i'm swimming in the chesapeake bay swim in about a month, and know most people will be wearing wetsuits. i don't have a wetsuit, and i don't want a wetsuit, but i don't want to be pulled out of the race 3 miles in, shivering, miserable, and maybe hypothermic. i'm planning to do some training swims in the 3 weekends i have left - and in new york, where it's a good bit colder. the coldest swim i've done (last fall) was 53 for 19 minutes without any pre-training. any advice would be appreciated...
i expect to do the swim in about 2.5 hours.
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I borrowed a wetsuit and tried it out today, and really hated swimming in it! It's probably not the best fit for me - it seems really really tight (I know they're supposed to be really tight, but the legs just didn't seem big enough for my legs.) I'm going to try some on today, and possibly rent one for the race for a backup (with a quick pool swim for a test run next weekend), but I'm inclined to just go in my suit. It doesn't feel like swimming to me when I'm locked in a cocoon - and the chafing is terrible. I could rent one for tomorrow and swim in salt water tomorrow, but I think I'd rather squeeze one last acclimatizing swim in before next weekend (it's still cold here in NY - last weekend I lasted 40 minutes at 54). Does this seem like a terrible strategy? I'm almost at the point where I'd rather swim in my bathing suit and get pulled than suffer in a wetsuit and finish.
I borrowed a wetsuit and tried it out today, and really hated swimming in it! It's probably not the best fit for me - it seems really really tight (I know they're supposed to be really tight, but the legs just didn't seem big enough for my legs.) I'm going to try some on today, and possibly rent one for the race for a backup (with a quick pool swim for a test run next weekend), but I'm inclined to just go in my suit. It doesn't feel like swimming to me when I'm locked in a cocoon - and the chafing is terrible. I could rent one for tomorrow and swim in salt water tomorrow, but I think I'd rather squeeze one last acclimatizing swim in before next weekend (it's still cold here in NY - last weekend I lasted 40 minutes at 54). Does this seem like a terrible strategy? I'm almost at the point where I'd rather swim in my bathing suit and get pulled than suffer in a wetsuit and finish.
