SWBKRUN fast, furious, and closed (Page 42)

I may have added a pee stop during the run last weekend, but I can honestly say I have NEVER peed in my wetsuit.

I've also never peed on my bike 

Really?  It's like a immediate response the moment I put my wetsuit on, I have to pee.

I'm racing!! FINALLY!  IronGirl at Lake Las Vegas.  Am I nervous? A little.  I'm trying not to overthink things of what happened the last few days and not so great training up to this point.  It's difficult to do that when I really want to smash it. But I have other races to do that. This is "warm up". No use crying over "could've, should've" right?

Good luck to all the other racers and those watching from the sidelines!

AWESOME!!!!   GOOD LUCK AND HAVE FUN!!!!  

good luck racing peeps!  nada here. 

short run, short swim, talk smack, say a prayer, go. 

Come swim/race with us sometime!  Oh, and leave the wetsuit at home!  

http://www.jsonline.com/blogs/lifestyle/52374682.html 

http://www.glerl.noaa.gov/metdata/mil/

odd how people can swim 19+ miles in similar water temps as that race without a wetsuit.  but then i guess there is that whole preparation thing, as pointed out in that first link, that seems may have been over looked by some participants in that race. 

but personally in those temps...  F THAT!!!!

Trevor-LMAOROTF!!!!  Dineen is my transport to REV3...and a fellow Badger.  I  him!

Tony--I call fowl on the OWS advice.  In my humble opinion, I would not swim with one other dude if I was new to OW.  I strongly recommend a kayaker or a lifeguard/coach.  I've had the panics and we've had two IM drown using that tactic.  If the other dude is swimming, he may not note you're in trouble.

George- COMMIT to the pace!  Don't second guess it and don't give yourself an out.  If you don't make it, at least you tried!

Bruce--happy to be the gal to slap you in the fanny to race this weekend.  Run like the wind....SPANKY--same to you, but please guard the knee.

I admit it....I am definitely a wetsuit warmer....my ritutal, .first I burp (the suit) and then I......and then I swim to the first buoy and back to get used to things.  I agree with Fatty, we all should know how to swim without our suits and it is an objective for this summer.  I doubt I would ever swim without it unless I had to because of USAT rules, but it is a good thing to know.  Last year, I prayed like crazy that Lake Monona temps would drop so it would be wetsuit legal.  It was touch and go leading right up to race day. 

Who said anything about birds???? ; )

And true, you should think about having as much support as possible when swimming, my comment was to make sure you were not swimming alone.  I've gone with a kyaker, group and just one other person, I feel pretty confident in my abilities I guess.

And as for not wearing a wetsuit.  TBH I can't see any reason not to swim with one if they are allowed, unless you are a really great swimmer and it would slow you down.  For the rest of us it will just make you faster, so why not use one.  I usually do 2-3 races a year that are too warm for wetsuits.  It's not really a problem if you can do the distance.  Though the one thing I did notice is I got banged up more in the non-wetsuit swims then I did in the wetsuit legal ones for some reason.

Its actually worse than that. I live in Calgary, but I'm an Oilers Fan. At least we get 1st pick again!!

Be careful out there. Don't want to many waves on you.

Pressure is on John.  That looks like one fast duck.....and he isn't wearing a wetsuit 

It's a balance....what is gained vs what is lost.  My T1 time last weekend was 6:01  - most of that time was getting my wetsuit off.  I was not 6 minutes faster on the swim due to the wetsuit.  I obviously need to spend some of my swim training time practicing wetsuit removal. 

It really scares me if someone can only make the swim with the wetsuit on.....IMO that is too risky. 

Well I am not an hour swimmer, but close enough...   The key for me was always practice AS MUCH AS possible in the open water.... It really helps the mind!  So by the time the race comes it feels like another day in the pool.   I also try and swim with a few friends to get used to people around you all the time as well.  It helps with drafting, sighting, swimming in a straight line.  I prefer the open water ANYTIME over a pool.

