To wear or not to wear?
What are peoples thoughts on wearing a watch during the swim of an IM? I use a Garmin 310XT for the bike and the run and prefer to have this mount to my handle bars opposed to wearing it on my wrist on the bike. So the simplest thing for me would be to not wear a watch during the swim and if this was a mass start, I would even consider wearing a watch. But since Louisville is a time trial start I am wondering if I will regret not having my total time later on during the race? Advice?
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Just wear a timex and start the stop watch when you enter the water...or ..there is a clock when you exit the water...subtract the the time it took you to get to the water... both methods are close enough.
For me, the only issue is getting a wet suit off over it..but I've had a little practice and I now take a few precautions (like trislide on the wrist of the suit before I race) and I experience no difficulty.
For what it's worth, I usually race with my normal every day Timex on one arm and my Garmin on the other arm. Yes, I know I can set my Garmin so it functions as a regular watch, but who wants to fuss with the Garmin any more than necessary during the race. I hate getting lost in multiple screens. But if I really wanted to I could get down to the one watch. I just don't see the issue.
Regular watch on left arm for whole day.
500 garmin on bike.
310 garmin strapped on bike. Put on right arm before bike. Turn on at end of bike. Seems fairly common to fall off in swim.
Cheap Timex but be aware that the velco strap can come loose / undone, forcing you to think about the value of a $35 watch and race time on your wrist vs taking 5 secs to fix it
My 310 fell off during the swim at IMFL in 2010. The default strap mount of the 310 (with the springs) was an idiotic design at best. The 910 on the other hand isn't coming off ever.
I did IMLou last yr and there was no obvious clock at the swim start.
I wore a simple Ironman timex on my right wrist and just my quick release strap for my Garmin 310xt on my left wrist. I started my timex just before I jumped off the dock and kept it running for the entire race. I glanced at my wrist as I was jogging towards T1 to have a pretty good idea of what my swim time was. It was also nice to know my 'race time' during the run so I could keep my mind occupied with math for the majority of the run. On my bike was my Edge 500 and my 310xt which was mounted on a quick release mount. I used the 500 for my bike split and turned my 310 on with about 10 miles to go on the bike. I snapped it on my wrist at mile 110. Then as I left T1 I hit start and had my 'run time' and pace, etc. on my left wrist, but still had my total race time on my right wrist. You look a bit like a tool, but for me function is what is most important.
Don't count on it. I got kicked in IM Regensberg, and although I never look at my 910 on the swim, I just decided to look at it and it was hanging by a thread. Almost twisted off.
Next time it's going under my wet suit or I am not wearing it. Why worry?