There's a reason they seed by time: So there's no passing in the pool. Sadly, not everybody guesses their presumed skills very accurately. Some get all worried and give a slow time, others act like they're poseidon on a winged dolphin and give a way fast time. Next thing you know, chaos.

What few time-seeded pool swims I've done (and it's not been many), it basically ends up being very very hard to pass. So if you seeded yourself as slower than you actually are, you may just end up being slower than you actually are - simply because it's too hard to get around people.

Traditional pool etiquette says to pass, you tap a swimmers toes, then (s)he is supposed to get over far enough for you to go past. If you have people coming straight at you this technique could possibly fail. But if you can pop your head up out of the water and check for no oncoming traffic, it might just work.

Outside of that, the very best place to pass in a pool is at the flip turn. Get right up on somebody's toes, then gun it into the wall right next to the person, and push hard coming out. You should be able to pass this way. Usually the person you're passing realizes what's going on and cedes the right of way to you.

I hope this helps, and good racing!
TriJoe.

Make friends with the swimmers around you in the line up and all agree that if you want to pass, tap the foot of the swimmer in front of you to pass at the end of the lane. Like Trijoe points out, everyone overestimates, or under estimates their swimming abilities. The real horror is at the end of the swim and exiting the pool. Often a line forms to get out of the pool. Ask if it okay to swim around the line and exit after the stairs.
Other tips I learned: expect a choppy swim, plan to jump into the pool to start (it is hard for me to get a push off the wall when you jump in), and practice pushing off UNDER the lane ropes, as most swims have you go down the right side of a swim lane and back on the left side of a swim lane, then you push under the rope to go up the right side of the next swim lane, and finally HAVE FUN! It is only about 5-8 minutes of your entire race, a very small percentage of time, don't let a perceived poor swim experience drag down the rest of your race.

The last pool tri I did had a rule that you could only overtake at the end of the lane. So you tapped the toes of the person in front of you while swimming and they had to wait at the end until you kicked off. It worked well in our race because no one was drastically off their seed time and I only saw one *kitten* who wouldn't stop at the end despite being tapped.

I would advise you to check with the pool marshalls because we were told we would incur a time penalty for overtaking anywhere but the end of the lane. They'll steer you right!

Good luck!

Oh no! Sorry about that, I hope your next one is better

Like the brick trick! Sorry to hear about the swim. The only tri's I have done so far are pool swims, and I think chaos is part of the territory. I think I am inspired to try an open water swim next season!

I am quite comfortable in going over the top of people in the open water, especially the ones who make it a point to be up front at the start. There is nothing more annoying than swimmers not positioning themselves appropriately.

You talking to me?!?!?!

Honestly I tend to fall into a slower pace than I should in OWS so I'm going to start at the front from now on hoping to find someone fast to sit on their feet.

Yep. Especially if IMTX stays at about the same time. Perfect tune up. Plus the Galveston course sets up perfect for me. Flat and windy.