The Battle of Waterloo is a 10 stage race with segments of swimming across a lake then running then swimming, etc. There is no transition area so you have to take your shoes with you as you swim.
Question is: would you wear your shoes to swim or put them in a bag and pull it or strap it to you? I thought wearing them is best, so what if they get wet, you have to run in the rain sometimes. It seems like there would be too much drag carrying them. On another forum the consensus seems to be carry them.
I did SOS and for the first 2 swims I clipped my shoes together with a carabiner and used them like a pull bouy. The cramps I had trying to put my shoes on after the second swim convinced me to just leave them on for the last swim. It doesn’t slow you down much because they float. One thing not to do is spead a huge amount of effoert trying to keep them dry.
I vote swim with them but try it out first.
If you can swim really well without kicking, keep them on.
If you need to kick, take them off and try the shorts method.
I think another good method would be to attach them to a race number belt somehow. You could drag them and allow them to float on top of the water.
Another method would be to wear a top that has a band around the bottom. Put the shoes inside your top on your back. The middle of your back is high in the water when you swim.
This event does not sound fun. Can you run barefoot? There were some barefoot xc runners at my college. They’d kill this kind of race…if they could swim
we had to swim in full clothing as part of my lifeguard training many years ago…the only part that i hated was swimming in shoes. i’d rather be wearing a snowmobile suit that’s 8 sizes too big for me in the water than try to swim in shoes!
I did SOS and for the first 2 swims I clipped my shoes together with a carabiner and used them like a pull bouy. The cramps I had trying to put my shoes on after the second swim convinced me to just leave them on for the last swim. It doesn’t slow you down much because they float. One thing not to do is spead a huge amount of effoert trying to keep them dry.
I vote swim with them but try it out first.
As an ex-windsurfer who has been marooned, this sounds like a good idea.
Like someone else mentioned, if you don’t kick much when you swim, keep them on. If you need to kick a lot, find another way, because having them on destroys your kicking capability. The do tend to float though.
Make sure you practice both swimming with shoes, and running with soaking wet shoes.
We used to do something similar during water polo hell week, called the Run-Swim-Run. Basically we would be wearing speedos and shoes, then swim laps up and down the pool (changing lanes till we got to the other side), then get out and run around the campus (always gave everyone else a good laugh), then back in the pool, and so on until you were essentially puking your guts out. Tons of fun really.
At SOS last year, I stuffed both shoes in the back of my shorts, toes down, soles facing out. I tied the drawstring on my shorts a little tight and the shoes never moved. I barely noticed them after the first minute of each swim. A friend swam with the shoes on and had his best result at SOS. I would consider it if I was able to get a couple practice swims with shoes on.
I used DS trainers because they’re lighter and bendable. The Nike Free is also a great choice, but my feet hate them. Be sure to use quick laces of some sort, trying to bend down after a swim to put shoes on can be pretty tough and you definitely don’t want to worry about tying shoes.
Don’t worry about them getting wet. If you’re worried about blisters, wear socks. I kept socks on the entire time and barely noticed them during the swim.
