Triathlon: The Race Day Swim
Our open water swim sessions are all about race preparation. I talk a lot about preparing yourself for your race, to learn skills and develop confidence, ready for anything.
“That’s great”, I hear you say, “but I’m just going to swim nice and steady. That’s my plan”.
The following excerpt from one of my old race reports shows some of the things you might want to think about, you might encounter and things you might want to prepare for.
Things To Look Out For
When reading this, look out for some things …
- Pre-race confidence
- Nerves
- Awareness of surroundings
- Confident in the water
- 1st 400m
- Drafting & drafting decisions
- Mid-race accelerations
- Managing intensity
We’ll delve into these in a bit more detail at the end.
Triathlon: The Race Day Swim
Pre-Race Feelings
I went through the painful routine of putting my super-tight wetsuit on before asking a complete German stranger to manhandle me and zip me up. Into the 21 degree water for a short warm up and I was ready to start the race, as ready as I was ever going to be.
The swim is self-seeded, meaning that the faster swimmers – in theory – should be at the front of the queue to enter the water and the slower swimmers at the back. I walked over to the area where swimmers were expecting to swim for 60 minutes or less, the fastest swimmers in the race. I wasn’t feeling super confident about the swim so I positioned myself about two thirds back in this particular section, allowing others in front of me. I had a strategy of trying to keep the swim easy, or as easy as possible, saving energy for the parts of the race that would require the greatest effort.
The rolling start meant that there were eight ‘lanes’, with eight swimmers starting, before another eight swimmers joined the fray, separated only by 5 second intervals. There were eight or ten groups of eight before me, maybe more. My biggest concern before the swim start was the state of my goggles. Inexplicably, they were completely fogged up and no matter what I did, visibility through the lenses was poor. They were fine yesterday! My plan, if I absolutely had to, was to swim into some clear water and wash them with the clear lake water.
6.45am and the age group athletes had started. One wave, five seconds gap, another wave, five seconds gap. I was inching closer to the lakeshore. Another wave. Heart was bumping. Another wave. Goggles still fogged. Another wave. Very soon, I no longer had a close up view of large men in black rubber suits, but a clear, uninterrupted view of Lake Zurich. A Lake Zurich that shone brightly with the reflection of the early morning sun. Three … two … one. This was it.
Go!
What A Feeling!
Running through the sandy shore and into the cool waters, with fellow enthusiasts for company. This is why I’d subjected myself – and my family – to hours of training, to a thousand mile road trip, to a camping trip that revolved around race preparation and the enormous guilt that accompanies all of that. Entering the water in this environment was a marvellous feeling.
Dive. One stroke, two strokes. I was in and I was swimming. I immediately knew that many of the swimmers in front of me, the people who I’d let go in front of me a few minutes earlier, were not ‘sub-60 swimmers’. I caught one guy, then another before colliding with several more. I hit (accidentally), I got hit. I swam over legs, I bumped into bodies. It was all a bit rough. After swimming for 400 or 500m and reaching the first turn buoy the field thinned out a bit. Most of the athletes around me were now swimming at a sub-60 pace. This was much better. I swam alongside a group of swimmers, swimming in their wake, conserving some energy.
Outside of the bumping bodies and the clashing arms, the water was clear and calm. Sunshine and blue skies. And the hills across from the lake. A beautiful setting for a swim.
Stick or Twist?
I stayed in a group of swimmers, moving up through the field all of the time, until about 2,000 metres when I found myself slowing down to remain behind the leader of the group and stay in the draft zone. I was swimming slowly. In hindsight, this was probably an ideal pace, using minimal effort and conserving energy.
I spotted four swimmers about 50 metres ahead. “Let them go” I thought repeatedly. The temptation was too much though, and I decided to push on, swimming at pace to try and catch them. It took a few hundred metres of effort, effort I probably didn’t need to spend, to draw level with them.
