I’ve seen pros start sea swims that way. Not sure if it’s the surf, current or just to get the heart rate up quickly…or all three.
I’m learning fly at swim club anyway so wondering if I can apply it on race day.
Do you mean dolphin dives?
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They do dolphin dives. If the water is deep enough for swimming freestyle is always faster
Okay, that’s it - subtle difference really, as all their examples they are using fly stroke but touching the ground.
I usually dive in and use a shallow crawl, but I’ll give the dolphin dive a go next time.
Yeah try it and let us know how it was?
I’ve experimented with it but decided to not use it. The time when it feels appropriate to dive is quite short: between running-gets-quite-slow (~hip deep) and not-comfortable-crawling-yet. I thought it was better to just walk 3 more steps.
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Yeah actually I guess at best it’s just a few seconds either way do probably not worth the time thinking about unless you’re desperate to get on someone’s feet.
The one place that it’s only really useful is if you have an ocean swim and you’re trying to navigate the waves close to the shore before you get to swells.
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Entry at IM Barcelona in 2020
It’s a canal at Frankfurt so won’t be needing it quite so much there….
FTP went up to 260 on Apr 10, after prompting from support it’s up again already to 266 and 45 days to race day. 
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That looks like a blast!
Great job on ftp increase…
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Cheers. I just going with it, I’m doing 3hr days regularly now so if I can get to the start line and survive the heat I think I’ll be okay. It’s always nice to get an unexpected bump near the end though 
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Is there an etiquette to swim drafting in IM races? Are anyone’s feet fair game or do people normally take turns à la cycling?
The swim is a lawless wasteland. Steal any free speed you can 
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This depends on your tolerance for contact. Are you ok being a aggressive and willing to push someone off the lead swimmer’s feet? I believe “don’t be an asshole” wins the day though. If there’s a gap, ease into it. Someone wants into the gap between you and the feet in front of you, ease up and let them in. You’re not going to lose meaningful time.
I’ve never experienced this.
It’s hard enough to find someone you can draft off of (faster than you enough to not cause you to slow down, but not so much faster than you where you go too hard), let alone coordinate with someone mid-swim to rotate. This has only gotten harder with time-trial starts. I suppose you could coordinate with someone ahead of time if you had a friend who was the speed as you.
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Well, hopefully not at an IM event!
Cycling non-drafting, not swimming.
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No, it’s carnage anywhere near the front third if it is a mass start.
I’ve not found rolling starts much better tbh as everyone hunts for the feet of the only person who was honest about being a 50minute swimmer………
I have had to learn over the years to put up with a bit of biff in the first 10 minutes to benefit from faster feet for the rest. I don’t deliberately dish it out but certainly don’t let anyone bump me off line or off the feet in front of me!
Swimmers can’t spell etiquette is my conclusion.
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Roger that, free for all it is Will try and pick up some feet if I can, not fussed with a bit of contact but didn’t want to go being a dick if there was an unspoken system.
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It would lose too much time to try to chain gang a swim, and you’d need to prep beforehand.
In reality the guy you are following is likely a stronger swimmer - when you move out of their slipstream to pass, if you can’t make it then you know…I’ve tried/failed a couple times
I’ve also been “the lead” swimmer of a pack and got the gratitude once you hit land. A simple thanks would be nice as you sprint past them into T1 then leave them for dust…!
A lot of people will kick hard if you touch their toes, so be wary of that. Nothing wrong with touching their toes, just that some people react madly/badly.
Congratulations! Crossing the line at IM Lanzarote is an epic achievement.
