Saturday, August 29, 2009

Holey Neoprene, Batman!

We tell newbies many things about swimming in the ocean, most of which is true. A common issue is letting them know that it's OK if a little water gets into your wetsuit: water in the suit can't make you sink. Your body will heat up the water and it will actually help insulate you. The water can help your suit shift a bit and fit better. This is all well and good for a little bit of water.

I found a small hole in my wetsuit under the arm last week. I didn't really worry about it, and figured "how much water can get into a little hole? Well the answer is quite a lot. We did an ocean swim today and I could feel the water sloshing across my back inside the suit. When I started walking out of the surf, I could actually feel myself getting lighter from all the water draining out. I was reminded of Woody Allen in Sleeper:



So obviously I'll get that patched up. The good news is that it was still a good swim. I'll almost say, a great swim. The water was pretty calm for a change, which helped a lot. And I finished towards the front of the middle of the intermediate group, maybe even the back of the front of the intermediates (not to put too fine a point it) when normally I finish in the back of the entire group. It was only a half-mile swim, 1/5 of Ironman, but I'll take it.

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