How much do triathlete need to learn about swimming?
Former Member
I do not mean this as a heartless criticism of triathletes. I actually enjoy the sport. But many of them start doing triathlons with almost no knowledge or experience in swimming. Here are a couple of choice comments to the thread I linked below. Thank goodness I knew how to ride a bike and run before I started doing tris - but not well. Give them credit for taking it on, but I do think they should learn to swim before entering one.
"The swim is short ( 150 yards ), and I can make it..not without stopping a couple of times at the end of the pool."
"A lot of pool sprints are so newbie friendly that they let you get through the water any way you can. I have seen people water walk the 300 meters in a pool swim in my area."
"My wife did an indoor tri a few months ago and I think 1/4 of the people walked the swim."
I recommended that the person do breaststroke.
www.beginnertriathlete.com/.../thread-view.asp
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Former Member
I guess some triathletes need to learn how to swim, not sure there's anything to be said for "triathletes" as a ... species? entire group? It seems that most triathletes' weakness is the swim. I think they think to themselves, "I grew up swimming in a pool, etc" and figure it can't be that hard. Add to that swimming in a crowd and a restrictive wetsuit, and it turns into something else entirely
And when something goes wrong in the water, the danger is compounded given the environment.
Attempting a tri without knowing how to swim is just stupid. At least they are doing a pool tri and not an OW swim tri. You may not have seen the threads on this issue, but there are on occasion the same types of posts where the race is in open water. Except for a few yahoos, the general consensus advice is always sound and forceful - learn how to swim first.
I've done tris for the last 7 years. There is on occasion the person that is not capable of completing the distance, and every race gets people pulled from the water for one reason or another. Same is true for many OW swims I've done. In my experience the vast majority of triathletes, however, are competent swimmers, some of them are quite fast.
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Former Member
I guess some triathletes need to learn how to swim, not sure there's anything to be said for "triathletes" as a ... species? entire group? It seems that most triathletes' weakness is the swim. I think they think to themselves, "I grew up swimming in a pool, etc" and figure it can't be that hard. Add to that swimming in a crowd and a restrictive wetsuit, and it turns into something else entirely
And when something goes wrong in the water, the danger is compounded given the environment.
Attempting a tri without knowing how to swim is just stupid. At least they are doing a pool tri and not an OW swim tri. You may not have seen the threads on this issue, but there are on occasion the same types of posts where the race is in open water. Except for a few yahoos, the general consensus advice is always sound and forceful - learn how to swim first.
I've done tris for the last 7 years. There is on occasion the person that is not capable of completing the distance, and every race gets people pulled from the water for one reason or another. Same is true for many OW swims I've done. In my experience the vast majority of triathletes, however, are competent swimmers, some of them are quite fast.
