question about swim?

Use whatever stroke works best for you but remember that there are other swimmers so if you plan to use the BS stay out to the edge of the pack.  The last thing you want to do is kick someone while in tight.  It is more of a courtesy issue.

 Good luck!

and also be aware that if you're doing the BS in the middle of the pack, a swimmer might go over the top of you when you're underwater...stay to the right!

Good luck! 

Thread hi jack! Well maybe not.

I will be doing my first tri (sprint) this weekend and I'm trying to come up with a solid strategy. I don't plan on going for the overall, or AG for that matter, but I do have a personal goal I would like meet. As of last night I was able to swim 500meters in just over 8 minutes and I felt pretty good. I use a combination of freestyle and breaststroke during my swim.

My question is should I head for the front of the pack then? I tried following slower swimmers in the pool last night, but it just breaks my rythmn and I don't want to deal with a log jam in the water. My goal is to be out of the water in around 10mins, which looks to be FOP for my age group.

Thanks in advance,

Andy,

"From what i have read here, you can doggy paddle if you have to, as long as it is you moving you and not being aided in any other way. Doggy, crawl, breast, free, side, back stroke, whatever gets you to dry land!!!"

You may want to check re backstroke. the open water swims I have done this year didn't allow backstroke as they had already said if you got into difficulty you were to lie on your back and raise your arm. I guess swimming backstroke would confuse the canoe support people. In a pool swim obviously no problem.

I blew up in my first tri this year and had to swim the last 400m breaststroke which was no problem as the pack had thinned by then. Only downside was it is harder work in the wetsuit and my legs were very tired on exit. Front crawl left me fresh for running through T1 and onto the bike so might be worth the extra effort to swim crawl if you can.