- Morning trainiacs.
Getting the back ready for, what's that board say,
a 2600 meter swim.
First time I've swam over 2000 meters since before world's.
So, now I know that most of you have wrapped up
your season by now, but some of you are still going.
And I know that there's a lot of you out there
that are thinking you've got to draft,
you have to draft, in the swim.
Today I'm gonna explain how to draft, who shouldn't draft,
why you should draft, why you shouldn't draft,
and maybe a better option to drafting.
Drafting is like swimming right behind somebody.
Get into that.
(electronic music)
(mellow music)
2650 meters in 53 minutes, 48 seconds,
average pace of 146.
Not bad, I'll take it.
Alright, let me draw out some drafting stuff.
Not like drawing drafting, drafting plans,
but how you can plan to draft in a swim.
Not house plans.
I didn't plan that out very well.
Alright, so, sighting, or choosing not to sight,
is probably one of the most important skills,
and decisions you can make, as far as your time goes,
that isn't the actual technique of swimming.
Your choice of how to approach the swim,
with regards to sighting, one of the biggest strategy issues
you've got to decide on, I'm gonna tell you why.
So, there are really three main options that you can choose
for whether or not you sight, and how you do it.
You are directly in behind somebody,
and you're following them, that's number one.
Number two is, you are, basically, right on their hip.
The third option is staying out here,
that's a big man, because they are strong,
independent triathlete, they don't need nobody
to draft off of.
So, those are your three options for drafting.
Now, let me tell you, sort of in order, what are,
theoretically, the best places to do it.
And I'm going to have to credit Mambo Gerry Rodrigues,
the head coach at Tower 26, for all of this.
He's the one that's done the research, he's the one
that I've learned from on this, and he's the one
that actually knows the actual stats.
I'm gonna give you, kind of ball park numbers.
If you want the actual numbers, go listen
to the Tower 26 podcast, and sign up for the Tower 26
swim program.
So, in behind, while you're drafting somebody,
in behind in the swim, yes you do save
a certain amount of effort.
I think that that number, that Gerry's worked out,
is somewhere around 8% of the effort.
The next option is on the hip.
And you might think, Oh, well, that's probably not as good.
Well, I think that that number is more like 13% on the hip.
So, that is even better.
Now, over here, this person that's by themself,
obviously 0%.
So, you might be thinking, alright, well I'm gonna be
this person right here, and save myself 13%,
and I'm just gonna stick on this person's hip
and not really think about it.
Well, that's not a great strategy for,
probably about, 90% of age groupers out there.
If you are swimming slower than, I would say,
a 31, 32 minute half iron man, which would equate
to somewhere around a 105, 107 full iron man,
You're almost better off to trust yourself,
and be this person over here.
So, this here is the average age grouper,
that's swimming in open water.
And, let's say they are trying to sight,
and see a certain tree, or a buoy, or the finish chute,
something like that.
Well, the average pro sights somewhere around
once every six strokes.
The average age grouper is more like sighting
once every 28 strokes.
Now, in addition to that, the average pro is also taking
more arm strokes, somewhere around 80 to 90 arm strokes
a minute, the average age grouper is taking somewhere around
55 to 65 strokes a minute.
So, when we're looking at the average age grouper,
they are sighting, maybe two times per minute,
and the average pro is going to be sighting
somewhere around 14 times per minute.
Who do you think is going to swim straighter?
Who do you think is going to, then, swim faster,
because they're swimming the truer course.
It's going to obviously be the pro.
Now, you don't have to swim at a rate
of 80 to 90 strokes a minute, but the sighting,
once every six strokes, is something
that you absolutely need to do.
Because, as an age grouper, who rarely spends
a lot of time in the water, and doesn't have
a lot of familiarity with navigating open water,
with sighting, you are almost always, as an age grouper,
who is untrained, swimming off course,
and you're going to be going like this.
So, even if you are swimming on the hip,
and you're saving that 13%, if this person
is just constantly going that way, and that way,
and that way, and that way, A, the course is going
to be longer, and B you're going to be going across
a whole bunch of current, that is going that way,
and it's going to create drag.
Because everyone's swimming that way,
and you're going to have drag.
So, that 13%, that perfect, theoretical 13%,
almost ends up getting wiped out.
Now, here's what you should do.
If you want to make sure that you are always
going to be okay, and you don't have to worry about,
well this guy's feet are not going in the right place,
this guy's feet might be going in the right place,
this guy's kind of faster, this guy's kind of slower,
this person seeded themselves way too high up,
now I've got to swim over them, I'm slowing myself down.
For the vast majority of triathletes, your best bet,
because you know that you can get a consistent result,
is to swim by yourself, and learn how to sight.
How do you do that?
It's not complicated stuff.
You just build a lot of sighting
into your pool swimming program, and you get comfortable
with sighting.
Then you go out, and before you race, you do anywhere
between five, and 10 open water swim workouts,
you get used to finding sight lines on shore,
you swim at them, and by the time you get to a race,
doesn't matter who's feet you're on,
you just swim your race, at your pace, doing your sighting
that you're gonna be comfortable with,
and you have an awesome race.
Leave everyone else zig-zagging behind you.
So, there you go trainiacs.
Thank you Mambo Gerry Rodrigues, head coach at Tower 26,
for doing this work, and making me a faster swimmer.
I'm sure everyone else will benefit from it,
check out Tower 26.
And if you aren't already subscribed,
hit the subscribe button below.
And if you are subscribed, it's the end of the day,
it's Friday.
You are like an end of the day Friday fizzy water.
Later trainiacs.