On April 17, 2011,
in PART I: PANIC:
Forty-three degrees outside this morning. Sixty-two degrees in the lake. The Expert and I head out early. We stop at the gate to Lake Lanier’s Mary Alice Park. Time for the Inaugural Swim Bike Mom’s Swim Bike Run Event (a/k/a two weeks to race day).
The old guy waiting at the guard stand says, “You swimming today?” And I say, “Yep. Where’s the beach?”
He whistles and shakes his head, “Oh, you’re the one he was talking about.”
Oh. Coach Monster. Coach Monster beat us to the park and had already warned the guard stand and the Coast Guard about me.
“This will be the hardest thing you’ve ever done. If you can survive this water, this cold, you can survive anything,” he says.
I’m so geared up. I know the open swim is going to be hard. I know it’s going to be cold. We pull up to the park, and see Coach Monster and others. ”Oh no, I’m thinking. Others. More real triathletes. And me. And the Expert. No. No no no.”
The Expert and I get our wetsuits out of the car, and Coach Monster spots us. We all chit chat while putting on the suits, and CM helps the Expert into his.
After awhile, we are all suited up and ready to go. And looking mighty Orca-y. Well, I guess you all can figure out which ones we are. And who the coach is. Don’t you like the fact that the Expert… Read the rest
Sunday will be my first open water swim practice before the big race. I have tried on my Free Willy wetsuit once, but only before the purchase at All3Sports.
I thought that I probably ought to try it again before heading out to the lake. The Expert is in Chicago and the kids are in bed. Perfect timing. No one is around to watch the spectacle.
Hello TriSlide. I hear you are the one I am looking for. Spray spray spray.
Oh, Shamu skin. You still strike fear in my heart. I think back to my adventure in Trying on Wetsuits 2011, and cannot, for the life of me, remember how I am supposed to put you on.
I turn Free Willy around the other way. Still can’t remember. Something about inside out, and popping the feet through. Protect the outside neoprene. Do not tear. (Check out the Cootie Bug foot in the picture above. Hello, this blog is called Swim Bike Mom - there’s your proof).
Today was the last long run before the race on May 1. Yes, I know six miles doesn’t technically qualify as “long.” But it does for me.
After this, begins the taper. Well, after Sunday. Coach Monster has an open water swim, bike and run scheduled on Sunday. I am terrified and excited all at once. For one thing, the open water swim means that I have to experience another adventure in wetsuit. I intend to try it on tonight again. The Expert is out of town, so I figure if I can wrangle myself into Shamu’s skin without help, then I may have it made. Coach Monster said I have to get to the lake two times to swim. And if I can’t, then I need to take my wetsuit the YMCA and swim in it.
Oh, hell to the no. I am not putting that thing on at the pool. Like I don’t look crazy enough already.
Time to start thinking about all the list of things I need for the race. How exciting. I love gear!
On April 8, 2011,
in 
Many triathletes are nervous about the swim portion of a triathlon, and many rely on their wetsuit to feel a sense of ease going into the first leg of the race. Here at The Nation’s Triathlon, we constantly get questioned about whether the race will be wetsuit legal.
USA Triathlon rules state that each age group participant shall be permitted to wear a wet suit without penalty in any event sanctioned by USA Triathlon up to and including a water temperature of 78 degrees Fahrenheit. When the water temperature is greater than 78 degrees, but less than 84 degrees Fahrenheit, age group participants may wear a wet suit at their own discretion, provided however that participants who wear a wet suit within this temperature range shall not be eligible for prizes or awards. Age group participants shall not wear wet suits in water temperatures equal to or greater than 84 degrees Fahrenheit.
Last year it was a close call, and the day before the race gave us a comfortable feeling of wetsuit legal… thought not everyone wore theirs. The question still stands: Wetsuit or No Wetsuit? For this week’s blog, we’re getting the pro-wetsuit angle from DC Triathlete Sara Gimmy. Next swim blog we’ll look into the mind of non-wetsuit-wearing triathlete, Kristen Avioli.
Sara Gimmy: Pro-Wetsuit
Wetsuits are super advantageous to a triathlete, especially to a triathlete like myself who feels less than confident in the water. It acts like a safety blanket, in more ways than… Read the rest
I dragged my husband kicking and screaming to the fabulous world of All3Sports for the trying on of the wetsuits. ”Why do I need a wetsuit,” he asked over and over again.
