Olympic Race Strategy

In article <[email hidden]>,

(zboy) said:

In all the men's olympic triathlon races I have seen,

You mean both of them?

Quoted message said:

I still do not
understand why the so-called swim specialist trys to go off the front
just to get 10 or 15 seconds out of the water - Almost everytime they
got caught in the first 5K of the bike. Case in point the mens Olympic
race. All that work that Potts did for 15 sec and by the first hill he
was back in the pack.

I know this works in the womens races with Barb and a few others, but
it is just the wrong strategy in the mens race. I say this because
every swimmer (who pushes the swim and leads) always fades on the
bike/run. Until I see the swim break away work, i just think it is a
dumb idea - regardless of a persons swimming ablity

This is a good argument against allowing drafting on the bike.

--Harold Buck

"I used to rock and roll all night,
and party every day.
Then it was every other day. . . ."
-Homer J. Simpson

Maybe Potts thinks he is already weaker on the bike and run, and his only
hope is to get as big a lead in the water as possible, and try to hold for
dear life.

Or maybe it was a team strategy to try and get some of the other front
runners to go with him, and tire out so other members of Team USA could have
a better shot on the bike and run.

"zboy" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

In all the men's olympic triathlon races I have seen, I still do not
understand why the so-called swim specialist trys to go off the front
just to get 10 or 15 seconds out of the water - Almost everytime they
got caught in the first 5K of the bike. Case in point the mens Olympic
race. All that work that Potts did for 15 sec and by the first hill he
was back in the pack.

I know this works in the womens races with Barb and a few others, but
it is just the wrong strategy in the mens race. I say this because
every swimmer (who pushes the swim and leads) always fades on the
bike/run. Until I see the swim break away work, i just think it is a
dumb idea - regardless of a persons swimming ablity

[email hidden] (zboy) wrote in message news:<[email hidden]>...

Quoted message said:

In all the men's olympic triathlon races I have seen, I still do not
understand why the so-called swim specialist trys to go off the front
just to get 10 or 15 seconds out of the water - Almost everytime they
got caught in the first 5K of the bike. Case in point the mens Olympic
race. All that work that Potts did for 15 sec and by the first hill he
was back in the pack.

I know this works in the womens races with Barb and a few others, but
it is just the wrong strategy in the mens race. I say this because
every swimmer (who pushes the swim and leads) always fades on the
bike/run. Until I see the swim break away work, i just think it is a
dumb idea - regardless of a persons swimming ablity

Hoping not to get into the "draft, non-draft" argument again.....

I watched the entire elite swim of the NY Triathlon (I jogged along
the Hudson while I took photos and admired the beauty of their
strokes) and it took me a while to figure out what was happening.
There were several packs of swimmers - with one guy leading each pack
for almost the entire length of the swim. I say "almost" because at
the last 200 yards they were all overtaken in their respective packs.

It finally occurred to me that this is no different than the bike
racing - the pack was drafting off the strong swimmers and the
"sprinters" won the swim. Team tactics.

I did not watch the US mens Triathlon because NBC choose not show it
much to my dismay... so I don't know if that was what was happening
there.

Do we have any elites visiting this newsgroup who can shed some light
on this issue?

-CF

Good question,
Sometimes a strong group can get away on the swim, and have a bit of a
gap starting the bike. For the truly elite swimmer, a 17-something swim is
pretty moderate, if not actually easy. I've coached high school and
collegiate triathletes who could swim that fast in a triathlon and still not
pay a big price for it. In the case of the Olympics this year, the course
and tactics of the other racers made that possibility less of a reality,
especially when Andy came out of the water alone. It really doesn't take
much of a gap out of the swim if the course is right...enough to get "out of
sight, out of mind", or sometimes to have a smaller group who can take
corners faster and have all members working equally to put time on a larger
group that might have several athletes that aren't (or aren't capable) of
taking any pulls and have to slow down more on the corners (especially in a
pack of triathletes with less group cycling skills). If a small group gets
out of the water together and hits the bike hard early, they can establish a
lead that might be unsurmountable...based on the course, tactics, etc., you
never know - that is why some will try to. You never really know...that's
racing! In Athens, Andy was likely trying to pull out some of the faster
swimmers, including his teammate - Hunter Kemper, to a small lead. It
didn't really work out that way, but had Hunter been right on Andy's toes,
along with maybe one or two other strong cyclists, the results of the race
could have been quite different. Draft legal racing is not as easy as many
folks who I've seen post here believe. I can tell you that from experience.
If you don't believe me, ask others who have competed in different forms of
triathlon racing. The bike leg of draft-legal triathlon (the Olympic style
of racing) is still incredibly important...in fact, it was the defining
point in the men's Olympic race, and still a major factor in the results of
the women's race as well. It is simply different from non-drafting
triathlon - not better, not worse in my opinion and experience. I
personally enjoy and prefer non-drafting triathlon, but have serious respect
for those are able to compete at the Olympic level of our sport. Happy
racing, Neal

"zboy" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

In all the men's olympic triathlon races I have seen, I still do not
understand why the so-called swim specialist trys to go off the front
just to get 10 or 15 seconds out of the water - Almost everytime they
got caught in the first 5K of the bike. Case in point the mens Olympic
race. All that work that Potts did for 15 sec and by the first hill he
was back in the pack.

I know this works in the womens races with Barb and a few others, but
it is just the wrong strategy in the mens race. I say this because
every swimmer (who pushes the swim and leads) always fades on the
bike/run. Until I see the swim break away work, i just think it is a
dumb idea - regardless of a persons swimming ablity

It is not uncommon for a good swimmer to break from the pack and produce an
exceptional time. He may know that he will be caught and has no chance of
the overall win but wants the recognition of one outstanding achievement. I
believe that was Pott's motivation.

It may not be wise rationing of available effort but it did get him in the
spotlight. he could have gone unnoticed without that swim break.

It's called ego strategy.

Ken

"zboy" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

In all the men's olympic triathlon races I have seen, I still do not
understand why the so-called swim specialist trys to go off the front
just to get 10 or 15 seconds out of the water - Almost everytime they
got caught in the first 5K of the bike. Case in point the mens Olympic
race. All that work that Potts did for 15 sec and by the first hill he
was back in the pack.

I know this works in the womens races with Barb and a few others, but
it is just the wrong strategy in the mens race. I say this because
every swimmer (who pushes the swim and leads) always fades on the
bike/run. Until I see the swim break away work, i just think it is a
dumb idea - regardless of a persons swimming ablity