A sprinter’s game: Ironman Wisconsin 2002

September 15, 2002 was the day I became an Ironman.  Times have changed in 6 years.  Back in 2002, I was training close to 30 hours per week, whereas now I'm dividing up my time working and coaching. I train whenever I can, but don’t have anywhere near the athletic conditioning I had back in 2002.  But my entire coaching career likely wouldn’t have happened without that race.  I had a great swim.  At a split of 49:03, I still rank 10th on the fastest all-time list for Ironman Wisconsin.  I want to talk about that swim in detail so you can learn from it and make your swimming better. 

I knew that there were some tough competitors with Division I college swimming experience in the field, and they were all better distance swimmers than me.  One of them was former University of Minnesota team-mate, Jono McCleod.  Jono was a fantastic Individual Medley and distance freestyler that I couldn’t hope to compete with.  I had the opportunity to swim with Jono frequently in 2002, and he destroyed me every time in any distance above a 50.

 I was a sprinter in swimming.  And a sprint swim is much less than a sprint triathlon.  A triathlon sprint is a race that can be finished in less than 90 minutes.  A sprint in swimming lasts less than a minute.  A long distance race in triathlon takes 5 hours or more.  I used to consider an “ultra-endurance” swim as lasting two minutes and two hundred meters!  Needless to say, a 2.4 mile swim was something I had never experienced before in my swimming days.  A good portion of my workouts back in college weren’t that long!

I prepared for the Ironman swim like I prepared for any competitive swim meet.  Sprint swimming technique and workout design was all I knew.  So I swam lots of high intensity, high rest workouts, just as if I was preparing for a 100 yard race.  I knew that 2.4 miles was a long way.  But I knew how my system would respond to sprint based training and so I stuck with it.  In workouts, I could average 2:02 in 200 yard repeats.  This was good, but I knew I would be racing better people.  I knew that I could out-sprint anyone, as I could still swim a 50yard in under 22 seconds.  But I had no idea how much difference that would make.

Race day was very clear and without a lot of wind.  I was fortunate at the start to find some people that recognized me and let me in.  This allowed me to avoid all the head-bashing that goes on in the middle of the field.  As an elite amateur I still had to start in the main field, with the pros starting in a small group about 20 yards ahead.  When that cannon went off, it was as chaotic for me as it probably was for everyone else.  There were lots of arms and legs flailing around, with no idea of where you stand.  A group of elite amateurs quickly broke away (myself included) and caught the back of the pro field after about 400 meters.

My strategy was to start nice and easy.  Just avoid the congestion and try to find a good draft.  This means swimming behind someone who is going just a little bit faster than you, so that you get to swim on their feet comfortably.  I frequently sighted ahead of me, and if I saw a better drafting candidate with open feet (no one swimming behind them), I would ditch the person I was drafting and sprint up to them.  For the first quarter of the race, I was probably drafting 50% of the time, and catching someone’s draft 50% of the time.  I was never leading anybody.  I figured, since the field was going to be so fast, it would have been a silly strategy to lead.

As we swam the first mile, the crowds started to dwindle and the field was swimming in more of a straight line.  This was fine with me, as I could just sit back in the line and take it easier.  I was drafting 80% of the time now versus catching someone’s draft 20%.  I would only sprint ahead if the person in front of me let a gap open from the person in front of them.  Since I had spent most of the race drafting and had the sprint experience, I could pass before the person in front could fill the gap.

As we reached the halfway point, I was swimming behind the leader.  I could see one lone swimmer ahead, but he was over 30 seconds up, which I thought was too far to catch on my own.  Thus, I stayed in the draft.  Because the swim start was so chaotic, I couldn’t tell where I was.  I thought I was in about 20th place overall.  I had no idea that I was actually in 3rd place overall and directly behind my old teammate, Jono McCleod.

Ironman Wisconsin is a two lap course.  And this can create problems for drafting.  As the faster swimmers on their second lap merge with the slower swimmers on their first lap, it can be very difficult to figure out whom to draft.  Pick a slow swimmer’s feet and the leading swimmer slips away in the crowd.  It was very difficult in a big churning mass of white water to find the right feet to follow.

Here’s the solution I came up with.  As we swam close to slower swimmers, I would draft closer and incidentally touch the leader’s toes more often.  Although it’s illegal (and wrong!) to deliberately grab a swimmer’s feet, occasional contact of hands and toes is to be expected.  My feet were also getting hit by the swimmers behind me for most of the race.  Whenever I hit Jono’s toes, he would kick up a storm, in a message to back off.  It had the opposite effect however.  It allowed me to find him in crowds.  When we were surrounded in people, I would tap his toes and then follow the whitest water.  I was able to stay on his feet the whole time.

The other consequence of this toe contact was that Jono accelerated.  Since he was a distance swimmer, his acceleration was constant and not a burst of speed like a sprinter’s.  It took everything I had just to stay in his draft.  I deliberately stopped kicking so that the person behind me would have a hard time finding me.  As a result, we began to pull away from that line of swimmers.

At about the two mile mark, Jono stopped swimming ahead of me and began treading water.  I stopped as well.  We just started at each other for about five seconds.  I think he was expecting me to lead.  This was not a situation I had planned for!  I looked ahead and couldn’t recognize anyone fast enough to draft off of.  I looked behind us and I could see that line of swimmers that we had broken away from getting closer.  I figured the best thing I could do was sit and wait.  Not a word was exchanged (though plenty was discussed in the transition area!).  As the line of swimmers caught us, Jono began swimming again.

As we neared the end of the swim, Jono accelerated again.  He had so much more power and endurance than me that I could barely hang on.  That line of fast swimmers behind us got dropped again.  I didn’t think it was possible for him to accelerate all the way up to the finish.  His last 200 yards was probably under two minutes.  I had no idea he was trying to preserve a second place overall swim finish.  The reality was, I couldn’t have passed him if I tried and there was no one else around. 

After the race, I felt very uncomfortable when people talked about Jono’s swim being equal to my swim.  I wasn’t in Jono’s league when it came to swimming speed and endurance.  The only thing I could do was draft more and out-sprint people.  I had no idea this would be so effective.  Since I could sprint well, I could quickly fill gaps and catch up to competitors ahead of me, thus spending a lot more time drafting and taking it easy.   

It was this race that made me think that sprinting ability really has a place in the sport of triathlon.  This meant I had something unique to offer.  Back in 2002, I hadn’t seen many people who valued sprint swimming skills.  But I see that changing.  Athletes of all levels, from the pros to the first timers are getting interested.  I’ve been doing the best I can to teach everything I know.  Until next time, happy training.