very insistant about worming their way to the front line before the gun). Used to annoy me, now it just makes me laugh…
That looks like a pretty area to be racing in. Where is that? We have all our races out in the farm lands around here, that urban course looks pretty awesome.
Running past a black dude may be a career highlight for him. Just think, the day after the race, at the office, when asked “How’d the race go?”, he could respond “I passed a black guy”, and all his co-workers would give him high fives, “Right on man!”, as if he had just won the lottery. (I’m really hoping you find that humorous, otherwise I’ll have to join Francois’s club)
“shit-eating grin” … classic. That guy is cracking me up. Thanks for posting that.
You could have politely drifted to your left as you were running and “guided” him right into one of those contruction signs. I’m pretty sure that’s not a penalty.
i am an ex swimmer and honestly i hate swim starts in triathlon. i could easily outsprint 95% of most triathlon fields in swimming but somehow i always seem to get cut off at the start and get stuck behind slower people, and have to weave in and out. This happened to me in imnz. i told myself was going to take out the first 100m HARD (about 200m race pace), but then had 2 guys converge on me from the sides and I was going nowhere fast.
It seems that all races there are the same group who sprints at the start and are passed about five to ten minutes into the race. I have only seen one sprinter finish far, far ahead.
Is it wrong to sprint at the finish? It is a race after all. In my years of track and cross-country, my coaches always wanted us to pick up a few extra places at the end. it’s pretty hard to forget all that. The faster swimmers show no mercy in the swim, I try to return the favor on the run.
Maybe it’s different if you are not in contention and just want to finish. The grin is lame, indeed.
Sprinting at the start of the race is a good idea for some people. A few people, like the people who are going to be leading the race overall and know what they are doing. Maybe for people who are great swimmers too.
Most people who do it though, I think they probably just read somewhere that you’re supposed to sprint to get into position at the beginning then settle into your stroke. A lot of articles on OW swimming tell you to do that. Never mind your level of experience or swimming ability and endurance. And what “position” are they trying to get in?
I wish I could sprint at the beginning of a race. Just go all out the first 200. I’m a former swimmer and definitely a solid FOP swimmer in tris, but I can’t sprint until I’ve done at least 800 yds to warm up. In a race, I just get in the middle and kick and steadily pass all the sprinters when they start dying after the first 300 or so.
Is it wrong to sprint at the finish? It is a race after all. In my years of track and cross-country, my coaches always wanted us to pick up a few extra places at the end. it’s pretty hard to forget all that. The faster swimmers show no mercy in the swim, I try to return the favor on the run.
Maybe it’s different if you are not in contention and just want to finish. The grin is lame, indeed. I’m MOP and I run as fast as I can to the finish. I’m not in contention for any awards, but I am trying to go as fast as I can and place as high as I can. If I weren’t going to do that, then I could just go out and train on my own. Why enter a race if you aren’t going to go as fast as you can? As far as whether to sprint at the start of any race, different races and different abilities call for different tactics. It’s really stupid to sprint at the beginning of a marathon. But, in a Sprint or Olympic Tri, sprinting at the beginning can get you onto the feet of a good swimmer where you can go for a nice ride. It can also get you clear of slower swimmers so you can have a less congested swim. It can also mean that you go too fast and blow yourself up for the rest of the race. Why do you get upset if someone goes out too hard, and you pass them later in the race at a result?
I’m with you CTL. If I miss a medal by a second or two I always wonder if I could have dug a little deeper. Everyone should be encouraged to use the tactics that they think will work for them. If it turns out wrong, who cares? I actually like to see people go out fast. If they crack, good for me. If they don’t, good for them.