Isn't She Lovely?

Here's my consolation for the idiocy I displayed this past weekend in Hilton Head. I finally got a wetsuit!!!! Woohooo!!!!

As of 2006, Ironman wetsuits are now called Blue Seventy. This the Reaction, an entry-level one that was relatively easy to afford, especially when you consider that the really good ones run $300-$500. Scott got lucky and they had a top-of-the-line one from 2005 on sale in his size, so his has all the bells and whistles, but I'm still ecstatic.

Does it look funny to you without sleeves? I'll tell you why we chose this kind instead of full suits. Wetsuits keep you buoyant, but they also keep you warm. We live in Georgia. Not so warm is a good thing. In most triathlons, the water has to be below a certain temperature before you're allowed to wear a wetsuit because it would give you an unfair advantage, but also because by July, the lakes and ocean will be so warm that it'll be too easy to overheat. Thus, the longjohn.

I can't wait until the lake warms up enough to try it out, so I'm headed to the Health Club downtown to take it for a test run in the pool. The instructions say not to wear it in chlorinated water too often, so I probably won't do it much - depends on how addictive it is. I'll keep you posted.

If you're ever in Hilton Head, you've got to stop by Go Tri Sports, a really cool triathlon shop on the island where we got our wetsuits and other gear that has us chomping at the bit for a race.

In addition to being a triathlete's paradise, the store puts on tri clinics as well as several races a year, with my favorite being the Beach Bum Triathlon on June 3rd. It's a nice change of pace from regular tris because you swim in the ocean and then ride and run on the flat, hard-packed sand on the beach. That means you can use your MTB for this one, and it's lots more fun and less serious than the typical USAT sanctioned hammerhead tri. Hope maybe some of you can make it.