Proper Execution of Race Swim - I'm way too relaxed

Dave Tallo

I tend to settle into race pace - a happy little box, comfortable stroke - the second the gun goes off.  I actually work hard to be very chilled out and comfortable as soon as I start swimming.  Problem is, everyone around me is going great guns, and I get pummeled, and this costs me a lot of time while I regroup.  

I'm right and everyone else is wrong.  But sadly, in IM as in life, that is immaterial.  I think I just have to get used to an aggressive pace in the first xx mins so I don't get killed. 

two quick questions:

-how long should I be staying in this harder effort be once the gun goes off?  

-where would the harder effort lie: t-pace?  t minus 3-4?  

 

 

Jeff Braaten

This is a good question, same thing happens to me. Can't wait for a great answer.

Coach Rich

My experience after years of racing middle distance and distance events through college, staring at pace clocks, etc:

• There is a thing called "pace rut." You drop into a pace and can't seem to get out of it. The RPE of working harder to get out of that pace run can be very high. But things can get you out of this pace rut:
• Going hard to sorta hard at the start of a swim or interval. This basically puts you in a different, faster pace rut and you dial in a rythm at this faster pace that may feel the same RPE, or just a little higher than that lower pace rut. Swimming with other people and using them as a spatial/pace reference can really bump you out of your personal pace rut.
• However, if you're plan is to go hard and then back off, settling into a pace, in my experience the pace that you drop down into will be slower than you think it is. For example, let's say you're swimming in a pool with a pace clock. Your plan is to do a 1k TT, swimming 1:35/100m pace for the first 300, then dropping into 1:40's. You'll need to swim the first 100 at an RPE that feels pretty easy...but you look and you've put up a 1:32-33. The second 100, at the same intensity and what now feels like a slightly higher RPE, will be a ~1:35. The third hundred will be a 1:35 and that is now your pace rut. If you wanted, and had someone next to you to keep you focus, make you instantly aware of a drop in pace when they gain a foot or two on you, you could hold 1:35's for the remaining 700. But if your plan is to back off to 1:40's after that third 100 at 1:35, in my experience you'll likely come off the gas to a 1:41-42. Take away the pace clock and other swimmers around you likely doing the same thing and 1:42 could turn into a 1:43-44 rut that you can't get out of or are even aware that you're.

The net is that if you're interested in racing the swim, this is how I do it:

• I put my competitive swimmers hat. I'm doing a 400m hard swim followed by...something else.
• I race for 400m. Strong kick, relatively short strokes, I'm not thinking about pool stuff of long strokes, looking pretty, etc.
• At 400m I shut the legs off and get behind someone. Most importantly, I've put myself into a pace rut of swimming pretty fast.
• I don't consciously back off the pace as much as I just gradually start to drop into a pace that I know I can hold for the remaining 3400m. Again, if I say "boom, done, time to slide into that pace NOW," I know I'll go from ~1:18's in this first 400m to ~1:27's vs the 1:24-25 that I eventually want to drop into. If I were in a pool by myself, that 1:24-25 pace would have a pretty high RPE. But since I'm in a race, have others around me, giving me instant feedback on any pace changes, I just keep it rolling.
• I'm not kicking so not using my legs, at all.
• I don't need my arms the rest of the day for anything other holding me up in the aerobars or sticking a bottle in my face so, fuggit.

Anyway, I think if you did the Dave Tallo version of that above you could find 2-3'. This will get you a slightly faster/easier T1 time, which appear to be kinda slow in our AG, I think. You're then in with the pointy end of 40-44 who seem to be swimming 1:00-06 or so and you can mark them on the bike, sit 4 bike lengths back, etc.

Dave Tallo

Thanks Rich. After taking the first 400 'hard' in my RR swim last week, I was really surprised that I could actually settle back into pace, put together a decent session, and didn't feel any more or less crappy than when I've started at a moderate pace and rode it out to 3.8.  



Couple this with the experience of getting trampled at CdA (which was at least partially attributed to a poor seeding choice), and I think this is where I'll be headed.



 

Al Truscott

And remember, it's a race - it's supposed to feel hard.

Coach Rich

Yep. Normally, the difference between "hard" and "easy/steady" is about 2-3'. In the pool I could work to about 55:4x to 56:00 right now, or I could fall asleep to a 58'. Probably a slightly greater difference in open water. Normally, that 2-3' doesn't make a difference in the light of a 11hr+ day. But in your case, and mine, that 2-3' makes the different between going to the Show or no.

Also, the first couple miles of the WI course are totally admin so you can spin high, begin to get your legs back and bring your HR down. This is also why it pays to totally haul ass in transition because you can "actively rest" in the first bit of the bike.

Dave Tallo

I was hoping the T-times would have gone under the radar - after my run numbers lately, this was starting to become my only competitive advantage.

Thanks for the input. I planned to post a supplemental " ... and SHOULD I go hard?" post, but I think that's covered off.