Wet Suit Day

So every triathlete knows what wet suit day is.  Its the time of year where you break out the wetsuit out of the doldrums of where its been the past few months, unwrap it and go to the local pool for a workout in it before your first race of the season.  Some people love it, and some people hate it.

This week is both wetsuit day and trisuit day for me at the pool.  It's so exciting for me.  Because I'm wearing a new tri suit for my race next week, I had to test it out in the pool this week and see how it felt during my swim.  So on Tuesday, I went to my pool in full tri suit and got a lot of weird looks.  All the older individuals were looking at me like "what in the world is this guy wearing", and all the people my age either looked at me like they knew what I was doing (fellow triathletes), or they looked at me like I was an ass.  They thought I was there to show off and try to go faster than everyone else.  In reality, I was, but that's not the point.

So swimming in my new tri suit was great.  Very comfortable and very light.  I didn't notice anything that would affect me while I race.  So then, I took it to the next step.  Wearing the tri suit on my bike and run.  Unfortunately, today it was like a monsoon in New York, so I was stuck doing a brick workout inside at my gym.  Let me say this, I felt really uncomfortable wearing a tri suit indoors.  It looked like I was just trying too hard.  Once I got to my gym, I filled my water bottle up, put my shoes on and took off my sweatshirt and shorts to unveil my outfit.  I got so many head turns this time.  There was grandma on the recumbent bike, meat head dude about to walk up the stairs to hit the weights, prissy college girl hardly breaking a sweat on the elliptical, and 2 women wearing sooooo inappropriate clothing yapping away when they saw me.  I admit, it looked weird, but it was something that had to be done.  I needed to see how the pad would feel on the bike and how the suit would feel when running.  So I just clipped in, and rode for about 50 minutes.  Great workout and the pad felt great.  I actually did intervals on the bike and really pushed myself hard.  Once I was done, I hopped off, threw on my running shoes and hit the treadmill for a quick 5k run.  I really wanted to unzip the front of the suit to get some air, but I thought that would be so wrong, so I just left it as is. 

Either way, I'm happy with the suit and looking forward to racing in it next week at the Red Bank Sprint Triathlon.

Tomorrow comes wetsuit day.  This is a really fun day.  Cramming into the wetsuit at the pool is awesome.  Once it's on, I just jump in and start flying by everyone.  It's kind of embarrassing to swim this fast in a recreational pool.  Obviously, everyone looks at you weird, because you're in a full wetsuit.  But it's so fun to throw the wetsuit on and continue to coast and fly in the pool.  I only wish it was that easy when we start racing in open water.  Clearly, I'm not as fast in open water as in the pool so I only wish I could transition all that speed to my races.

But every triathlete knows what this week is for me, and so a lot of people can relate to me.  Unfortunately, most people at pool I swim at cant relate so they just look at me all weird.  So to them I say, have fun in my wake.  I'm all latexed up and you're not. 

Here's to all the triathletes who either have done what I'm doing this week, or will very soon.