I need to bring the following items with me: goggles, wetsuit, trisuit, wetronome, and a towel (I’m guessing on the towel)
We all know or have an idea what goggles are. The wetsuit keeps my body warm and afloat. The water temperature is currently 61 degrees and I’m fairly confident it won’t get any warmer, so I’m very glad I opted for the full length wetsuit. No hypothermia for me please.
A trisuit is a one piece shorts and shirt that makes me look like a wrestler from the early days. I’m going to wear it under the wetsuit so I have something on when I take the wetsuit off, because public nudity is not allowed (and it actually looks cool). I plan on wearing the trisuit all day (and into the night).
A wetronome is a tempo trainer that I attach to my goggles (mentioned earlier) that beeps at a specific interval that I set. I’ve used it in the open water set at 2 seconds. Which means it beeps every 2 seconds. The beeps are meant to coincide with one of my hands going into the water. I’ve heard (and seen) how crazy it is in the water at the beginning (see video at the end) and the wetronome should keep me from going too fast at the start because of the rush that will probably be going by me. If I pace myself correctly, I should be able to finish the swim without using all my energy. Using all my energy would be bad. I’ve set the timer at 1.35 seconds in the pool and felt comfortable at that speed too. I’m guessing I’m going to try to keep it at 1.35 on race day.
I’m not sure if I need to pack a towel or if the good people at Ironman will supply one.
That was for the equipment checklist, now for the ‘other than equipment’ checklist. Swimming in a 61 degree lake with 2000 other people in the same general area is going to be the toughest challenge……. until I get to the bike portion. I know I’m going to be intimidated by the amount of swinging arms and kicking feet so close to me. The courage I need to get past that is something I can’t pack in my bag unfortunately. It’s either going to be between my two ears that day or I’m going to pretend that it is. I’m going back and looking at my previous posts about how I felt when I started gaining confidence in the water. Specifically: Don’t Even Feel Like Swimming Reviewing what I learned, and actually practicing it that day is the most important thing. I have to remember I’m not trying to swim faster than anyone, I’m just trying to finish with as much energy left as I can have. If I forget my goggles, wetsuit, trisuit, wetronmome, or towel, I’ll always have this ‘other than equipment’ checklist with me. Check out this video from last year. It’s like spotting Waldo. I wonder if anyone will be able to pick me out this year.
