How many mass swim starts did it take?

Good question. I am actually anxious and paranoid with pool swims, where you swim one after another...
In my tiny experience, a lot depends on how the age groups are organized. In my first tri the group following us was female and pretty conservative, so by the time the best ones reached us, we were half way through. So it was not mass murder during the swim.
In my second one the wave following us was younger males, and they just bombarded us! It was like Pearl Harbor of aggressive male bodies completely smashing our inexperienced and slow bodies (I am talking about the few slower folks swimming around me).
My upcoming race is in the pool, but you get to your line and just go back and forth until you complete 8 laps. Totally new expeirnce for me and I am not sure if I'm gonna like it, but it sounds less stressful than a line of swimmers in a tiny pool...

Mass starts are new for just about everyone when they start triathlons; very few competitive swimmers were ever in events with mass starts.

You should know about where you finish in your age group by now, if your MOP start in the middle. If the contact freaks you out then move to the outside where you have more space.

I always start to the outside even though I will typically finish FOP. A lot of people surge at the beginning then die, so I just assume let them. I'm never really nervous about the swim itself, but do get the typical pre-race nerves.

If the only people in my wave were just my AG.....I'd get in the middle

Last two swim starts were 50+ and 135.

I have always loved mass starts but I also did my first OWS race at 16.  Just start on the outside if you don't want to wait a few seconds. 

 

ETA - I have friends who grew up swimming only on summer clubs.  So some swim background.  It took them one or two to get used to it and now just accept the washer machine. 

Edited by Goggles Pizzano 2016-05-10 12:02 PM

I do prefer the mass start it makes it easy to see who your racing. For some reason all the people in my starting group always look so old. I Ilke to start near to the front. the good swimmers will pass me right away and i stay in front of the riff raff. Starting in the back causes to fight through the real bad swimmers and I find that dangerous .

I do prefer the mass start it makes it easy to see who your racing. For some reason all the people in my starting group always look so old. I Ilke to start near to the front. the good swimmers will pass me right away and i stay in front of the riff raff. Starting in the back causes to fight through the real bad swimmers and I find that dangerous . I enjoy the contact and found that being aggressive solves most of the contact issues

I could start a race with just me sitting in an easy chair and nobody around except a race official/"starter" and I'd be anxious.
Anxious for the fun to begin.
Anxious to see how well I can do.

I don't notice any more anxiety "in the moment", as the anxiety already hit "enough" for me to have read a review of the race where inevitably someone said "the way the course is laid out.....start out on the left/right/etc."

After finding our I'm stronger in the swim (relative to my AG), that anxiety is a lot less. I've never personally experienced any of the horror stories...and even then....I don't think I'd find them as horrible as others.

I did a mini sprint with 8 laps in the pool (it was a snake up and down 8 lanes) and since it was my first tri I wasn't quite sure where to place myself with time. I knew my 400m going into it (which is pretty slow by most standards) but figured I didn't want to burn myself out or get in the way of faster swimmers, so I placed myself about 30 seconds slower than my normal time...big mistake. The fact is I should have put myself like 30 faster (or maybe more), stayed right and let the faster swimmers pass me because I think that the majority of people were placing themselves faster than they could swim. Within 25 m I was already at a dead halt treading water without room to pass because people were not staying right, but also not trying to pass the people that were staying right in the lane (I think I yelled at a guy that he needed to pass the swimmer on his right or move right). I probably had to swim over 3-4 people in the course of my 8 laps just so I wouldn't be stuck in limbo or worst drown lol. There were sooo many people doing the breaststroke within 100-150m that it was very difficult to really swim my normal pace. So in hindsight I should have place myself in the faster group.

Basically the jist of my rant was with the limited amount of space in the lanes and the fact that there are inconsiderate people out there in their own world don't be surprised if you hate the pool swim.

Zero. Mass starts are like warming up at a swim meet. Wall to wall two way traffic. Butterfly arms, breastsroke legs...

Well just one I guess. My first IM in CdA 2011 I found myself in the second row on the beach when the gun went off. Didnt mean to be there, it's just where I was. If you know anything about CdA, the beach is crammed with athletes and you can't exactly move around once on the beach. Mind you, I'm an MOP swimmer. 2500 of us entering the water in one mass wave of humanity. My HR was red lined from the start. I got out about 150 maybe 200 yards before I actually thought I was going to die. You just can't stop swimming because everyone will just swim right over you. I remember thinking to myself I trained so long and sacrificed so much just to make it to the start line and can't quit now. I managed to make it to the far right side away from the main group to catch my breath and continue on. Still managed a 1:15 swim. So having been through that, I really don't get nervous during swim starts anymore. Oh, and I place myself accordingly. Here's the link to the swim start. Crazy, but wonderful day I will never forget.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5KIKOe9eoHw&list=LL93WndEXhWXG-I3AND...

