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Swim with the Pros in the first wave at IM Austria?

CaltriCaltri
in Racing Forum 🏎

IM Austria will be a wave start for the first time this year instead of the mass chaos beach start.

I just received an email from IM Austria stating that 'swimmers who are able to beat the swim course within one hour can sign up for the "fast wave"' which will start at 6:40am with the Pros Men and Women.  IM will open registration for 400 athletes next Thursday.  Final wave divisions will be announced on June 1st.  Other than that, no other information was provided.  So I don't know if they will take "first-come, first serve"; look at previous swim times; or try to make the larger waves smaller by moving people in to the "fast wave" division.  

My question is:  should I register to start at 6:40? 

At IMCDA last year, I swam a 1:10.  Followed by a 1:08 at IMAZ.  I did swim during the OS.  Then at Oceanside a month ago, I swam a :33. 

I am currently in the 4th wave (M45-49), that starts at 7am, with about 550 of my "best friends".  The 2nd wave (M18-34 and M40-45) starts at 6:45 and will have about 1000 and the 3rd wave (M60-79) will start at 6:50 with about 40.  All the females will start in waves 5 (7:10) and 6 (7:15).   

@Stefan Reiter who has raced IMAT, has written a great course "recon".  In it, he states that the course is fast and on clear days can get hot around the second lap of the bike.  He also stated that it is usually not windy except maybe also around the second lap.  But after riding CDA and AZ last year, I think the winds follow me.   So I don't know if starting 20 minutes earlier will make a huge difference from a weather standpoint.  But starting before the 1000 men at 6:45 might be a good idea.  The swimmers who will swim in the "fast wave" will of course be fast swimmers and probably swim straighter and thus be better to draft off.   

So any thoughts, suggestions, "pro and con" comments appreciated!  Thanks.

Comments

  • Al TruscottAl Truscott

    Bob: my thoughts:


    • There's no way you are a sub 1 hour swimmer. Your times mimic mine from a decade ago, and knocking 10% off of that doesn't seem feasible. So, you face a mini-ethical question, should I sign up for the sub one hour wave when I am not truly a sub one hour swimmer? So, it's doubtful there would be much of a draft available for you.
    • Starting "later" may not be that big a deal. There will always be a lot of people ahead of you who are slower bikers, and off of whom you can draft. Overall, the bike draft probably outweighs the hassle of working your way thru the field.
    • Stefan's idea of "hot" and yours, coming from Sac. mid summer may be two different things. And 20 minutes wouldn't make that much of a difference, anyway. You'll still be biking after noon.
    • Wind, schmind. Come on, you;re an EN athlete. Put your head down and bike!

    See you in a couple of weeks?



  • tim cronktim cronk
    On one hand I think its pretty cool they are offering this...IMO the Pro Wave is simple, they all know each other and how fast they swim, there is not that many, so sorting it out and following the correct group becomes much easier... For AG'ers mass start or Wave start , finding the right spot is hit or miss....Many AG'ers are sub 1hr and even faster than Pro's.... On the other hand now some of the slower Pro's may now be able to benefit by the faster AG'ers.... Which is NOT fair since they are racing the other PRO's... It also gives an advantage to the faster AG'ers...

    To the Questions at hand... I sure hope they validate those requesting to swim in that wave.... The difference between a 1:07 swim and a 1:00 swim is 10 sec per 100 yds.... That is night and day ,not even in the same Zip Code, type of speed/pace differential ! It should really be for something closer to 55' and under since many people fall in the 1hr even range.... At this point I'd have to vote NO until you can prove yourself a sub 1hr swimmer earning the right to be there.... I've got a couple 1:02-04 IM swims and I wouldn't consider it , even as much as I would love that advantage , I could see myself getting dropped, if they are trully all sub 1hr peeps!
  • CaltriCaltri
    @Al and Tim: Great points! Does the fact that the last km of the swim is in a narrow canal (like IMTX) make a difference due to the increased chop and, according to Stefan, how crowded it gets?

    @Al: I've printed your first bullet point and posted it in the Man Cave. Thanks for the motivation! image And yes, will see you at Sac International at 10:46am for the TOC camp.

