SwimRun Pull Buoy

The SwimRun pull buoy is used simply as a flotation device during the swimming sections of any SwimRun event. But why would you bother?

Anybody entering for a swimrun must be a good swimmer already, so why use something that looks like a safety aid? After all, it's not as big nor as visible as the proper safety floats that long-distance swimmers tow behind them, in order to be seen more easily. What's the advantage? AND what are the disadvantages?

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Swimrun pull buoy and Belt Kit on a marble floor

Two Swimrun Pull buoys and belts

Swimrun Pull Buoy
- Advantages

Let’s look at the positive factors first;

1. You lose some buoyancy from your legs in a swim run wetsuit because you normally have the neoprene legs finishing above the knee. This is to allow more mobility around your knees when running.

But it means that the rest of your body has neoprene buoyancy, but not your lower legs. There is a tendency for your legs to sink a little. So, a little extra buoyancy for your legs would help to even things out, and keep your legs higher in the water, reducing drag.

2. Swim run events are HARD WORK on your legs! If you have not run in a wetsuit before, you’ll have to take my word for this. Before I started Swim Run, I had run 6 marathons and completed 9 triathlons. I’m not a veteran nor an expert on endurance events, but I HAD done a few things before trying SwimRun.

SO it was a major shock to discover how running in a wetsuit (even with the top pulled down to my waist) becomes progressively harder and energy-sapping. It’s not due to the heat generated by running in a suit (I live in Spain, remember, and am well used to running in 30 degree C / 90 degree F temperatures.)

It’s more to do with the resistance and stiffness of the neoprene around your lower body and upper legs. For the first few run sections, everything seems OK. But then you reach a point where you start to feel the fatigue building.

And, then it seems to build relatively quickly. In a marathon road race, the fatigue builds on a more gradual scale; and everyone agrees that after mile 20 is the hardest part. But it’s a gradual build-up. In a Swim Run, the fatigue seems to escalate quite quickly.

That’s where a SwimRun pull buoy can help! By using a pull buoy during the swim sections, you can let your legs relax and allow them to recover from the previous run. And the cold water of the swim helps too. But it’s important to fully relax your legs, to get the maximum benefit.

The TYR unisex pull float is an example of one of these floats on the market - check out the latest deals for this float here.

The TYR Float, without any SwimRun adaptations yet!

SwimRun Pull Buoy
- What's the disadvantage?

The disadvantage is that you have to somehow carry your SwimRun pullbuoy from the start line all the way to the finish! Obviously, you’re not going to run with the float between your legs - you need to carry it in some way.

The most common method is to thread some thin elastic bungee cord through the buoy, to make a couple of loops that you can put your leg through. Then you can pull the buoy and elastic cord loops up your thigh as far as possible and THEN you can pull the buoy around so it’s on the OUTSIDE of your thigh for running, OR pull it round so it’s between your legs for swimming!

This works quite well, but it’s important to get the tension / size of the elastic loops correct - you want the loops to be tight enough to hold the buoy in place while swimming, but not TOO tight so that the loops become uncomfortable while running.

A woman wearing a triathlon suit, running through woodlands with a SwimRun pull buoy on a waist belt

Mogsy running with her SwimRun pull buoy around her left leg

Other options are to simply run with the pull buoy in your hand; this works OK while running, but can become awkward when you get to a water stop or energy station.

OR you can attach your pull buoy to your running belt/marathon belt, at the back. You can tuck the buoy into the small of your back and tuck it under a loop of elastic cord or running/marathon belt, like in the photo below, taken at the Ötillö Hvar race in Croatia. I dislike this option as the float jiggles up and down as I’m running, which I find annoying. However Mogsy finds that having the float tucked inside the back of her running belt is fine - so it's obviously personal choice on that one!!

A swimrun pull buoy tied on to the back of a man in a black wet suit during a swimrun race

A SwimRun pull buoy being carried under a waist belt during the running legs.

Is it important to use
a SwimRun Pull Buoy?

We believe that it IS important. We didn’t use a pull buoy for our first SwimRun in Hvar, Croatia, and although we did quite well on the swim legs without it, our legs suffered badly on the running sections. So we tried using pull buoys for our recent event in Switzerland; (We committed the schoolboy error of not testing enough in training, and Mogsy found the elastic loops uncomfortable for running, so I ended up carrying her float for her!).

Our swimming sections went well, with us regularly passing other teams as we had done in Hvar, but the big improvement was in our running, where our legs seemed to last longer before the fatigue and exhaustion started to build. And this was at over 6000 feet altitude!

So the SwimRun pull buoy definitely helped!

We have moved on to a "system" which involves a belt, incorporating a clip to hold the SwimRun pull buoy in position on your thigh while running. It also has D rings for clipping the tow rope.

A man in a black wet suit holding an orange SwimRun pull buoy, while standing in a tiled front yard.

The new SwimRun pull buoy with matching belt.

The actual shape of the SwimRun pull buoy can vary quite a bit. Most competition events have a maximum size of flotation device in their rules - (after a team turned up at a race a few years ago with an inflatable "mobile phone" the size of an air mattress!) - but just about any commercially available pull buoy intended for use as a training device in a swimming pool will be fine.

Some competitors will try to get a more "aquadynamic" shape, to reduce resistance and drag in the water, by using an empty sealed plastic mineral water bottle, adapted for use with elastic cords.

Whether there is really IS much drag reduction is debatable; I haven't seen any laboratory testing to prove it. As with most things in SwimRun, you have to test it out for yourself! Good Luck!

ARK KEEL SwimRun Pull Buoy

ARK KEEL Swimrun Pull Buoy

As the world of SwimRun grows, so does the development of the pull buoy! ARK have developed a pull buoy designed for speed, with a distinctive shape to minimize drag and maximize floatation which they say will enable you to move as fast as possible through water. The 'KEEL' is inspired by a boat's keel and delivers great results.

It is lightweight, with high buoyancy but bigger than your usual pull buoy:

Dimensions:
Length: 28 cm
Height: 26 cm
Width: 12 cm

It can be worn on either the thigh or the lower back - as mentioned before, we feel this is a matter of personal preference.