think before open water triathlons

peter kern

it awlays freaks me out when i read about athletes still having the wetsuit tag on their new wetsuit a few days before the race , people doing a race withouth having done open water swims in a group before a race .... pool swimming and triathlon swimmng is just different...

I do not really share the authors view that heart check up are really the way forward ( or better many experts dont think this is the way forward as it will cause by far more false results than right ones , and while 26 people died by exercising many 100 000 s die from not moving enough) Anyway, their is great stuff in this article, a bit theatralic in my mind but nontheless worth a read. and food for thought. As we definitely can reduce the problem by preparing better.


http://www.slowtwitch.com/Opinion/Dare_You_to_Move_3437.html

Kurt Godel

Are you warming up before your races? Are you getting to the race in time for your warm up? Do you have your wetsuit? Have you put it on this year? Is it overtight? Have you been swimming in open water, in the wetsuit? If the answer is “no” to the above, what are your concrete plans for this? I’m not asking for anything out of the ordinary. This is how you professionally approach your sport. These are the sorts of things I do. Nobody in my cohort, from my era, fails to do these things. This is mostly why—in my view—we didn’t die for the sport’s first 20 years.

Very good article. On a selfish level I hate seeing underprepared sea swimmers because they often mean the course gets truncated for everyone.

Something practical we can do about it is have group OW training meet-ups.

tunney

peter kern wrote: »

it awlays freaks me out when i read about athletes still having the wetsuit tag on their new wetsuit a few days before the race , people doing a race withouth having done open water swims in a group before a race .... pool swimming and triathlon swimmng is just different...

I do not really share the authors view that heart check up are really the way forward ( or better many experts dont think this is the way forward as it will cause by far more false results than right ones , and while 26 people died by exercising many 100 000 s die from not moving enough) Anyway, their is great stuff in this article, a bit theatralic in my mind but nontheless worth a read. and food for thought. As we definitely can reduce the problem by preparing better.


http://www.slowtwitch.com/Opinion/Dare_You_to_Move_3437.html

Agree on the heart checks. Need more emphasis on deep water starts rather than beach starts (and ferry starts). That sudden shock to the system is severe.

Kurt Godel wrote: »

Very good article. On a selfish level I hate seeing underprepared sea swimmers because they often mean the course gets truncated for everyone.

Very much annoys me too. Cue shouts of "but we all have to start somewhere." Yes in pools and rivers and lakes. Not a good swimmer - sea swims, particularly on the West of Ireland, are not for you.

Kurt Godel wrote: »

Something practical we can do about it is have group OW training meet-ups.

Then you are shifting the problem to training rather than racing? I remember being hand held when I started. I was a huge burden. However back then the number of "huge burdens" wasn't as high as it is now.

Ideally something along the lines of qualifying criteria for races. Want to do an OW olympic, then show results for a sprint. Want to do a sprint, then super sprint results.

Kurt Godel

tunney wrote: »

Then you are shifting the problem to training rather than racing? I remember being hand held when I started. I was a huge burden. However back then the number of "huge burdens" wasn't as high as it is now.

Ideally something along the lines of qualifying criteria for races. Want to do an OW olympic, then show results for a sprint. Want to do a sprint, then super sprint results.

It's only a problem in racing; discovering you can't handle OW in training means you can work on that. I'd be willing to accompany newbies into the sea around Wicklow (caveat: I'm unqualified, and at their own risk) if it meant they were slightly better prepared for the races, and I'm sure there's loads here who wouldn't mind helping out newbies in a similar way. Better still would be for newbies (who aren't members of a club) to pay for an OW intro day from someone suitably qualified.

Qualifying critera would work, but would add to the amount of work for the organizers, (and probably come at a cost). Another practical solution is to offer a Duathlon option to those too scared of a bit of chop come race morning. But better all round is to address the problem before race day.

Kurt Godel

tunney wrote: »

I remember being hand held when I started. I was a huge burden. However back then the number of "huge burdens" wasn't as high as it is now.

Actually I'd lean towards and agree 100% with this. The sheer amount of people looking to do Tri now, who can't swim, sucks a disproportionate amount of resources (I can't think of anyone starting Tri's who can't bike, for instance). Maybe there should be a mandatory swim competency cert before you can enter a OW Tri after all.

peter kern

i dodnt really think that regulation is the way forward ( we cant even enforce drafting so how do we think we can enforce other regulations )
I think education is the way forward and it could be on each wetsuit sold their could be guide on open water swimming and racing in triathlon.

Itu, ironman challenger etc maybe should write a guidline and at least every sanctioned race should send out this guidelines 2 month 1 month 2 weeks or whatever forward.
As for cardiac death the only real facts we know about it strikes predomenatially male ( ratio 9 to 1 over females ) over the age of 40 everything at this stage is more speculation than knowledge.

griffin100

Ideally something along the lines of qualifying criteria for races. Want to do an OW olympic, then show results for a sprint. Want to do a sprint, then super sprint results.

This is something that I think makes sense in one form or another. I know it's a pain in the ass for those who jump straight into the deep end (like JB ) but at least it shows some level of consideration for participants. Look at the Womens Mini Marathon, it has tens of thousands of participants yet manages to restrict entry to the 'runners' section of the start line by only allowing those persons who can show a set of results from a recently run 10km at registration to register as runners. If they can do it for such a large event then surely something similar can be done for 'higher risk' triathlons? I've lost count of the number of OW swims I've done where I've seen people panicking about the swim and in some events cheering when the swim has been cancelled - wtf? It' a triathlon, the bit that makes triathlon different from other events is the swim, without that its just a bike ride and a run, the swim to me is what makes it special.

It's interesting to compare the approaches of two different middle distance swim events. Take the Beginnish Island swim - you have to show that you have done a number of qualifying swims before you can compete; whereas the Warrior Of Sea does't require any qualifying swims and the website states One of the things about longer distance open water swimming races is that they tend to be self regulating. By that I mean, the fact that you are in open water tends to make beginners think twice before saying 'Ah sure, i'll give it a go". Which may happen more often in land based activities. As such, if you have decided to compete in this years swim, you will be more than able for the proposed training. Both swims are comparable distances albeit the Beginnish one is more difficult so who is correct in their approach?


longshank

I think you have to be a bit careful of over reaction, the article was very much an emotional argument and lacked any evidence that the risk of cardiac arrest was stastically higher than can be expected from any large group of people, (a big football match can expect a few heart attacks) unfortunately if you have a heart attck in water the consequences are more severe. Placing the onus for someones heart health on race organisers is the wrong way to go- a persons health is their own responsibility. Offfering discounted screening, education etc. puts the onus where it belongs with the athlete.

peter kern

But if its 95% or so people are over 40 males that die in triathlon why make a regulation for everybody ?
Besides to make a geneal regulation that has no real evidence to adresse the issue ( in this case to reduce people that die in tri )doent seem really to help- apart from really incereasing the burreucratic work - ,ie their is not that much evidence that the distance of the race matters that much.

longshnak if we look at marathon running the risk of cardiac issue is around 1; 100 000 in triathlon around 1 ; 75 000.
the only thing that is clear its again over 40s in marathon running.
and not that neccesarily fitness the most important factor.

longshank

peter kern wrote: »

if we look at marathon running the risk of cardiac issue is around 1; 100 000 in triathlon around 1 ; 75 000.

that's because just doing one sport is easy