    @Tim: Not sure how they will "validate" the times of those requesting to swim in that wave. I was wondering the same thing. Being dropped would be the big concern.
  • Mike RobertsMike Roberts
    Bob,

    My two Lincolns: if they were limiting it to 50 or 100, let the fish have at it and go in your AG wave. But 400? I bet maybe 100, or 150 if the field is huge and the wwim is fast, will go sub-1. But I don't know that swim course. You can easily figure out how many went sub-1 last year. Even assuming 200 will go under, that leaves 150 people in the fast wave who will go 60-67, with 50 or so knuckleheads going even slower. While you're doing your research, see what the 400th swimmer did last year (I bet it's 1:08 or slower). If you're confident you can beat that 400th fastest time, do it. It's your race, and you won't be stealing a spot from anyone. If it were me, I'd definitely be signing up.

    Mike
  • Mike RobertsMike Roberts
    Update: a staggering 300 went an hour or better last year, with tons of people going in the 40's and low 50's. Which means it was a very fast (short?) course. So, if you're a confident 1:02-04 swimmer, you may go 60 on this course and may want to go in the fast wave. Any slower than that, you may steal a spot from a fish and tempt karma. If ithat's not an issue to you and they don't validate (which they should), there will still be plenty of post-60 people in that first group to draft off.
  • Paul HoughPaul Hough
    Bob, you aren't in the same zip code as sub 60 guys. I don't recommend it.
  • CaltriCaltri
    Ok, I did some additional research as @Mike recommended. I apologize. I should have done this before posting my question. And @Paul, thank you for your thoughts. After being yelled at by generals and colonels in the army and being a medical student/resident, I have thick skin. image

    Data:
    At IMAZ last year which was a mass deep water start, I swam a 1:08:07. I was 381st out of the water. There were 109 individuals who went sub-60. The 400th person swam a 1:08:32.

    At IM Austria last year which was a mass beach start 296 individuals swam a sub-60. The person who swam a 1:08:07 was 995th out of the water. The 400th person swam a 1:01:44.

    Thus it does appear that IMAT is a fast course, a short course, the Europeans can really swim, or all of the above. Some blog comments have stated that the 1km canal swim is narrow, crowded, difficult to pass, but is overall fast due to swimming with a nice current.

    Other data: Oceanside 2014, I swam a :37. A month ago on the same course with a better fitting wetsuit that I purchased after IMAZ, I swam a :33.

    Thus, I have a new question: Would you recommend I register for the "fast wave" for those individuals who think they will finish the IMAT swim in under an hour?

    Thanks again in advance for thoughts and comments.
  • MattAaronsonMattAaronson
    In many running races people self-seed either by lining up by an expected pace sign or registering with an "expected finish time"...and the result is people overestimating their ability by a longshot. To the point where you are silly not to start in a "faster" corral. In swimming it's a bit different because as noted you are more likely to get a good drafting oppty if you start with people around your speed. But I still suggest you are better off going for the fast wave since most people will put in WAY less thought than you before signing up for that wave...in the time to write all these posts there were probably 100 sign-ups!!

    All that said, perhaps (and I hope) they validate folks' bids for the fast wave...in which case it's moot...you're starting with your 550 best friends...
  • CaltriCaltri
    @Matt: I agree with you about the run "start corrals". And what is funny, is that now that I am executing the EN way, I line up where I think my overall pace will be during the run then at the start get "run over" by all the people sprinting as I start 10-15" slower than goal. So I was worried about getting swam over during the swim at IMAT.

    After reading your comments, doing the research, and reading as many blogs/race reports that I could find, it does appear that the course is either fast, due to the current in the canal, or short. Thus a 1:05 effort at IMAZ, is probably a 60' at IMAT. So even though I agree that I am not yet in the same zip code as the 60' swimmers at most IM courses, I feel I might be at Austria. And if I get dropped at the beginning, I'll have clear water until the FOP 40-45 (the largest age group) and 18-24 AGers, who start 5 min later, go by and I can draft off them for as long as I can stay in my box.

    FINAL DECISION: I registered for the fast wave.
    Woke at 1am PDT this morning and the IMAT website had a link to register. After clicking on it, I typed in my name and birthdate. Had to check a box that stated that I felt I could complete the course within one hour and that if accepted for the "fast wave" I would not be permitted to return to my AG start. The names of those accepted in to the Fast Wave would be posted on the website on June 1. After hitting return, I received a message stating, "Congratulations, you are in the 1st wave for Ironman Austria. We'll publish the list of the first start group on June 1st at our website." So much for validating times. Hopefully it is not a case of: if you don't finish in an hour, you get taken behind T1 and shot. image

    Thank you all for your comments. I respect them and they helped me to make my final decision, even if my decision was different than your suggestion.
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