I swam behind this group, benefiting from their efforts by swimming in their moving water, whilst I had a little rest. After 3,000 metres, I started to feel the earlier efforts. My stroke, never the most smooth, was becoming ragged. My arms were tiring. The power was still there, but the effort needed to stay ‘on pace’ and with the remaining two guys was becoming greater. I decided the benefit of swimming in their wake, using a little extra effort, was worth it.
Almost There!
The big, yellow inflatable swim exit was a welcome sight. I could see twenty or more volunteers at the waters edge, ready to give swimmers a helping hand onto dry land. I reached up and grabbed the hand of the first volunteer, a petite lady, hoping I wouldn’t drag her in the water with me. Onto dry land. Yes!
Done!
My swim was 57 minutes. This was the 35th fastest swim of the day, including all of the professional triathletes and elite age groupers, out of more than 1,700 athletes. I was also 2nd (by 13 seconds) in my age group!
In Barcelona 2014, with a swim time of 54 minutes, I was 66th out of the water and 6th in my age group. In 2015, my swim was 53 minutes and I was 36th overall, 5th in my age group. Based on that, I reckon this swim must have been a bit long.
Well, that was an exciting swim wasn’t it? Let’s take a look at some of the lessons or things to think about ahead of your races.
Pre-Race Confidence
The message I get from this report every time I read it, is trust your training. For some reason, on the day, I wasn’t feeling confident in my swim so put myself further back in the field than I should have. It turns out I was one of the fastest age group swimmers in the entire race, and should have seeded myself as such. This sudden pre-race crisis of confidence made the swim much harder than it should have been.
Nerves
You should expect nerves on race day, no matter how experienced you are. Nerves are good. The process of the rolling start, edging closer to the front is in some ways more nerve-tingling than a mass start where everybody charges into the water. I think it is a bit like the classroom, where the teacher asks each pupil a question in turn. It’s ‘creeping death’. You know it’s coming, and the longer it takes, the more heightened your anxiety becomes.
Awareness
Once into the water, stay vigilant and be aware of your surroundings. Other swimmers, bodies, gaps. Take plenty of looks around so you can see where the chaos is (and where it isn’t) and then make some in-swim decisions.
Confident Around Others
You will bump into other swimmers. Or they will bump into you. You will clash arms, or have a close up of a complete stranger’s toes. Having the confidence to keep going, to not let it affect you, is a really valuable race day skill.
First 400m
The first part of any race is the hardest. You will be congested. You will have collisions. You have all of that adrenaline. You have to decide on a swim pace. You will be ‘enthusiastic’. Get through the first 400m and the swim becomes easier. In those moments, remember this chaos and this uncertainty won’t last. Keep your head and get through it!
Drafting & Drafting Decisions
In this report, my race strategy was to benefit from the work of others. To draft. I found some swimmers that were swimming a pace I was comfortable with and just stayed behind / in amongst them. And then when I didn’t like the pace, I made a decision. In this case, I decided to move out and find a slightly faster draft.
Later on, when I had made a move and was swimming with faster swimmers, I made another decision. The pace was quite quick and I could have decided to drop off the pace. In this instance, I decided the draft was worth the slightly increased effort. Who knows if that was the right decision? The point is the race day swim is dynamic and full of decision making.
Mid-Race Accelerations
As above, the decision to draft off some quicker swimmers involved a change in pace, an acceleration, to catch the group in front. A few minutes of effort, before slowing back down and benefiting from a nice draft. Having the ability to switch pace is another important race day skill.
Managing Intensity
Be aware of how quickly or slowly you are swimming and have the ability to switch pace – up or down – depending on how you’re feeling. Again, the report shows a few changes of pace and an awareness of effort levels and levels of pace that I could sustain.
Hopefully, reading that has given you a good idea of the race swim dynamic and some of the things you may encounter, think about or make decisions on, during the race. Having the skills and confidence to take on whatever is thrown at you is why we work so hard during our open water sessions.
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Triathlon: The Race Day Swim
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