Swim Tactics and Strategy for Triathlon Swims

Swimming well in triathlons takes more than just hard, smart training. Tactics play an important part. In this series of five blog posts, Professional Triathlon and Ironman Coach Brendon Downey looks at some key points for athletes to consider on the day of their event.

Before any open water swim athletes should allow and take the time to complete a full pre event course review. Exactly what’s involved will depend on the type of start employed, the exposure to waves and open beach (or not), tides & water movement, water temp, wind and the general weather and of course the size of the field and the quality of your competition relative to the start area and the length to the first turn. It’s a complex mix, one which I will attempt to unravel in this article.

Part 1 of 5: Swim Starts

There are three types:

1) Pontoon Dive (ie virtually all ITU World Cups and Points races, less common for age-group and longer events).

2) Deep Water starts (Less common these days but many deep harbour events employ these particularly for larger age-group competitions, such as national champs and also in cannel type swims (Europe).

3) Beach start or water’s edge start. No matter which start you have for your big event the critical thing is to check them out and practice.

There are a number of general things to check out:

One thing about open water is that its not a uniform environment and this means you need to check this out prior to the start. Does one side of the start area get to duck dive or wade a bit further? Will you be able to run into the water further in one place then another. Is there one part of the start area where there are smaller waves or a rip to help take you out or does the current in the swim area help one side of the start area and where is the shortest line to the 1st turn buoy?

I remember a few years back at the Mooloolaba Triathlon World Cup, the start was really tricky, there was a small 2 foot wave and a couple of rips (water moving back out to sea) on top of that there were sand banks. In the end the fastest way was to run out through a sandbank and then move over into one for the rips, worth maybe 30sec. The key point here is to take the time to study the conditions and the impact this will have on the swim. This includes actually walking around and checking it all out.

For beach/waters edge starts the under footing is also critical, is it good across the whole start area? Are there any hazards (coral or rocks or uneven sands). Your first few meters from the waters edge are critical for a good start so really take the time to get that sorted.

Other factors that are worth considering include how many athletes? A big mass start, such as an Ironman Triathlon, will influence starting position and your swim ability obviously pays a big part in that also. Ironman New Zealand, held in Lake Taupo, New Zealand is a classic even though its got a large field the wide (200m) odd start area and long first leg (almost 1800m) means that there is plenty of room. For slower athletes there is still the ability

However events held is narrow cannels (such as is often the case in Europ) make positioning at the start important. Aside from the issue of seeding and getting some clear water there is the issue of potential difference in water movement between nearer the sides to the middle.

Also make a note of any potential dangers (boats in the harbour, pylons, rocks under the water?) I remember a sea plane landing and taxing near a swim course a number of years back.

For faster athletes pre start tactics can also be important, if you are able to pick where you start and who you start next two can make a huge impact on the final outcome in a competitive event. If you are the fastest or one of the fastest swimmers you might also deliberately try and start away from other good swimmers. If you are looking to get a draft (more on this in an upcomming post) you might look to have them on your favoured breathing side, so you can slot in behind them as they pull ahead and get the assistance of their draft and navigation (that is if you trust them).

Thats all for today but be sure to subscribe to my blog and receive the rest of the triathlon series, as well as other expert advice and insights that can help you.