Hashers And Mashers - Part 3 - Open (Page 5)

Gary - Glad you liked the energy balls.  I think they are pretty good too.  You made them the right way just be sure to really work in the outer layer of coconut and almond so they aren't too crumbly.

Anna - Sometimes a day off just feels right.  And, so re-invigorating, eh.

All - I missed a 4hr ride yesterday to stay home and help with a garage sale.  It shocked us what people will buy and then completely ignore the stuff we thought was the really good stuff.  So glad to get rid of a lot of "stuff".

Then this morning I took off for the 4hr ride.  It was a gorgeous day, I was riding through the area where they held the Oliver HIM today so I got to see lots of cyclists and even got mixed in with quite a few of them.  My ride south was fast and fun but then I turned around and had to ride back north into a strong very annoying headwind.  I was trying to maintain my pace but into the wind it just kept getting stronger until I reached the end of my 4hrs and I got off the bike.  After fighting the wind for 43km I was pretty beat.

Today I also saw vultures (3) for the first time.  Didn't even know we had them here.

Originally posted by Taringa I gave myself a day off training today, coinciding with my day off work. No alarm clock, no guilt, got up at 7am. It was fantastic .

i love how sleeping in till 7 am is a luxury :-P

i am taking today off of training due to a) 80+ degrees, b) my shoulder is sore from my fall yesterday, and c) lady stuff so therefore i can just say i'm going to read books at the beach or something instead

Originally posted by mehaner

Originally posted by Taringa I gave myself a day off training today, coinciding with my day off work. No alarm clock, no guilt, got up at 7am. It was fantastic .

i love how sleeping in till 7 am is a luxury :-P

i am taking today off of training due to a) 80+ degrees, b) my shoulder is sore from my fall yesterday, and c) lady stuff so therefore i can just say i'm going to read books at the beach or something instead

I always give myself a free pass once a month. Don't always take it. Hope you had a nice relaxing day.

Without any such excuses, I decided to take my kids to the pool Saturday and ended up skipping my long ride. Did my long run yesterday (7.4 miles) and it sucked the life out of me. Probably shouldn't have waited until late Sunday afternoon. But I did it.

My news for today: my wetsuit arrived in the mail. I ordered it last week, so I'm pretty happy with the speed of delivery. Of course I had to try it on, and as this is my first wetsuit ever, struggled more than a bit!  According to the manufacturer's size chart, my height and weight are right in the middle of the range for the size but man, it feels tight! As long as I stand still in robot position it feels mostly OK (apart from a very tight neck) so I'm hoping once it's got a little water inside and I'm swimming it'll feel OK. Anyone got any tips, suggestions?

Hi Anna,

Wetsuits take a bit of getting used to.  Putting mine on the 1st few times was a major chore (had the salesgirl and my wife laughing at me) but now I can get it on fairly quickly except for help with the zipper (always have a buddy to help with the zipper and sometimes even to help pull up your sleeves).

Some things that made a difference for me:

a) soak the suit overnight, not before every swim but every time you haven't used the wetsuit for awhile (like 2 to 3 mos. or more).

b) as you put it on make sure you pull the suit up as high as possible (pull the legs up then work the waist up and then the chest  so that when you put your arms into the sleeves you have lots of room for your shoulders.  You want the suit to be quite as high up as possible without overstretching it (think "intimate").  It gets easier as you repeat it.

c) experiment with the Velcro at the back of your neck.  I usually do mine up snug but loose whereas the fellow I swim with needs his done up very loosely or else he can't breath.

d) Some people use some stuff like a roll on deodorant the helps the suit slip on.  So far I don't need it but some of my friends do.

e) When you're pulling on your wetsuit pull on the inside material not on the outside and if you haven't already, trim your finger nails short with no snaggy edges.

I've been fairly lucky with mine but you do need to practice getting used to it by getting into the water, feeling the water hit your zipper (very cold here), then try floating a bit to see what your suit can do for you and then tentatively taking a few strokes to try it out.  Once you feel comfortable start swimming.  This is when some people can get nervous.  If you do revert to the floating thing again.

The most important thing to learn is to trust your wetsuit.  I sometimes just stop in the middle of the lake and float for a few minutes with only my wetsuit supporting me (no treading water or kicking) to appreciate how great/unique/beautiful/lucky it is to be where I am.  Or, I take stock of where everyone else swimming with me is. 

I feel faster and smoother in the water in my wetsuit.  However, I do on occasion feel like my chest is constricted and it is hard to breath.  Just calm yourself and swim slower until you feel back to normal.

Let us know how you make out.

Thanks everyone, I'm going to have another go tonight (hopefully the novelty of laughing at Mum looking like a shrink-wrapped ham will have worn off for the rest of the family) and see if I can get more comfortable. Good advice re: relaxing and calming, I did have a momentary sense of "I can't breathe!" when the zip went up. Then I just need to get some time in the water with it!

registered for 2 races this morning!  both sprints, but still, first tris in over a year!

Me!  But water temps at the race site are already 76 and it's going to be a hot week, I don't even own a wetsuit, and the swim is only 500m.  I'll probably be the only person without one, I usually am

Gary - We still have lots of snow in the mountains around us and with the warmer temps our air temp is great but all the melting snow is running into our lakes keeping them quite cool until approximately July 1st.  We've been swimming in a small lake 30km/18mi south of here which is about 68F which is really nice in a wetsuit.  Okanagan Lake where we prefer to swim is about 65F as of today and I'll be swimming there for the first time this year tomorrow.  A few people have been in already but most people are still waiting.

We also have Skaha Lake to swim in but it is still quite cold so maybe in a couple weeks it will be warm enough.

For races my very first triathlon was in Okanagan Lake but it was 76F and so far it has been the only race I've seen without wetsuits.  Even my HIM at Lake Stevens (Washington) last year the water was a perfect temp but the air temp was 58F in July.  I was very glad to be wearing a warm wetsuit.