jennings780

I am seriously considering wearing my iPod during the run portion of the Olympic distance tri I am doing on Saturday. I always run with my iPod and bike some with it on too (only when on a bike path). Anybody have any thoughts about this? Should I? Pros - cons?

Playlist for tri:

Wheels Cake
Screaming Skull Sonic Youth
Space (I Believe In) Pixies
Cut Your Ribbon Sparta
Sabotage Beastie Boys
To Hell With Good Intentions McLusky
Tie Me Up! Untie Me! Mewithoutyou
KYEO Fugazi
Times Like These Foo Fighters
Take Me Out (Naum Gabo Re-Version) Franz Ferdinand
Ether Gang of Four
Radical Adults Lick Godhead Style Sonic Youth
U-Mass Pixies
Blue Orchid The White Stripes
Give it Up LCD Soundsystem
The Power is On The Go! Team
Deceptacon Le Tigre
Obstacle 1 Interpol
Wake Up Rage Against the Machine

Rocks - doesn't it?

Mr Monster Legs

If I were to choose a Gang of Four song I would choose Damaged Goods over Ether.

jennings780

Great point. You know your stuff. I prefer Damaged Goods also - the reason I didn't pick it is because its on another playlist that I have listened to so many times I need to take a break from all the songs on the list.

What other music suggestions do you have? Sounds like we may have similar tastes.

Dr. Moto

Not sure I understand why you'd want this. Recreational cyclists play tunes to help the miles go by. Do you get bored while competing in a triathlon? I've never done one, so this is a sincere question. Do a lot of competitors do this?

^*^BATMAN^*^

well, to start with, never on a bike shoudl you wear and ipod, or any other music device, especially on trails.

Also, dont know about in missouri, but in Canada, it is against the rules to listen to music from a personal listening device of anykind at all during the race.

jennings780

Good point.
I've done two tris and have not been bored in the least.
The reason I'm considering it is because I use the music to help with pacing and it kind of fires me up.

Batman - Why do you think I shouldn't listen to music while biking on bike trails? There are no cars to worry about. I guess I wouldn't hear if a biker was telling me he was passing me - but I ride at 15 minutes prior to sunrise and there are only a few bikers out there and I have never been passed.

^*^BATMAN^*^

My thing, is jsut not being able to hear anythign else, i have almost been hit , and have crashed a few time because of this, comming up on someone, and you yelling that you are passing, and tehy dont hear you, then when htey see you there all of a sudden, they freak and vear into you, or the bush.

It is strickly from my experiance, but the trails I ride, are also very turny in the bush, so you cant see around corners, so i just dont. If you feel safe, then by all means, go ahead.

cjbruin

Are those song titles? I'm pretty sure I've never heard any of those songs.

If your event is USAT sanctioned -- the rules prohibit iPODs during the event. Not sure what the penalty is, probably DQ.

Personally, I don't think you should wear one anyway. I wear mine to train when I run but competition is a different thing. Be part of the event rather than go off into your own world. Just my $0.02.

jrennie

no headphones allowed at the races i've done(people did use ipods, not sure if they were disqualified though)

jennings780

Good points. My bike path is very hilly and has a lot of turns. I have also experienced yelling "on your left" to bikers and runners and having them freak out and 1/3 of the time swerve into my path. Interesting phenomenon. So far, having the iPod on or off doesn't seem to affect any of those situations.

cycleprincess

The last triathlon I participated in one guy was disqualified because he wore an ipod on his run. They announced prior to the race that they were strictly prohibited and this guy thought he could get away with it.

As far as I know all USAT sanctioned events will DQ you for using them.

jennings780

Ok - I am convinced. No iPod at the tri. Don't want to be disqualified. Thanks for the input everyone.

Swimming question - If I swim a mile in 27 minutes at my 25 yrd pool - will I be faster or slower in a lake swim (my first two tri's were in pools)? I imagine having a bunch of people start at once (waves of 50) will slow me down as will sighting every 10 strokes or so. But, will not having to turn at the wall offset those other factors?

^*^BATMAN^*^

There are two thoughts about this.

1) because you have to turn, you will break your rythm, thus you wil lbe less tired, or faster in an open water swim.

2) becasue you have to turn, when you push off the wall you are goign like 4 times as fast for a little bit, so you will be slower in open water.

Like I said, between the two swim coached on my tri team, they argue about this all the time, I find I am faster in open water. Mind you that is with a wet suit on, so I dunno.

jrennie

While I am a stone in any water, I find open water swims slower and harder

H2OChick

I'm not sure, since I've never swum in a lake (just the ocean where currents, waves and the like make a big difference in speed) but I'd guess that if your turns really stink in the pool, you'll find you're faster in the lake, especially if you're wearing a wetsuit. Plus you can draft, plus there's the thrill of a race... But again, I'm just guessing!

jennings780

Thanks.
No wetsuits.
My turns in the pool suck. I only do flip turns about 1/3 of the time.
We'll see . . .

