The strategy we are going to talk about today is Find Feet and Hang On. You see, if you are not the fastest swimmer but you know there are swimmers out there that are slightly quicker than you then, you can swim pretty much the same pace as them for the race if you find their feet and hang on.
0:10 – Find Feet and Hang On
0:22 – Lorne Pier To Pub
0:50 – The “Drafting” Module from The Open Water Mastery Program
1:00 – Draft at the Back of The Pack
1:30 – Hang On to Swimmers Quicker Than You & Save Time and Energy
2:00 – For more Open Water Swimming Strategies, Check Out OpenWaterMastery.com
On the weekend, was the biggest ocean race here in Australia called the Pier to Pub. There is something like 4000-4500 swimmers that compete in it every year. It is a huge event. In the race that I was doing, I managed to find a swimmer that was slightly quicker than me, so he was swimming at a pace I don’t think I would have been able to maintain for race but I knew he would be slightly quicker. From the very start of the race I found him on the start line and from the very beginning I sat on his feet the whole way and basically rode his wave. You will find that in training when you are training in groups the slower swimmers can usually hang on for faster sets because they are in the draft of the other swimmers.
If you are able to find a swimmer who is slightly quicker than you and you know that they are slightly quicker than you, you can position yourself from the start line to be on their feet for the entire race. They will be good with their direction for the entire race then that means you can swim with them for the majority of the race. But you don’t have to navigate if you trust their navigation skills. In this race I hardly had to look up I just had to keep my eyes on his feet and he dragged me in the whole way and I had a very good result which was better than I would have expected had I been out on my own, swimming without drafting.
It is a good strategy if you are able to find a swimmer who is a little bit quicker than you, you can hang on and swim a faster pace and you can also save a tonne of energy that way too. Find Feet and Hang On and you will be better off in your events. We talk more about this in the Open Water Master’s Program with Sam Shepherd who won the Pier to Pub on the weekend. I filmed open water mastery with Sam Shepherd because I know he is such a good racer and so good with his strategies and tactics in the race. If you want to get more details on open water skills and strategies like that, check out OpenWaterMastery.com and you can find it there.
That’s triathlon news for the week we will see you next week.
