Wetsuits are Cheating

Tonight, in preparation for our first Olympic distance triathlon, Jennifer and I decided to do a practice open water swim.  I still had only tried my wetsuit on once, and it had been dry since I got it.  Jennifer rented one from Xterra that got here the other day, so we had to test them out.  Neither one of us had swam in a "triathlon" wetsuit, and we wondered what it would be like.  So, we put them on...  An hour later (I'm just playin', but it did take forever), we had them up to our waists.

There is a laker/river within five minutes of our house with a boat dock.  It is actually a private dock, but the only people that live there are wealthy people from Chicago that have a "summer home," so we just went ahead and used their dock.  

We weren't necessarily going for a certain distance swim; we just wanted to try out the wetsuits.  So, we decided to aim a good ways down the lake to a boat that was tied up and go for it.  Jennifer hopped in first and bobbed to the surface.  She said "I'm Floating!"  I jumped in too, and not only was I very comfortable, but I felt like I had a body-life-jacket on.  I couldn't believe it.  We started swimming, and it tripped me out a little bit.  I've done open water swims before, so I know how much different it is than in a pool, but I still got a little jacked up in the head this time.  I had to stop for a minute and catch my breath before continuing.  I did o.k. on the way to the boat, and I couldn't believe how much easier swimming in a wetsuit is!  It was incredible, and I almost felt like I was cheating.   On the way back, I felt a whole lot better.  I got a really good rhythm going of breathing and sighting.  I had to make a few adjustments to what I've been practicing in the pool, but I think I've got it down and am ready for Sunday.  We are so STOKED about this race.

So here are my goals for this race.

               Swim:  35 min.
               T1: 2 min.
               Bike: 1 hour 14 min. (20 mph average)
               T2: 2 min.
               Run: 56 min. (9 min/mile average)
               Total: 2 hours 50 minutes

I realize that some of these numbers are a little "sandbaggerish," but I'm not trying to prove anything.  I'm pretty sure the swim will go much better than 35 minutes, but I'm a slow swimmer.  I think I can handle the bike if I crank it.  The course looks pretty flat.  I think I can do better on the run than 9 min. miles, but it just depends on how I'm feeling.  I guess we'll just have to see what happens.

I'll get a race report to ya as soon as I get back.  Have a great weekend, and good luck to all of you that are training or racing.