Friday, June 20, 2008

They call this a WARM-UP?!

Rich and I did a "warm-up" swim in the lake today. It was, by far and without question, the coldest swim I have ever done. I had trouble swimming because it was painful for me to put my face in the water. Keeping my head above water does help me a lot with my sighting and swimming in a straight line, but it is a very slow way to travel. My only hope was that my face would become as numb as my fingers were so that I wouldn't feel the pain any more.

After 20 minutes or so in the water it got a little better but it was still a very difficult swim. I was breathing heavy and maybe just a slight bit of panic of "omg, how am I going to stay in this water for over an hour and a half?!" You might think that the cold water would encourage you to swim faster but it didn't work like that for me. I was constantly thinking "let me get my face out the water just for 10 seconds and get some relief" which slowed me down a lot. I was shooting for a 1:30-1:45 swim, I think now it will be more like 1:45-2:00. And to top things off, even though this was just an open practice swim I was STILL getting kicked in the face by other swimmers passing me.

I am absolutely, positively sticking with the swim booties. I didn't want to use them, but I tried them in the leg and any extra drag they give is the least of my worries. When I compare how bad my exposed fingers felt compared to my covered toes, it's no contest.

6 Comments:

Anonymous Anonymous said...

Come on! The cold water should not set you back. It's time to channel the inner orca spirit in you. Good luck and kick ass out there. So will you be changing your blog to "Ironman Wedgie"? Looking forward to hearing about the rest of your Ironman experience. -Rene

12:21 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Yikes, that makes Zuma look like the Bahamas! I couldn't find a Hallmark "Wishing you well in your Ironman race" card so I hope this comment will do. Good luck and have an awesome experience! :-)

12:38 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

you should check with the rules to make sure the neoprene socks/booties are race legal. I think I've heard hand and foot covers might be forbidden.

2:50 PM  
Blogger Wedgie said...

The race officials announced that race booties will be allowed if the lake stays below 60 degrees. We're good to go.

3:28 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Wedgie,

Have a great race!

We'll try to track you on IM live, but you know what thats like. We will be with you in spirit anyway.

OGMP

7:25 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Go IronWedgie!! Just remember, the hardest part is over. Now enjoy the ride...

8:26 PM  

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