What are you guys having problems with getting the wetsuit off, Tracy said the same thing a couple weeks ago.  Is it getting stuck on your heels? 

No racing here this weekend. To prepare for OWS, I practice, practice and practice in the open water. I now prefer the OWS to a pool. But..I still panic at the start of a race with hyperventalating. I guess more experience will make it better.

Wetsuit vs. no wetsuit? I went to a tri clinic for ows and the instructors would not let us wear our wetsuits. They wanted us to be comfortable without them.

Good luck to all of our racers, kick some tail and have FUN!!

i heard its been so long since you've been swimming,  even ryan is now passing you in the water.   

i hope this is just a mean rumor.

its not the waves.  its the snakes.  apparently there's been a ton of water moccasins and copperheads hanging around this year. 

F*** That!  I am NOT a fan of the OW or snakes.  I am a fan of wetsuits.  Yes I suck in the water which was proved yet again this morning at Masters.  But back on topic.  I am comfortable/confident enough to do a swim at the Olympic distance w/ or w/o a wetsuit.  However, 1.2m and plus is a different story.  I am not strong enough or feel confident enough to do a race w/o a wetsuit at that distance.  The waves at Lone Star were tough and the current at Patriots was awful.  I might still be floating down the James River if I did not have a wetsuit on.  But I don't think you shouldn't do a race if you can't swim w/o the comfort of a wetsuit.  You should know what you can and cannot do.  And yes a lot of it is mental but it is very easy for a non-swimmers to panic in open water and I think that can be hard to understand for the swimmers out there.

And rituals, jump in and pray I don't drown.  :-)

really?  i can think of a couple reasons that have everything to do with safety and nothing to do with how fast you're going.... dehydration, throwing your nutrition way off, etc...  wearing a wetsuit in temps close to 84 is probably pretty dangerous, especially the longer the course.   i'd go so far to say that anything over 78 is as well during oly and long course racing. 

this has been a pretty big topic for the upcoming race down in texas.  you're throwing the highest percentage of first time ironman and lowest percentage of previous kona qualifiers into some lake and saying go.  now, i'm down with the mass start, it a right of passage.  and i imagine there's going to be some significant contact.  but that's awesome and *i think* i'm ready for it.  but there are actually people registered for this race that are scared out of there wits becasue they can't wear a wesuit.  there are more people going out an buying the bottom half of a desoto T1 because they are afraid of the start and the swim.  WTF!?!   i don't mean to sound all ST here but how on earth does this happen.  and its not just these fools that are in troble but what happens when they freak out and start grabbing other people.

anyways,  i do agree that a wetsuit is faster and i think that's what you are getting at with your comment.  however i think there is an upper water temp limit for wearing one and that temperature is below what the current rules allow.  and again,  that's got a lot more to do with safety than it does with speed.  

Despite some race results to the contrary, I've always considered myself a swimmer.  I don't really like OWS, but it doesn't bug me.  CdA really brought it home....panic can hit anyone.  Got to admit, my swim there has been on my mind for 10 months.  I would never swim with just one other person OWS, yet I REALLY need to get some OW practice in. 

AFTER Big Sur.......

I need to go home and do it so I can explain it better but I'll try here.

When you get out of the water start stripping then, by transition it should be at your waist.  When you get to your spot, pull down as far as you can, then step near one foot with the other, stepping on your wetsuit, then pull your foot up and out.  It seems like stepping on your suit would cause it to rip or tear but I haven't had any problems with this method yet, other than sometimes when I jerk my leg up and out I have had my calf tighten up a bit.

But doing this my foot just pops out of the suit, rinse and repeat for the other foot.

Does that make sense?

And John I see your point as well.  I've done olympics where it's been right on the line and I still wore my suit and I didn't feel like I was over heating but it was warm, but at IM distance I could see where that could be a real issue.

I also agree if you can't swim the distance sans wetsuit you shouldn't do it.  Now I am pretty confident that I can swim whatever distance with/without a wetsuit but I probably wouldn't do an IM that had a chance of not being wetsuit legal, just cause it's so much slower for me without.