IM LOU swim starting point

Good catch.  I check that site periodically but stuff seldom changes.  They finally took off all the 2007 stuff.  I hope they keep the same start as last year. 

~Mike

I believe they kept the line open based on the last person in the water.....maybe even a little longer.

The odd thing was they told us to "seed ourselves" in the swim start and that if you might need a little more time, start up front.

If you are concerned about making the 17 hr cut-off, on race morning, get to the transition area as soon as they open, get body marked and your stuff/bike ready to go as fast as you can and then walk to the starting area...and then chill out for the next hour till starting time.  If you get near the front of the line you'd actually have about 17.5 hrs to cross the finish line.

~Mike 

hey Mike ,, silly quesiton do you think the time trial start made it easier or harder to find someone to draft off of??

I dunno.  I'll defer to Aaron on this one.

Drafting never crossed my mind....I just swam and had fun.  I'm slow so I'm not sure I could keep up with anyone to draft off of.

~Mike

hey Mike ,, silly quesiton do you think the time trial start made it easier or harder to find someone to draft off of??

chirunner134 - 2008-04-15 12:40 PM I do not draft on the swim. I save all my drafting for the bike. . I am more nervous about swimming up stream. I am not the fastest swimmer and I hope I am able to move.

Not to worry.  I'm a slow swimmer also and I didn't have any problems.  It took me 38 minutes to swim to the turnaround buoy and then it was cake coming back down....kinda like when you crest a hill and start coming back down.  In other words, after the turnaround, that water was downhill!  It's really pretty fun swimming with the current...kinda lets you know how fast the scenery goes by for really fast swimmers.

On the other hand, it the change back to the original swim start as opposed to the estuary, then it's gonna be a challange.  The Corps of Engineers can control to current to a degree and I'm sure they will minimize the current for the race...however, you can only slow the water so much before you start to cause flooding upstream of the dams.  The thing to watch is rainfall in the weeks before the race.

Well, not sense thinking about that now....just put in a much training as you can.  We're gonna have a great race in Louisville this year!  I'm pumped and you guys should be too!

~Mike

I think a mass start would be difficult for two reasons.  1.  If you put athletes in the water, they have to swim in place until the gun goes off.  Depending on how strong the current happens to be on race day, this could sap your energy before you even start.  The Corp of Engineers can slow the current some but they can't stop it. 

And 2.  If you start the race on dry land, then you'd have to jump in as there is a sea wall that and there is a 3 to 5 foot drop from the land to the water.  Jumping in (with a mass start) would be a recipe for disaster!

The only way I can think to mitigate the 'swim in place' to overcome the current problem is if they put some lines out there to hang on to while we wait.

Last year on Saturday morning I went for a practice swim.  I  went in at the steps and swam at a modest pace towards the first buoy.  It took me 28 minutes to reach the buoy.  I rounded the bouy and headed back.  It took me 4 minutes to get back!  Granted, this was the day before the race and the current had subsided on race day - either becuase of natural reasons or because of the damns - but I just can't imagine swimming in place for 5 or 10 minutes prior to the swim start.

Bottom line is, I'm giving 3 to 5 odds that they will NOT change the swim start back to a mass start.  :-)

~Mike