Swim Advice

Several people asked for my thoughts on the swim, especially the start. Rich seems to think I have some secret knowledge, but, really, my experience is the same as Rian stated:

"Last year I found a nice open spot about half way between the wall and the buoy line and 10-20yds back from the front. If you look up you are just in front of the mill ave bridge. Its weird but its a big hole that no-one wanted to be in, and gave me lots of room at the start. I swam 1:15, and had plenty of room to move forward more if I wanted too."

That's what I also found in my races there 08, 09, 10 (as a spectator) and 11. The "lake" has a slight S bend to the right from the Mill St bridge to the Rural Ave/Scottsdale Blvd bridge. If you follow the LEFT buoy line, you'll gradually find the crowds getting thicker as those from the right head towards you. If you start all the way to the right, a strategy many use to take advantage of sighting off the wall, you'll run into a pier about 300 meters out, and also find a lot of congestion, as many folks think being all the way on the right gets them out of the melee, thus creating their own special melee. For some reason (this is true at many IM swim starts), people stay away from the middle. Usually there's some breathing room about 1/3rd of the way out from the buoy line. But in AZ, due to the curve of the course, that sweet spot seems to be more like 1/2 to 2/3rds of the way to the right of the buoy line.

In the past, on the return trip, I have tried to swim straight back from one bridge to the next, thinking that will cut the tangent. but no one goes there, so there's no draft. I'm going to simply follow feet on the way back, and assume that following the buoy line will be my best bet on the way back.

Finally if you have not attempted to exit the water at this venue before, you really should do the swim Sat morning, so you can understand the difficulty of getting out on the special "ladder" they have in the water - a series of wide steps, quite steep. They should have volunteers to help haul you out. If possible, let them do that. But if it's too busy, you might find it a struggle. Giving it a try before the actual race is strongly suggested, so it doesn't freak you out on race day. Seriously, this is unlike any other triathlon swim exit I have ever done, certainly the hardest exit.