Who Wants to Get Active: Team First Triathlon: My wetsuit is trying to kill me

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Who Wants to Get Active: Team First Triathlon

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My wetsuit is trying to kill me

Posted by danger prone on Apr 22, 2009 12:04:56 PM

So my open water swim did not go as well as I had planned.

My wetsuit, which was delivered from wetsuitrentals.com, protected me nicely from the cold waters of Lake Patagonia. It's the swimming that caused me a few problems. When the cold water hit my head it sort of took my breath away and my chest felt super constricted as I tried in vain to swim. The wetsuit felt comfortable enough on dry land, but once I was in the water it felt like it was strangling me.

I managed OK as I swam with the small waves created by the breeze, but struggled when I turned around and swam against it. I was so surprised by my lack of swimming ability since I can fairly easily swim the necessary 1,500 yards in a pool. My goal this week is to practice with my wetsuit as many times as possible.

336 Views Tags: training, swimming, triathlon, wildflower, wetsuit, kirsten_korosec

Comments (2)

Apr 22, 2009 2:23 PM

Gale Bernhardt says:

It is pretty common to feel that "take your breath away" feeling when your face hits cold water. Know that it is a normal body reaction. When you do another test, try to relax and gather yourself as soon as possible. Focus on the things you need to do to make yourself successful.

Another thing that happens is people tend to crane their necks up when swimming in open water. Try to relax your head downward in your normal swimming position and this will help with some of the strangulation feeling.

Woo-hoo, getting close to race day - how exciting!

Apr 27, 2009 5:40 AM