A Cold Water Swim and Some Swimmer Shopping


a few kids were out trying to boogie board in the surf today

I started my day out in an impressively frosty fashion this morning. I went out to Avila and brought my wetsuit for the first time. The cold water has finally defeated me. After actually getting in the water today I’m really glad I wussed out, it was a balmy 54 degrees in the warm spots.

Wearing a wetsuit was a good and a bad thing. On the upside my internal organs were fairly roasty toasty. My feet, fingers and face were cold as hell, but at least my middle was happy. The downside to the wetsuit was the shoulder constriction. I’m really broad across the shoulders and it’s hard to find things that fit me correctly in that region. The constriction and the extra flotation was really screwing with my stroke and causing some really bad stress on the insides of my shoulder. I may need to trade up to a fancier wetsuit with the stretchier rubber to survive winter and spring.

I did one half of the buoy line today, that’s like half a mile. I was stoked to be in the ocean, I wanted to do more but my shoulder was very grind-y. Once I get past the meet in Long Beach this coming weekend I think I’m going to make an appointment with a sports massage therapist guy one of my swim buddies referred me to. I want to try and get this shoulder thing sorted out in the off season.


Niel exiting the ocean


my wetsuit without me in it

After swimming today I decided to go do some cold water shopping. I made a run up to Go For It Sports in Atascadero to get a neoprene cap and as I am prone to do… goggles. I got a more of a mask kind of set of goggles because one of my swim buddies swears by them for cold water. Something about covering more of the face. After today I’m totally on board with that! I had an ice cream headache on the way back to shore today! I also found a pair of Hydralign goggles which I’ve never seen for sale before. They kind of funny shaped and frosted on the bottom half to discourage looking up while you swim. We’ll see if they help me at all. On my way home from the Triathlon store I dropped in on a Boarders in San Luis Obispo to see if they had the book “Swimming Anatomy” in stock. A lot of people have been talking about it recently and one of my open water swim friends had a copy with her on the beach today that I took a look at. I lucked out and found the only copy they had in the store.


part of my swimmer impulse purchase-a-thon


it’s hard being this cool

November 30, 2009 | 2 Comments »

So That’s What 53° Water Feels Like

I ventured into the ocean for the first time with my new Blueseventy Reaction wetsuit today. It’s kind of cold out in Pismo today, but nothing compared to the water. A lot of the surfers were out there with hoods and gloves and booties… the whole kit. After a few minutes in the water I got kinda used to it but it was still really cold, like hard to take a whole breath cold. The suit itself fit really well and was easy to swim in plus it was plenty buoyant. If I were out surfing I don’t think it would have been thick enough for the water temperature but it’s adequate for swimming. I swam parallel to shore for a while in the rougher water and then tried to body surf a few waves. The surf was kind of weak and a little blown out so I didn’t really have any luck with that.

Today was just an “orientation session.” No serious swimming, I couldn’t have been in the water for more than 20 minutes. I just wanted to get used to my wet suit and being in the ocean and the surf. I’m still trying to figure out how to make this a more regular occurrence. I’m yet to find any local open water swimming volunteers.

Heidi snapped few pics while she was keeping an eye on me from the shore.





March 15, 2009 | No Comments »

Got Myself a Blueseventy Reaction Wetsuit!

The Rob D. Swimmer Stimulus Package keeps rolling along… I finally made my way up to Atascadero to visit the guys at Go For it Sports and find myself a wetsuit. I’ve been having a rough time finding anyone with non surf/scuba wetsuits in stock. I had Heidi drop in there earlier this week to make sure it was worth me driving up and these guys have all kinds of stuff available. Apparently they’re one of the biggest Triathlon stores on the west coast.

While I was there I got a bunch of help from Scott who I think either owns or manages the place. He spent some time with me figuring out what size I would need and picking out suits for me to try on. I ended up trying on a Blueseventy Reaction and a Quintana Roo Superfull.

The Blueseventy Reaction went on first. I tried on a Large which is made for guys that are 5’11″ to 6’4″ and 192 to 220. I’m 5’9″ and about 225 so we weren’t sure how this was going to work out. It went on surprisingly easy. I had a hard time getting it zipped up in the back but once it was all together I felt pretty good in it.

The Quintana Roo Superfull didn’t work out as well for me. It’s a really impressive suit in a lot of ways but it doesn’t fit my build. I couldn’t even get it over my legs. It’s also not set up to be as tough as the Reaction suit. I think it’s the difference between a workout suit and a racing suit. The racing suit is cool but you can’t wear it every day.

I’m really glad I had Scott there to help me pick out a suit. It’s nice to go into a store where they know what they’re talking about and actually try to help you find what works best for you. I ended up getting a pretty smoking deal too. I tried on a rental suit that had been used one time and he offered me $100 off the msrp on it… pretty hard to say no to that. So I got my wetsuit for $199, awesome! I also picked up a pair of B70 Vision goggles and some Body Glide on the way out the door. I’m leaving for LA in a couple of hours so I can’t try out all my new toys and review them right now but hopefully sometime next week I can get myself into a large body of water of some sort!

March 7, 2009 | No Comments »