Is a 2:30 100 yd that bad?

I expend way more energy using any other stroke than the front crawl/freestyle.  I would use whatever stroke you are most efficient at given the circumstances.  Backstroke may be tough to sight...and doing breast stroke you may constantly be bumping into people...you have to take that into consideration as well.

It's my normal pace right now. I think it's great!

It's not really possible to say it's bad or it's good. If you're interested in seeing how you would fare in a given tri at that pace, it's best to check out the race results for last years race. That will give you a good idea about where you might show up in the swim leg and how much time you'd need to "make up" to meet your goal/expectations.


It would be ideal to be in good enough fitness to handle swimming the crawl the entire way and still be good to go for the bike and the run.

Every race and every level is different. Take a look at the results at some of races you are looking at. If it is a 750M swim Sprint, then figure 2:30 at that distance is about 19 minutes. If you are looking for 1st place overall or in your AG, see what the top place people swim at and the time they do the bike and run. Then, figure out if your run/bike time can make up for that difference. Is it possible, probably, but I am guessing in a Sprint, you will see a top 750M time to be in the mid to low 10:00 range. Hope that helps.  My general suggestion, is swim more and then get your time down and you will be "fresh as a daisy" for a faster time. Good Luck!!

There's a lot of factors that go into it, but generally there are quite a few people who swim BOP and are FOP bike/run and do quite well. If you look at something like an olympic, if you swim 2:30/100 you are probably about 20ish minutes off the first person out of the water. Now that may seem like a lot but it's possible to make that up. The big issue though as mentioned above if you do backstroke is you may swim off course and then you are adding even larger chunks of time to your swim.

Sounds like you could benefit from some swim coaching to get your form in shape. Are you located near Dallas, TX?

Anyways, you can more than make up the slow-ish swim time on the bike. The swim is a very small part of the whole race. And a lot of triathletes are kind of slow-ish swimmers.

GOOD LUCK!

Really? I would disagree with this. 20 minutes is to much time to make up on the bike and run in that short of a race and try and win the whole thing or your age group. Well unless it is a pretty small race.

Eh, it COULD happen IF the guys first out of the water are straight swimmers who can't bike or run worth a darn.

It also depends. At alot of races 2:30/100 is BOP. You may lose 20 minutes, but a BOP runner is losing 30+ and a BOP biker is losing 45+

Sure I understand that, but to think your going to pass every single person who came out of the water before you over a twenty minute period is unrealistic.

While you can make up a huge amount of time on the bike and run, I think you're underestimating how well FOP triathletes can swim if you only expect to be a few minutes behind them by throwing in some breaststroke or other strokes.

If you aren't strong enough to do a crawl for the full 1500m Olympic distance swim, expect to be beaten by the front guys buy over 10, if not 15-20 minutes. The top guys will finish the swim in 18-19 minutes, whereas I'll bet you'll be over 32, if not well closer to 40 minutes if you really have that much trouble with the crawl/freestyle stroke.

Last year I was a very weak swimmer with a strong bike and run. In a major local olympic race last year, I finished just inside top 20% in my M35 AG despite my weak swimming. However, to do this, I had to bike and run as fast as the eventual M35 AG winner, and throw in a swim that was better than bottom 20AG%. My swim pace was probably about 2:20/100yd at this time, and I was ditched by all in my AG very quickly during the swim. 

FOP triathletes swim VERY fast!

I agree.

Now going back to the OP's question... IF you want to make up time on the bike and run, you would be better served to have a faster swim time. Honestly, 2:30 is a bit slow. While not horrible, it's not really mediocre either. Not saying that to be rude, just being honest.

If you were swimming 2:00 per 100, that would be a different story.

Probably wouldn't hurt you to go get some swim lessons.

As a lousy swimmer myself I would say it is definitely worth it to learn to freestyle the entire swim.  With halfway decent technique it is less effort than other strokes at reasonable speed over distance.  I breast stroke within 10sec/100M of my best freestyle time, but cannot hold that for more than 400M or so.  OTOH I freestyle a non-stop mile at 2:30/100M at pretty low effort. 

