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
Just my .02, I think that anything that helps someone adopt a healthier lifestyle, even if that starts out as "just finishing" is a really good thing, and not something to be scoffed at.
We agree on this but it's more the mindset that I don't understand.
I've done this one and it's terrific. It didn't hurt that I used to live there and knew every inch of the bike leg.
It is probably my favorite race. Longer than an Oly, not quite a half, but enough swimming to put some space in between me and the others. The bike is tough though, as is the first half of the run. I imploded there last year.
elephantmantriathlon.com/ elephant butte, new mexico - 1 mile swim; 26 mile bike; 6 mile run - late september
Those seem pretty close to Olympic Triathlon race distances which are 1500m (~100m short of a mile), 24.8 mile bike and 6.2 mile run... Hopefully, you'll see more of them in New Mexico in the future! Good luck!
is it just me or does anyone else believe flipturns contribute to your swim fitness and therefore triathletes will actually improve their swim leg if committed to flipturns in their training...
in addition, i located a triathlon I am committed to doing in the very near future.
elephantmantriathlon.com/ elephant butte, new mexico - 1 mile swim; 26 mile bike; 6 mile run - late september
it is one of the very few mile open water swims in new mexico.
I wish more of them had the mile swim with this bike and run
is it just me or does anyone else believe flipturns contribute to your swim fitness and therefore triathletes will actually improve their swim leg if committed to flipturns in their training...
God, don't even start with me on some triathletes and flip turning. I will join in on the bagging in some cases on this topic, I simply do not get the "there are no walls in OW so I am going to stop before the wall, turtle around, and start from a dead stop." As if that is a better way to train, or better yet that those that flip turn are actually swimming shorter distances and therefore aren't training as well.
Some triathletes suffer from this myopia that triathlons are not actually swimming, biking or running, but one sport consisting of S/B/R, so they refuse to train as swimmers do, or bikers do.
But usually the thread evolution on BT goes something like "I can't flip turn," to "I am poor at them" to "Thanks for encouraging me to flip turn, I do them now and am a better swimmer" Although there are those that are steadfast in their belief that flip turning is not relevant
There is a tri in Santa Barbara that is 1 mile swim, 34 mile bike, 10 mile run. There are also new tri formats being developed, the Leadman 125 and 250, in Vegas and Bend Oregon with 2.5K or 5K swims
There is a tri in Santa Barbara that is 1 mile swim, 34 mile bike, 10 mile run.
I've done this one and it's terrific. It didn't hurt that I used to live there and knew every inch of the bike leg.
Hi,
I'm writing for Swimmer magazine about integrating triathletes into pool workouts. What has been your experience with tris, both the races and the people? Send your phone number/email if you what to share your thoughts.
Regards,
