A day of firsts
The Orca S5 wetsuit - my newest challenge.
Not only was Sunday my first day trying a swim in my new wetsuit, but 'Coach' Rance (my training partner who talked me into doing this whole thing) thought it would be a good idea to try our first back-to-back (or 'brick') workout. Even though my plan doesn't call for brick workouts until a few weeks before the race, after last week's eye-opener, I'm thinking yeah...I should start doing these like...NOW.
So, Sunday's goal was to swim the full race distance of 750 meters to get used to the wetsuit and then run a full 5k to see how it felt. The brick workout was easy...that's not the story. It was my first swim in the wetsuit that's worthy of rehashing.
Trying It On
Since I've never been in, much less owned, a wetsuit, I was pretty clueless on what to expect. I tried it on at home a few times, much to the amusement of my family. I used this moment to convince my 6 year old that I was, in fact, a superhero when he wasn't around and this was my suit. (He was skeptical, but his jealousy of my new 'superhero suit' was undeniable.)
Me showing my 6 year old my superhero moves. (and he leaving...unimpressed)
Anyway, this thing is so unbelievably tight, it makes my swim jammers feel like boxer shorts. Never thought I'd be saying THAT. But, I was assured by the good folks at TriVillage.com that the size was perfect for my measurements and that it should "fit like a second skin...no sagging or bunching." AKA: no room to hide...anything.
After all the tugging and jumping around (and maybe one or two near accidental head-butts into the wall), I was able to complete two successful put-ons and take-offs without issue. I was ready to test it out in the water!
In the pool
The outdoor pool at the YMCA. Despite the bubble thing, the water is still pretty chilly...perfect for my wetsuit test.
We decided we would use the YMCA's outdoor pool to test. Even though it's covered in one of those giant bubble things this time of year, the water would still be colder than an regular indoor pool. So we suited up in the locker room and strutted our way to the pool trying to ignore the ridiculous looks we were getting. Don't you idiots know the pool is heated? You could tell that's what they were thinking. #smugface
So we jumped right in and wow...it does feel really strange at first. But hey, I couldn't feel the cold water much. Score! And with all the extra buoyancy, it even helped me swim a little faster during our warmup laps. SWEET! This is going to be awesome.
But it wasn't...
Trouble in lane 2
After the warmup, we set off on our 750m segment but about 250m in, I started to feel a little funny. I was starting to get really hot and my breathing spiked. I started thinking to myself, "Sh*t...I'm overheating and I might need to get out of this wetsuit fast...but these things are impossible to take off quickly...I'm clearly going to die...that's the only logical conclusion because, obviously." Which is exactly what I shouldn't have done because I damn near had a panic attack thinking about being trapped in the wetsuit. Who's ever gotten trapped in a wetsuit? Stupid...
I stopped mid-lap and just stood in the middle of the pool trying to regain my composure. I let some cold water in through the neck and it filled the suit, helping cool me down (which consequently blew me up like the Stay Puft Marshmallow Man). After a minute or two of squeezing the extra water out, I was totally fine and I went back to it. I stopped again around 600m to cool down again and regain control of my breathing but only for a few seconds. After that, I was able to finish without any problem.
So, my first session in a wetsuit? Far less glamorous than the "I can swim like Michael Phelps" scenario I had imagined it would be.
Lessons learned
So, what have we learned from Sunday's training?
- Don't eat a caffeine gel pack before testing your wetsuit for the first time. Yeah, forgot to mention I ate a pre-workout energy gel which may or may not have had everything to do with the mini-freakout.
- I was happy to hear from my training partner that (despite the caffeine's contribution or not), he had a similar experience the first time swimming in his wetsuit. I've also since read many other stories of wetsuit beginners having a similar experience. Like everything else, this will get easier with more practice. Great...another thing I need to learn to suck less at.
- On the bright side, despite the mini freakout, my swim stats were actually pretty good. My ever-so-geeky training watch reported that I completed the full 750m in a little under 16 minutes – just 45 seconds shy of my race day goal. So the wetsuit actually did some serious performance boosting.
#liveandlearn