Mr Monster Legs

Well I’ve never done a tri (yet) but I did swim competitively in high school and kept swimming in college. When you swim in an open body of water you tend to drift or turn. I would say (and again I’ve never done a tri) find a guy to follow and make him do all the looking.

I also have experience in both 25 yard pools and 50 meter pool, being able to turn and streamline off the wall his a huge plus (always better times in a 25 yard pool). You can swim much faster with turns (or at least flip turns and a good streamline.

I’m not sure if this is much help but I thought I would add my 2 cents.

^*^BATMAN^*^

Drifting in open water is a huge problem with people first starting to swim open water. You get used to watchign the lines in teh pool to go straight, but you don thave lines in the water to do it. Try swimming in the pool with no lane markers in, amd swim a length with your eyes shut. That will tell you approx how you drift(everyone is different)

The differense between long course and short course pools is were you get the thought that open water is slower then in a pool. The thing is though that when you get into open water long distance swimming(500m+), you get into a rythm that allows you to swim longer faster. For example, say you can swim 200m at say 1:15 pace, well you will NEVER hold that for 2000m. So getting into a rythm that allow syou to go the whole 2km, and staying in that rythm is faster then swimming 2km in a pool.

racergirl

well the major con is the fact that you would be disqualified.

norsehabanero

open water is far different than pool swiming i was on the swim team in h.s. in open water there are no lane markers or lines on the bottom of the lake, it is different not better not worse just different, it would not hurt to get in some open water swiming before if that is possible

MHR

Anyone who uses music in a race is not only stupid but disrespectful to others in the race. First off, it against the rules - but the A-holes who disregard this rule not only risk their own safety but the safty of others. 2-weeks ago I raced the Pikes Peak Ascent (1/2 marathon) and Pikes Peak Marathon (back to back Saturday/Sunday). On Sunday during my decent leg in the Marathon I approached a girl who was wearing headphones just ahead of me..... I was closing on her fast. As I approached I said "ON YOUR LEFT" - nothing, no response. As I was within 3-feet I again call out "ON YOUR LEFT" (mind you the Barr Trail is like 2-3 feet wide in many sections and have many roots and rocks across the trail so it requires your full attention on foot placement - especially at speed). She then lifted one side of her headphones and said "WHAT? Sorry I couldn't hear you I have my headphones on" - I squeeze by and just say "Stupid A-hole". On one switch back like ½ mile down further I stopped (Mother Nature called…...well you are out there for over 6-hours) and she passed me again. This time I did the same thing within 6-feet yelled "ON YOUR LEFT" - Nothing. Really mad now I get between her and some large boulders on my left and we bump shoulders - as we made contact I gave her a good push and my point was made. I just wonder what in the hell are people thinking anyway – this is a race and there are rules either obey them or don’t participate – it is that simple.

jennings780

Point well taken. I'm not going to use headphones. But - the run at my tri is on closed, wide streets. Not a big issue concerning safety or being disrespectful.

suzyultra

Do not understand why you would use music, in the tris i do it is a test of personal perserverance. No outside help allowed I think the word I am looking for is dis- association. That is why some athletes wear their ipod for setting up to avoid distractions and get calm before the race, having music on the run is not beeing in tune with your enviroment . as for the swimming in open water you have to be able to sight and not drift if it is a point to point course a good idea to pin point a landmark for reference. I am not a great swimmer and just hope to follow an athlete in front of me and pray they are herading in the right direction with or with out a wetsuit and presuming you are really lousy with flip turns and do not drift you will be faster in the lake!! there thats my 2 cents!

surfsail50

A mile in 27 is really fast for open water as far as I can tell, when I looked back at results from the 1/2 Iron in Miami the top swimmers in the Elite were doing 1.2mi in 33 mins which is really smoking, so unless you are a really great swimmer you probably won't get that close to that time (although I would be happy if you proved me wrong) because I think you are getting great boost from your flip turns which you won't get in open water. Most are in the 35-45 min range and these are serious contenders. The guy who smoked the swim ended up sucking on the bike and run and finished quite far back... I think he spent it in the water...
Swimming in a lake is generally faster than the ocean (they always make you swim against the current in the ocean if it's one way) and the pool is always the fastest.

specialK

I am in newfoundland, and in the triathlon/duathlon i competed in we were not allowed to have any extra electronic gear. A few people had brought their mp3 players with them though, and I wish I had brought mine because nobody cared at all. I can't say how much having your own tunes helps though, I couldn't do much without them......