Why is the swim leg so short? (Page 2)

I agree that a big increase in the swim distance as well as a longer run relative to the bike distance would provide better balance and a more competitive event than the typical bike-favoring sprint tri distances do now. Your 1/10/4 mile distance would suit me fine, as they would also take me about the same time to complete.

As to your pointing out how much more the bike and run are proportionally increased as opposed to the meager increase in the swim distance when going from Oly to HIM, well, it certainly amplifies the fact that the swim gets the short end of the stick at any distance. Of course, to have a swim distance other than half the IM distance would make it something other than a HIM. All the more reason to increase the swim in sprint and Oly tri's.

But what about increasing the IM swim distance to 3 or 4 miles? Are the IM distances too traditional to change? Would distances other than 2.4/112/26.2 miles keep such a race from being an "Ironman" race? I certainly expect so.

A curious fact is that the Around-Oahu Bike Race (112mi) was originally a 2-day event.  So if we really want to get traditional, maybe the IM distance should be

2.4mi swim

56mi bike

26.2mi run

In my dreams!!! 

And while we're at it ... we need to change the marathon back to 24.8 miles, because 26.2 is just too much!!

Who cares what some Queen wanted while her country was hosting the Olympics, all marathons don't start in front of the palace and need to end in front of the royal stadium box!  (No kidding ..... that's why it is 26.2 and not the "real" distance that the Greek runner supposedly did which was in the 24's).

Triathlon is the celebration and challenge of doing three sports in succession.  Someone show me in the rules where it says that all three must be equivalent?????

Suck it up fishies, get on your damn bikes and ride and go out and pound the pavement on runs.  If the sinking bricks like me work our azzes off in the water just so that we can get out of it in a reasonable time so that we can crush you in the rest of the race, then you can certainly work just as hard at the sports you suck at.

(All meant in good fun people, so relax!!)

According to the article about the history of USAT (and its predecessor organizations) that was in the USAT magazine a few months ago, what we now call the Olympic distance (1500m/40k/10k) was proposed because the time difference between the first and last competitors in each discipline would be approximately equal across the three disciplines.

hey, found the article on their website: http://www.usatriathlon.org/sitecore/content/Misc/USAT25/Leonard_Article_1.aspx

From the article: "Analysis of earlier race results indicated that these distances provided roughly equal time differences between the fastest and slowest competitors in each of the disciplines."

off topic, but another interesting quote from that article:

"In those early triathlons, competitors frequently changed clothing in transition -- out of a bathing suit into bike shorts for example. Nudity was considered a problem, so there were changing tents in transitions. I remember one race where the changing tent for both men and women was the same, but at least the spectators were “protected.” By the mid-1980’s, tri suits had come into fashion, and gradually the change of clothes issue melted away."

Shorter swim tris rock!

I want a short swim, really long bike, and medium run if I could design a race.

I'm probably showing my geekiness here, but here's a comparison between IM and HIM and Oly and Sprint (essentially a "1/2" Oly) using the swim distance as the base. Note that the Olys and Sprints are listed in kilometers. Olys and Sprints have proportionately longer swims than IMs and HIMs. If you wanted to make the Oly/Sprint swims proportional to the IM/HIM swims, an Oly would only have an 850 meter swim, with a corresponding 425 meter Sprint swim. I've seen a few Sprints with 500 meter swims. I'd be interested as to what the rationale was for the Oly distance. My guess is that they were looking for nice, round numbers in meters. 

MikeTheBear ... speaking of nice round numbers, go eeeasy on the sig figs you geekdude!

"Olympic" distance was decided by Jim Curl, director of the U.S. Triathlon Series, as 1.5K/40K/10K because of existing distances in the individual sports in the Olympics.

Just to be a thread hog ... while I am training for my first Oly, I was still wavering about the distance. This thread cemented my decision when you all pointed out and MikeTheBear proved how swim-heavy the Oly is.

