Sunday, April 29, 2012

The sexiest I have ever been

After today, I think all the important pre-triathlon checklist items have been completed.


Today I tried out my Hanukkah gift from my Dad - my very own wetsuit! For you gentiles, Hanukkah is in December, so it's been hanging out in my closet for awhile. With an open water swim scheduled at 2pm, around 10:00 this morning I thought maybe I should unwrap it and make sure it fits. Eric was a tad surprised when he looked up from the laptop to find me standing next to him huffing and puffing, attempting to put on a wetsuit.

I was able to get it on and off independently, so I'm one step closer to Half Ironman success.

When I was about to leave for the swim, bike, run that the triathlon club was hosting, the temperature hadn't even reached 60 yet. The water temperature in Baltimore is 58 degrees. Perfect for jumping in a lake to do some swimming!

I can't jump in freezing water without my training buddy.
The instructions were that we had to wade in to the first buoy together before we began swimming. I was freaking out a little bit about how cold the water was going to be, but I tried to remind myself that no matter what happened, I didn't have to carry a telephone pole later.

The wetsuit was magical - my feet were freezing, but my legs weren't cold at all. Everything the wetsuit covered was nice and warm. Of course, when we started swimming, I thought my face was going to turn to ice and fall off like a stalactite. The wetsuit restricted my motion a bit, so I had to get used to that, but I was so buoyant that swimming felt so much easier.

We swam around the two buoys for a little while and then the guy in charge told everyone to swim to shore and get out. I was pretty shocked when I glanced at my watch and it had only been 15 minutes. In addition to feeling like I couldn't catch my breath due to the cold, the current was an unwelcome surprise. I forgot that fighting waves and sighting is a lot harder than laps at the YMCA. 

Once again, I got the wetsuit off (a little more challenging when it was actually wet), busted the bike out, and we did a 14.9 mile ride. My quads were burning from last weekend, but other than that it was a great ride. After the ride, we completed an easy 5K around the park (average pace 9:22). 

I have no idea why my face looks like that.
Now, I just need to do it all again in two weeks. With a ton of additional distance in each sport. 

I was starving when I was done, and Lily and her grandmother were nice enough to bring me some arepas, which are Colombian corn cakes. She told me to heat it up on the stove and put some butter on it, so I decided to combine the two and cook them in a load of butter. Delicious.


I'm noticing a theme here of me jumping into bodies of really cold water on the weekends. I think I need to come up with some other (more normal) recreational activities.

11 comments:

  1. Day-um! Looking hot in that wetsuit. I hate taking off wet clothes and I can't even imagine how stressful/awkward it would be to strip that thing off in a race! Those arepas looks incredible.

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  2. Wow, your HIM is coming up soon! Maybe after that you can stop jumping in cold bodies of water for a while? Or you could see if there is some kind of trophy to be won for cold water diving.

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  3. I can't even put my compression socks on without making groaning/huffing/puffing noises and I once got a cramp trying to get them off! I think you should do a "How-to" video blog post showing how to get in and out of a wet suit. That would be educational and I'm sure you'd make it hilarious.

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  4. You look like Cat Woman in that wetsuit. Rawr.

    Did they make you get out because it was so cold? I was just watching something last night about swimmers getting hypothermia in 60 degree water and they were wearing full wetsuits.

    Those arepas sound so freaking good!

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  5. Wow, that HIM really came up fast! It must feel so good to get a whole mini-tri done. You're going to kick butt in two weeks.

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  6. When you sent me that picture yesterday, I almost drove off the road. Hilarious. I love it.

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  7. i wore a wetsuit once to go surfing and i was amazed at how warm i was and how not-so-scary i looked.

    i also can't believe the HIM is in 2 weeks!

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  8. Great wetsuit photo!

    I see the benefit of GORUCK now. You will ALWAYS be able to say "at least I don't have to carry a telephone pole later." Genius.

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  9. I'm loving the wetsuit! I can't believe it's already this close to your half Ironman. You're going to do great!

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  10. Great Look :D

    Cant believe our big race is here!!!!

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  11. Can't believe your HIM is almost here! Hopefully the water will warm up a little by then. Also, nice incorporation of the word "stalactite" into this post. I think you should wear that wetsuit out into public sometime just to see what kind of reactions you get :) Do you wear a watch in the water, or do you leave it on shore?

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Thanks for commenting! Comments make me probably more happy than they should.