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2012-08-17 12:09 PM

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Subject: Strategy for a reverse age-group swim start?

I'm pretty new at this, I've got my third ever triathlon tomorrow (first olympic distance). So far I've done a pool swim sprint tri and a wave start sprint tri. I'm a pretty good swimmer (expecting to be top 5% overall in the swim, I've been #1 or 2 in my division for the swim in the first two triathlons I've done).

The race I'm doing tomorrow is a new type of start for me. It is a 1500m OWS, with the start in reverse age group order, with women's heats first, then men's. So, being 35 and male, I'll be toward the middle/end of the starts for the race. They are starting everyone with a 5-second gap between each person.

Effectively, since I am a fast swimmer, this means I'll be passing people for the entire 1500m nonstop, without any clean open water to speak of. Any thoughts on a strategy for this? I guess I'm a little worried about ever being able to find a rhythm or pace if I'm constantly coming up on new pairs of kicking feet, but can't settle in behind anyone because I'm moving faster.

Is it a bad idea to just hang to the outside/left (it goes clockwise) and swim a little farther rather than make repeated passing manuevers and try to stay tight on the inside?



2012-08-17 1:16 PM
in reply to: #4368118

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Subject: RE: Strategy for a reverse age-group swim start?

This happened to me in my first race as well, albeit not for the same reason.  The first leg (also CW) it worked pretty well to stay to the outside.  After that, though, even that was no good as the second leg was a mix of people gassing out and going to the outside to the boats (or floating and doing backstroke) and then people still slower than me taking up the more direct routes.

Best advice I have is just try not to get frustrated, because after person number 50 that you pass you will be all worked up but that 50th person won't have yet done anything to earn your wrath Cool

2012-08-17 1:23 PM
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Subject: RE: Strategy for a reverse age-group swim start?
I was in a similar start for my first Olympic tri, except that ours was started roughly in order of self-seeded swim paces (race numbers were in order of predicted swim paces and we started by race number - not strictly, but roughly). I passed a lot of people during my swim - I had seeded myself about 1/3 of the way back, but I probably finished in the top 15% or so of swimmers - so not as many as I expect you'll pass, but a good number. Due to the nature of the start and the course, there was a lot of room for all of us. I was never really slowed down by all of the passing, and although I had the "feeling" of having passed a lot of people (vs being passed), I didn't realize how far up I'd finished in the swim until I saw the results later. The only place it got a little bunched up was turning around the buoys. And the one drawback is that there was pretty much no chance of me randomly finding someone to draft off of. But I found that while I was always surrounded by other swimmers, it was never the mass of humanity that comes with a group start.
2012-08-17 1:54 PM
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Subject: RE: Strategy for a reverse age-group swim start?
Maybe it will not be as bad as you think and there will be space to pass slower people. Also who is to say that there might be some fast females that you will not be passing. Being a female 51 age group I have been in one of the first waves at times and have lots of people pass me without a problem. But for the most part have been in the last wave and hated it as I am a slow but steady swimmer. But it is. Fun passing people on the bike.
2012-08-17 1:56 PM
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Subject: RE: Strategy for a reverse age-group swim start?

Good point about the second lap being a little more messy. That makes sense, hopefully I'll be passing one at a time instead of coming up on huge clusters. I will definitely not purposely take it out on anyone if it gets frustrating, its obviously the nature of this race setup. I know how nervous a lot of people get about the swim, so the last thing I would want to do is mow over someone who's struggling to stay afloat on their second lap.

The good part is, I can probably start out at a reasonable pace from the beginning instead of doing the 100-200m scramble for position, so hopefully that will set it up for a good swim in spite of the "obstacles". Should be interesting!

Anyone know why race directors do this format? Is it to maximize the amount of people on the bike course at one time? I like the idea of a 5-second interval, but it seems like self-seeding based on swim time would make more sense for a smoother swim portion.

Thanks for the head's up!

2012-08-17 2:14 PM
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Subject: RE: Strategy for a reverse age-group swim start?

suefesta - 2012-08-17 12:54 PM Maybe it will not be as bad as you think and there will be space to pass slower people. Also who is to say that there might be some fast females that you will not be passing. Being a female 51 age group I have been in one of the first waves at times and have lots of people pass me without a problem. But for the most part have been in the last wave and hated it as I am a slow but steady swimmer. But it is. Fun passing people on the bike.

Ha, there will definitely be plenty of fast females that I won't see the entire race. I have the opposite problem on the bike... that's when I usually get passed by the majority of people who beat me, though I've been focusing on the bike the last couple of months, so hopefully it will be less embarrassing. Plus this time I'm still nursing some knee tendonitis, so the run could also be ugly. All the more reason I want to have the best possible swim... 1 out of 3 ain't bad

Hopefully its as described here with everyone's prior experiences, and the spreading-out of the field makes it less of a problem than it was in my mind. I'll just plan on more sighting to find good lines.



2012-08-17 2:32 PM
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Subject: RE: Strategy for a reverse age-group swim start?

The reverse age is done under the belief that older=slower and they need to get everyone through as fast as possible for cut-off times. They might only be allowed to do this for so long into the day. A TT start tends to be done when wave starts would be difficult, meaning getting groups together for an even start as opposed to sending off 1 or 2 at a time.

I've done one with 2 people going every 3 seconds. It was a run-out from the beach. There was quite a bit of room the entire swim as people can get a lot farther out than you first think in that time. I'm not an FOP swimmer, but do ok.  If I was, I'd watch the earlier people going. See how they tend to pick their lines. And then decide if a little more inside or outside would be better. I'd go in figure on going more towards the best line (typically inside) with this format unless I saw something to indicate otherwise in that observation time.

2012-08-17 2:54 PM
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Subject: RE: Strategy for a reverse age-group swim start?
brigby1 - 2012-08-17 1:32 PM

The reverse age is done under the belief that older=slower and they need to get everyone through as fast as possible for cut-off times. They might only be allowed to do this for so long into the day.

Bingo... That must be it. The whole event takes place at a lake/reservoir, and it probably needs to open at 11am.

2012-08-17 3:44 PM
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Subject: RE: Strategy for a reverse age-group swim start?
The good news is if they're all lined up and you get frustrated, you can just grab their ankles to accelerate yourself forward. Rinse and repeat, i call this "The Ladder". 8) git er dun!!
2012-08-17 3:52 PM
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Subject: RE: Strategy for a reverse age-group swim start?

thanks for this thread I was wondering the same my first olympic is tomorow as well the rattlesnake which sounds like it might be the same event you are doing?

2012-08-17 4:01 PM
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Subject: RE: Strategy for a reverse age-group swim start?
Yep, Rattlesnake it is!


2012-08-17 4:25 PM
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Subject: RE: Strategy for a reverse age-group swim start?
Well good luck and clear a path for me haha
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