And being BOP swimmer but stronger biker makes it a bit of a PITA to keep trying to pass slower (and less skilled) bikers on a tight course. 

The answer to your question is yes but you are not going to be "a few minutes behind" doing breast, back or any other non-freestyle stroke..at least not in an Oly or above.

If you are a good runner (6:30)  20 minutes is easy to make up as the swim is just not a large enough portion of the race  in Oly's  and above. Are you going to win or place in your AG? ..No. Enough good runners and bikers can learn to swim within 20% of the top 10 in their AG and only be 5-10 minutes off the pace (in an Oly) coming out of the water.

My answer has little to do with where 2:30 per 100 is with respect to swim finish and AG finish, overall finish etc.  In my opinion, 2:30 per hundred isn't "bad" as much as it's simply an indication of poor technique.  Using other strokes so you can save energy for the run doesn't make nearly as much sense as learning better form to both swim faster and save energy.   Good form makes all the difference.  I started last year with no swim team experience as a kid at around 2:00 per hundred and by the end of one year I could swim a sub 1:20 and sustain sub 1:40, not blistering fast, but much better by incorporating lots of drills, etc.  I then took about 5 mos off of swimming completely, so my swim fitness is not there, and swam a 1:25 in the middle of a bunch of sets my first swim out.  It's all about form and mine still has a ways to go

My husband is a GREAT side-stroker!  He's a good swimmer too, but his side stroke is nearly as fast as his freestyle.  I don't know how he does it, but he just stretches his long body out under the water and moves that sidestroke!  He mostly swims free in long races, but if he has to, he sidestrokes... and it works for him.  So, I would say  that you should go with whatever works for you as well.

Is it possible to remain competitive in a field even if you're a slow swimmer?  IMO, yes.  Especially if it's a smaller, local race and/or you are a super cyclist or even better yet, a rockstar runner!  A good friend of mine competes at a lot of Florida races with me and while swimming and cycling aren't her strong points at all (I'm usually 12 minutes ahead of her by the time we get to the run in an Oly race), she never fails to BLOW BY ME on the run!  It amazes me!

Good luck to ya! 

1/2 mile swim at 2:00/100 = 17:36
1/2 mile swim at 2:30/100 = 20:00

So the differance in a 2:00 swimmer and a 2:30 swimmer for 1/2 swim is 2:24.  Easy to 'make up' 2:30 on the bike over say 15 miles....heck, you can make up 1/2 of that with a speedy T1.

But the thing is, 2:30 is a BOP simmer.  You are not going to win, place or show in any triathlon swimming that slowly....so the calculation showing the delta from the first guy out of the water is meaningless.  But I don't think the OP thinks they can still win the race swimming that slowly.

Is 2:30 slow?  Yes.  But so what.  10:00 m/m running is slow too....so is 17 mph on the bike. 

It's ok to be slow.  :-)

~Mike

It's only bad if you are doing a time trial start and you say you swim 2:00/100yd.    Everyone starts somewhere, we were all slower than we are now at some point.

That is where I started.

Now, I expect to do my HIM swim at 1:50/100 meter pace (wetsuit legal)

I was looking the the results for last year's race and was interested to see that several of the top 10 (overall) finishers placed in the low 100's in the swim portion. So they were able to make up a lot of ground in the bike & run.

That said, keep in mind that while you can make up some ground in the bike and run, the people you are competing against are also very good in those areas as well. So you would have to be significantly better to make up the time.

If you are just looking to have a "respectable" finish, and not necessarily place, then you should be fine.

With all that said, 2:30/100 offers a lot of room for improvement, and I agree that a swim lesson sounds like a good idea.  At a minimum, improving your stroke will help you expend less energy when swimming.

Wow given those times...  Why be slow in just 1 sport when you can be slow in 3...  I do 2:30, 12:59 and 14 so I am a slow guy triing, but it is faster then all those who do not even tri....

Hahahahaha!  Those are my times exactly for bike & run right now!  I suck!