General Discussion Triathlon Talk » Doing a tri that has a pool swim? Rss Feed  
Moderators: k9car363, alicefoeller Reply
2015-08-19 10:03 PM


271
1001002525
Subject: Doing a tri that has a pool swim?
I've done several tris, but haven't ever done one that has a pool swim. I'm thinking about entering one next month that has a 1500m pool swim. How does that work? How many people will they have in a lane at a time? How do you keep from having lots of collisions?


2015-08-19 11:03 PM
in reply to: #5135985

User image


35
25
Fort Madison, Iowa
Subject: RE: Doing a tri that has a pool swim?
I did a pool swim triathlon early this year. That swim was only 300 yards. The did a self seeded time trial start with the fastest swimmers going first. They circle swam down each lane. We started in lane 1, swam down the right side of the lane and back the left side of the lane. At the end we ducked under the lane rope and did the same in lane 2 and so on to the end in lane 6. The pool was 25 yards so we swam 50 yards each lane x 6 lanes for a total 300 yards.

I am not sure how you would do a 1500 yard swim. A larger pool would help. I suspect there will be some type of seeding in your triathlon. There is plenty of room in a pool lane for multiple people to swim opposite directions on each side of the lane if they all cooperate. We used to circle swim 5-6 guys in each lane when I swam in High School including 1000 yard and longer sets.
2015-08-20 12:35 AM
in reply to: ARtridad74

User image

Extreme Veteran
1332
100010010010025
Subject: RE: Doing a tri that has a pool swim?
Same here.

Seeded start, people released every 15 seconds, up one side of a 50m lane, down the other, worked fine for a 700m swim.

Not sure how they'd do a 1500 unless it was a huge pool.

A little passing, but seeded starts based on swim times avoids much of it.
2015-08-20 5:32 AM
in reply to: dfquigley

User image

New user
55
2525
Pleasant Grove, Utah
Subject: RE: Doing a tri that has a pool swim?
I did the Richmond sprint this year which has a pool swim...can't remember the length, but they had you zigzag through the pool. Imagine how a line goes back and forth at Disneyland. 4 swimmers started every 5-8 seconds or so. Wasn't too bad.
2015-08-20 11:08 AM
in reply to: CRS

User image


928
50010010010010025
Subject: RE: Doing a tri that has a pool swim?
1500m swim is likely a time-trial style, serpentine swim but you have to go through twice. But the race website should describe this. Likely you gave them an expected swim time and they will seed you with similarly-paced swimmers.

All my tris have been pool swims. I have found that while I seed myself properly, many people don't and the end up wanting to pass me early in the swim. So I now tend to seed myself further back.
2015-08-20 11:44 AM
in reply to: ARtridad74

User image


360
1001001002525
Ottawa, Ontario
Subject: RE: Doing a tri that has a pool swim?
I would think for 1500m they'd do heats w/ two swimmers per lane splitting the lane. The normal serpentine methods wouldn't really work. I did a tri this spring and they grouped people according to seed time into heats of 10 swimmers.


2015-08-20 11:47 AM
in reply to: SenatorClayDavis

User image


928
50010010010010025
Subject: RE: Doing a tri that has a pool swim?
Originally posted by SenatorClayDavis

I would think for 1500m they'd do heats w/ two swimmers per lane splitting the lane. The normal serpentine methods wouldn't really work.

It works fine here for all the tris I've done-- as I said-- you go through the pool twice.

All the tris around here have gotten rid of single-lane swims because of numerous problems with manual lap counting.
2015-08-20 12:09 PM
in reply to: stevemorey


98
252525
, Idaho
Subject: RE: Doing a tri that has a pool swim?
I did a tri in 2014 with a 900 yd swim. Big Pool...They had everyone go at once, circle swimming in lanes with people of your similar pace. I was in a group of 7 or 8 guys...lots of contact and passing, but it worked ok. I think one lane had 12+ people...it was jammed.

I've also done a pool swim with different start times where the fastest heat is last...it creates another goal in the race "don't let the fastest guys, who started 15 min after you, pass you!"
2015-08-20 3:34 PM
in reply to: stevemorey


631
50010025
Subject: RE: Doing a tri that has a pool swim?
My son races in a biathlon (swim / run) every fall. The swim is 1650 scy. They have 4 or 5 people in the lanes circle swimming. They have lap counter for each lane tracking the swimmers.
2015-08-20 6:53 PM
in reply to: #5135995

User image


88
252525
Subject: RE: Doing a tri that has a pool swim?
I did one with a 500 yard swim. They stagerred the start times for everyone in the swim - there was probably 10-15 minutes between heats (this was a small event - maybe 45 or 50 people total). We had two people to a lane. When we started, we kept to the right-hand side of the lane, then kept to the left-hand side on the way back (no circle swimming - just staying on the same side of the lane the whole swim).
2015-08-22 6:04 PM
in reply to: ARtridad74

User image

Extreme Veteran
1190
1000100252525
Silicon Valley
Subject: RE: Doing a tri that has a pool swim?
The only pool swim tri I have ever done was a reverse. The swim was at the end so there was a natural separation of competitors. I did an Oly so all the sprints folks were long gone when the smaller group of Olys hit the pool. The swim itself was serpentine across 16 lanes.

The only downside was after a run and ride a big percentage of the people would cramp up when they hit the cold water. The swim times sucked.



2015-08-23 2:47 PM
in reply to: 0

User image


13

Subject: RE: Doing a tri that has a pool swim?
I did a Tri back in July that was a 700 yard swim, but you could only do 350 yards at a time. We ended up having to the do Tri course twice. It was a sprint so the bike distance was only 10 miles, with a 1.6 mile run (that was actually 2miles) each time for total of 750 yards, 20 mile bike, 4 mile run.

Most of the Olympic distance Tri's done in pools are done the same way. Or at least the ones around here (northern Utah) are done that way.

*edit* i forgot to mention that this was also a staggered start where swimmers started every 10 seconds and serpentined to the other side of the pool and exited. the second time around there wasn't any bottlenecks getting into the pool. just got in and did my laps.

Edited by citiznkain 2015-08-23 2:52 PM
New Thread
General Discussion Triathlon Talk » Doing a tri that has a pool swim? Rss Feed