swim, bike, run

that sounds like a good Hypothesis to me! could you imagine all the interesting strokes going on if it were the other way around?

I can understand the saftey aspect.
lets do a IRT

with the final leg very near the coast / lake edge.

I did a reverse sprint tri a few months ago. (run, bike swim) It was actually a lot of fun. Not much fear of drowning, though. It was in a local park and the swim was in the lazy river of the water playground (3 ft. deep). Had a great time!

Sharon

I did a reverse try of sorts this week and ended up pulling a muscle while doing laps. That was on Thursday and my calf muscle is still too painful for me to run or bike. Of course, I may have overtrained but I have been thinking of the order and feel that it was set up for just that reason. Swim while you are fresh and avoid the risk of drowing in open water, bike while you are not totally exhausted and then run and if you get tired, as has already been pointed out, you simply walk.

In some tri's that have a pool swim, they will do run, bike, swim, so that the competitors will be spread out for the swim!

I agee w/ dharmabum, I really don't want to drown tri-n.
JR

dharmabum is right in her assessment. Risk factor is definitely the reason. I think I'd like to do a reverse tri. I've never seen one in my area, although there must be some. I get so tired of such a lackluster run!! Of course, better training might actually make the difference!!

:-)

Dana

I'm a him. ;p 

My question is: Why aren't the three legs balanced? Since Swimming is my strength I would like to see the swim receive "equal time". In a sprint the swim takes 10 - 15 minutes, the bike 30 - 45 and the run 20 - 30, why are then distances not set up so all take about 30 minutes? This would mean doubling the length of the swim and would level the playing field for swimmers!

My dad competed in the early Hawaii Ironman when it was still on the main island, Oahu. It seems the distances where choosen from the mere fact that the swin was the distance from some beach to another beach in Waikiki and seened challenging. The bike leg just happen to be the distance around the island and the run of course the distance of the Honolulu marathon. It seems now the shorter tris have shortened the legs but tried to keep the same ratio of effort in a sense. I am a stronger swimmer also and would love a longer swim leg. But I can feel for non-swimmers, my father was the last official contestant out of the water and passed half the field in the bike and run. Oh, well...

Let's hear it for longer swims! I'd actually like to do a reverse tri one day, though I'd be so far behind going into the bike it might be more discouraging then having an early boost from swimming! At least it's all fun, no matter the order.