Stories about the final preparation for the world’s most famous triathlon
Jodie and Annabel “Bella” Luxford are amongst the fastest swimmers in long distance triathlon and many male professionals have a hard time keeping up with them. Both have a background in short course racing and have excelled in the swim already in the early years. We followed Jodie and Bella during one of their ocean swims prior to the race.
In the mornings before the race, up to several hundred athletes start their ocean swim at the pier in Kailua-Kona. “I’ve maybe experienced a similar atmosphere at the London Fashion Week but certainly not at a race,” Jodie jokes about this peculiarity of Kona.
“The swim course of the World Championships is so variable. It’s a long loop and non wetsuit – that is special in the world these days as there seems to be a trend to make races into wetsuit swims. The swim is not negated here and that is important to the integrity of this race.”
Jodie Swallow
“The abundance of turtles, dolphins and beautiful warm water makes it hard to believe you are doing the most important and hardest race of the whole year.” Annabel Luxford
“It can be choppy and the currents can be pretty strong. Every day the conditions can change. You can’t predict it and it’s curious how many people insist on trying,” says Jodie.
“If it’s very windy, there can be a big chop. Choppy water makes swimming much tougher and sighting the swim buoys harder. It’s also more difficult to swim in the drag of swimmers in front of you. If there is a strong current one way, this usually advantages the better swimmers.” Annabel Luxford
Jodie and Annabel split up their one hour ocean swim workout into different segments. Here, Jodie is working on her strength building in a couple of butterfly strokes.
“Apart from deep-water starts and running in from the swim exit, I like to practice swimming the shortest line around the bouys during my open water sets. All of these are unique elements of open water swimming,” Annabel explains.
Breaks are incorporated on a regular basis. Out in the ocean, nobody can hear you so words can flow freely.
The 3.8 kilometer swim is about three times the distance from the cruise ships to the pier. Most the passengers choose to cross in a taxi boat, but Ironman athletes never have to worry if they’re on a ship that sinks near an island!
“I like to try and keep up with the dolphins that happen to swim with us every now and then. I prefer them sometimes to humans.” – Jodie Swallow