Edited by mroger82 2016-05-10 4:55 PM

Coming from you, This proves what I feel will always be there at the mass swim start. I find it pretty funny that with ALL the progress in sport and science, tech, etc etc, that the mass triathlon swim start seems to be the most aggressive primitive part of all sports this side of running with the bulls

NUTS! And dangerous no? You'd find the dead body floating 10 minutes later. Why

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r3S0wu4Zbfk

Always makes me smile...

In all seriousness, this is one of the benefits of being painfully slow. I start as far back as possible and always on the outside (basically, worst possible place if you're interest to swim fast). That way, I'm out of the craziness and can go about to just finish my swim (which is slower than pretty much anyone else anyways). I always say that I do duathlons, but once in a while I toss in a wet warm up before the bike.

Edited by audiojan 2016-05-10 7:43 PM

I still don't feel totally comfortable at the start. I have to really concentrate to keep good form and sight well and getting bounced around distracts me.

Edited by b2run 2016-05-10 9:30 PM

I have done no true mass starts. Although my start in Ironman France they put 2300 athletes in the water in 90 seconds so that was pretty close. I've done a lot of wave starts where I start with 100 other people or so.

I am also an adult onset swimmer. I write a lot on my blog about how I dealt with swimming panic and learning to be comfortable in the swim because it is such a common issue.

I started triathlon I think in 2009 - maybe 2008. It has been a while. I have had my ups and downs with swimming in a group. But I now start with the pack - not in the front but I no longer wait a few seconds at the start. Most importantly, I no longer freak out at contact in the swim. I can just keep swimming. This is a pretty new thing for me and I'm proud of it.

I work harder on my swim than probably the other two elements of triathlon and honestly sometimes I stop and think - for all this work I should really be faster. (that's a joke of course).

A few things that have made a difference to me.

* I swim often. At least 4 times a week and try for one open water swim a week. I live in Miami so I can swim outdoors all year long.
* I swim in a masters group where I never have my own lane. So with every swim there are people near me and around me. We're very respectful of our space but still I feel that sensation of having people swim near me and briefly touch my toes or whatever all the time.
* I do a lot of breath control work. Pulling breathing every 3-5-7 whatever the routine is. I can't hold 5-7 very long but I now have a lot of comfort that I can hold my breath a lot longer than I thought I could before.
* I have learned that I don't actually need much space to swim. Just a few inches here or there. So I no longer stop and pull my head up when somebody gets close. I just keep my head down and swim. Part of this is my realization that when somebody touches me - they are just touching me and not trying to attack me. I either just keep swimming or if needed swim away from them. I have learned that if somebody can't seem to stay out of my way I can gently move them away from me in the water. Sort of like keeping your elbows out to make space in cross country running.
* I have learned to recover while swimming. 100 all out with 50 recovery has taught me how to get my breath back while swimming.
* I swim with people who love to swim. This makes a huge difference in learning to love swimming.

Separate but related is how I learned to get through panic in the water.
* I ask myself am I actually in danger. If the answer is no - keep going.
* I remind myself that I can swim - I swam practically my whole first IM swim chanting i can swim...i can swim ... i can swim.
* I remember the hard practices I did before I got there. (you swam 3000 yards last week - you can do this)
* I take a moment and try and focus on what's great about what I'm doing (it's a beautiful day and I'm lucky to be here)

I hope that helps and good luck.

Also about those 5 seconds. I never let it bug me because in the results I wasn't really just 5 seconds away from anybody or from my goal times. But I do have a friend who missed a goal time by 5 seconds so it can sometimes be worth it to sweat those details.

I've always been comfy in mass starts.. 30+ years of freediving plus playing H2O polo through HS and college, plus surfing big waves for decades makes a few people throwing elbows seem kinda mellow in comparison.

However, I do understand the pain of adult onset swimmers and their fear in the water, so I can offer some advice for those who face apprehension about mass starts:

1: Stick to the outside. Hard to get caught up in the scrum if you aren't IN the scrum to begin with.

2: Start at the back. Yep, you lose a few seconds, but if you have a panic attack and freeze up, or worse yet, have to be rescued, your day is done anyways.

3: Practice. Go to OW swim workouts in your area and get used to swimming in tight groups (may want to let the others know you are going to be swimming tight on them haha)

I used to tell people that if they don't want to get caught up in the scrum, just swim faster... but that doesn't work as there are invariably those who sprint the first section and then poop out 50 yards in and cause a second scrum as the rest of the pack overtakes them. I used to be annoyed by that, but you can use it to your advantage and draft off them until they lose their head of steam and then pass them.

If you do want to start at the front of the pack in a mass start: practice race starts by doing longer sets (say 4 or 5 X 500) where you go all out for 50 to 100 yards then back down to your "race" pace for the remaining 400. On race day this allows you to stick with the sprinters, or even ahead of them so you don't get run over, and then not slow as much as they do because you are used to pacing that way. I've been practicing this way since I got back in the pool and it seems to be working ok for me with my swims being 5th, 2nd, and 1st in races so far this season.