“Because,” I said. ”Now, stop whining.”
He didn’t believe me when I had returned from my event, Try on Wetsuits 2011, and told him how difficult the whole ordeal is. Well, suffice it to say, the Expert is now an expert in neoprene and he believes my story now.
Miss Teeny also helped him into his suit, and he was much faster at the process than I was. But that’s because he’s an expert.
The best part? We are wetsuit twins. Same Orca suit, just different sizes. Booyah.
Another fab experience at All3Sports.
Today’s workout was a 25 mile bike, plus a three mile run. Antonia (my bike) was a bad woman today…. my gears are messing up all over the place again (and this time, I am certain it was not user error). Back to the bike shop.
Have a great week, ya’ll!
Received this photo from Brooke, a TriCrowd fan, and I loved it so much I had to put it up (with her permission, of course). She said she “looks like a conehead in a whale costume.”
You go girl, with your Orca suit and conehead swim cap. Girl after my own heart! We Orcas rule the school. That’s my story, and I’m sticking to it.
Well, my worst fear is realized. The wetsuit, which I now proudly own, is an ORCA brand suit.
It is so pretty. But the name. Oh, the shame.
Disclaimer: This post contains disturbing images inappropriate to those scared of big gals in neoprene.
As suspected, I am rocking the men’s suit. The sizing chart for the women’s suit said to add ten pounds. Well, not like the ten pounds is what sent me into the men’s section. Perhaps if the chart stated: add fifty pounds.
Rumor is: wetsuit fittings are ordeals among ordeals. Truer words have never been uttered. Wetsuits are like the most evil brand of Spanx imaginable. More like Spanx had relations with Rubbermaid and produced a baby called, Wetsuit. After twenty-five minutes, I had the suit only up to mid-thighs (below), and I was sweating like it was race day.
Earlier, I walked into All3Sports in Sandy Springs, Georgia and the superfit saleswoman looked at me suspiciously when I asked her about trying on a wetsuit.
She looked at my jeans. “Did you bring anything to change into?” she asked me.
“Yep, yep yep, got it right here in my purse.” She did not looked convinced.
“Height? Weight?” she asked.
I’m thinking, Now is not the time to pull the twenty pound lie. I need this suit to actually fit. So I take a deep breath and mumble the numbers. She then disappears for the span of a lifetime, and returns with a suit. It’s shiny and pretty. And… Read the rest
On March 8, 2011,
in 
XTERRA Wetsuits & TriCrowd.com Triathlon Wetsuit Sale!
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Just click on the XTERRA image above and enjoy your brand new wetsuit!
I am counting down the dreaded seconds until Wednesday.
Wednesday is my planned trip to All3Sports, for the dreaded SwimBikeMom event: Try on Wetsuits 2011.
This morning, Coach Monster asked me again if I had a wetsuit. I told him that I had read the horrors of wetsuits for fat-bottomed girls in my Slow Fat Triathlete book, and I was scared. He told me to suck it up. I said I would buy my tub of Crisco on the way to All3Sports, and start slathering it on in the car.
Coach Monster told me that if I didn’t have a wetsuit, that I better get one. I knew this day would come. I have dreaded it.
The Expert and the kids were watching Jumanji, and I was browsing wetsuits online. Out of the blue, I piped up and told the Expert, “You know, I think I’m going to have to get a men’s wetsuit.”
He looked at me.
I continued, “Because the women’s sizes are going to be too small, I think.”
He laughed.
“You know, that’s something I never would have thought I’d hear come out of your mouth. ‘I think I’m going to need a men’s wetsuit.’”
I laughed. He said, “I mean, we get married and I don’t anticipate some things you say. But that statement alone takes the cake.”
Yeah. I guess he’s right. But I imagine it won’t be the first weird thing I say doing triathlon. Phrases like: “I can’t feel my legs“ and “are there sharks in this water?” immediately come to mind.
Good swim workout today. Warmup: 3×50 easy swim; 3×50 kick w :15 btw; Main Set: 2×150 w :30 btw; 3×100 w :20 btw; 4×50 descending w :15 btw; 6×25 w :5 btw; Cooldown: 100 easy… about 40 minutes.
Happy Hump day, ya’ll!