In addition to being a hog ... I'm actually a duck. Everyone raves about Michael Phelps's armspan, how it's 3in longer than his height. Well, so is mine, and I'm 5' 4" to his 6' 4". My legs are disproportionately long, too, so I get some real leverage on kick. I have massive shoulders--even for a guy--but also the hip and upper thigh buoyancy of a girl, so I am perfectly set in the water. My feet: 9-9.5 6E (men's) => FLIPPERS. Hands like paddles, too. And finally ... water beads off of me.

No feathers, though. Yet. But I do love a good watercress sandwich.

Well, what about this option (as suggested by my husband) - Run, Bike THEN SWIM (as he puts it 'to cool off in the water')

I think if the swim was last, there'd be lots of folks struggling with fatigue, cramps, etc... making it unsafe. Thus, the swim goes first because it taxes the entire body more so than running, biking.

They have lots of lifeguards walking up and down the pool keeping an eye on everyone. This particular race is open to all-comers, so it's not just well trained, college-age triathletes, but a lot of age groupers, non-team students and faculty, plus lots of first-timers. So far, in 3 years there have been no rescues. This works OK on short sprint tri's, but may be much more risky if done in a longer tri. As it is, there is a lot of fatigue evident as some people make their way up and down the pool, switching over to breastroke or sidestroke as they struggle to finish the race.

I have a race report on the UCLA IronBruin Triathlon if you are interested in reading about my experience doing the tri backwards. As much as I would prefer longer swims in any triathlon, you find that no one complains about a short swim when it's last.

QUOTE- Actually, "reverse" triathlons are fairly common in college leagues such as the West Coast Collegiate Triathlon Conference (WCCTC).  As much as I would prefer longer swims in any triathlon, you find that no one complains about a short swim when it's last. END QUOTE

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I'd try one as a Sprint but honestly could never see myself pouring it in a swim for the last 100 yards as I could running as I boogie toward the finish line. Maybe a little hustle but I'd be gasping for air and flailing like a wild woman!

why not just blow snot rockets?

Haaaaaa! I've been practicing but not quite ready for race day utilization. Don't want to hamper my fellow racers

True - nothing new on race day!

Although I usually find that when I screw up the snot rocket it just gets all over me as a result. (so no real effect on those around me, except maybe amusement)

grkingery - 2007-07-06 1:14 PM I'm all for the longer swim and really, really, really short run! If anyone wants to organize that one sign me up. By really, really, really short - I'm thinking a mile. That's enough for me! I would much rather swim it than run it! I know, I'm the minority here.

Check your local races for "aquabike" events. Really, really, really short run. Zero actually.

Hey Daremo,

I won a Tri (first one) a few weeks ago and guess what...I was the first one out of the water. I was 5 th out of water overall.  (1st for women)  So, yes, some swimmers go on to win the whole thing. I am a strong swimmer (come from a swimming background)  and also a strong runner. I am working my butt off to build up my biking skills.  When I do tris, I get a lead in the swim, hold on or only loose a little in the bike and then catch back up in the run. Dont' knock us swimmers out of the game.  I am not goign to complain, the distances are what they are, but they are skewed. 

My last two tri's had rough/whitecap swells during the swims, 2k and 1/3 mile lengths, at the time I wished they could have been shorter! Any race were the wetsuit can be worn is a good swim distance.  My first two tri races were on the same 1/3 mile course.  First one with minimal training was~24 minutes, next one was ~17 minutes so it was plenty long enough for me at the time!!!  For the super swimmers were talking about ~7 minutes, I'm at 13 minutes these days.  I like longer swims though these days as I'm not fast but am steady.

The 1.2M/2k swim distance is for me a good workout.  I did a long course tri in April where the Swim was 2k, Bike 60k, and Run 15k. I really liked this race overall distance vs the HIM but that was probably due to being in better shape for it vs the HIM in Nov.