Me on the left & Nina (Twitter friend) on the right at Santa Monica Ocean Swim.

So I bought an xTerra Vortex 3 last Friday, June 26, 2009. And I was eager to try it out. Wanted to make sure it fit properly and was easy to move around and swim in it. So I planned to go to Huntington State Beach on Monday and get in a short ocean swim.

The original plan was to hit the beach before noon, short swim, picnic lunch with Jenny on the beach, play and relaxation time before heading home. Unfortunately, due to a comedy of errors, we didn’t actually get to Huntington until 3 PM. I talked to the Life Guard briefly, put my wetsuit on, and ventured out.

In watching the surf before I suited up, the breakers hadn’t looked too large to me. So about 20 minutes later I was wading into the surf. Life guard had said water temp was 62˚. It didn’t feel cold to me at all, especially with the suit on. Waves still looked ok, and I proceeded out to my chest. I felt the cold water coming through the suit at the zipper on the back. Just interesting, not a problem. Kept going and got out past most of the breakers. But there was one row left to get past, and they seemed pretty big. I was not comfy with it. I decided to go back in and try ocean swimming in my suit another day.

I did feel good about the suit, though. It fit nicely and I was able to move easily in the water. Arms didn’t feel restricted. In fact, while I was trying to get out past the waves, I didn’t even think about the suit at all. I wasn’t even aware of it or that I was wearing it. The waves had my full attention. The suit does feel a bit loose around the lower legs when the water comes in, but I think that is OK. It’s kind of interesting how the suit expands/stretches and adjust on you when it gets wet.

Jenny and I did stay at the beach for another hour just relaxing and playing in the sand, but it was getting cold and windy and unpleasant. So we left a bit after 5 pm and met up with the hubby for dinner. I considered the ocean experience a success, even though I didn’t actually swim. Baby steps. I will just keep at this until I’m comfortable and good at it.

Well, through the magic of Twitter I found a friend who lives in the L.A. area and belongs to the L.A. Tri Club. She convinced me to come out on Wed. morning July 1st for an open water swim at Santa Monica Beach. Wow. I had to get there at 6 am. Left my house just after 5 am for the drive. Was worried about traffic, but I think I got lucky and made it in only 45 minutes. This swim is attended by over 100 members & guests of the L.A. Tri Club. It is a regular weekly event. The surf conditions were pretty decent that morning. Not as calm as ideal, but not too bad.

I really liked being with a group. I stayed towards the back and entered the water after most other people. But it was good to be going in with others. The waves weren’t too high, but still…it gave me confidence to see other people successfully going through the waves. Made me say to myself, “If they can do this, so can I.” So I dove right in, jumped through the waves, and headed out.

The swim we were doing is described as a triangle. There is a buoy 250 meters from the shore which is one point of the triangle. Two cones are placed on the beach about 100 yards apart for the other two points. Start at one cone, swim out on a slant to the buoy, swim from the buoy in to shore to the other cone, then run to the first cone. This completes the circuit. Do one circuit or more.

Well, I was swimming out there, and most of the other swimmers were faster. I was getting left behind. And my goggles were letting water in. So I was fidgeting with them. It seemed like I still had breakers to get over, but I guess not. It was just a decent sized rolling swell. And I couldn’t see the buoy any more. I could follow the other swimmers. But I couldn’t see how far I needed to go…my goal. It seemed so far away. I thought, “Maybe this is enough for today. I can just turn around now and get out.” But when I looked behind me I saw that I was quite far from shore. At least halfway to the buoy for sure. Oh, what the heck. I might as well just finish and swim to the buoy.

So I kept going. Mind you, I hadn’t even really broken in to freestyle yet. I wasn’t very big on putting my face in the water. The goggles weren’t working very well and I was afraid of losing a contact lens. And the water is very salty. Tastes bad. I was dog paddling, breast stroking, side stroking, back stroking. And mostly keeping the head up. I guess I put it down 2 or 3 times on the way out to the buoy, but not for long.

Eventually I saw the buoy and the current had pushed me past it. I thought, “Gosh, I’m not even going to go around the buoy. Bummer.” Then I decided the heck with that, I certainly WAS going to go around the buoy. So I had to swim back and around it. There was a club member treading water out there with a waterproof camera. He said some encouraging things to me and I told him this was my first time swimming out to an ocean buoy. He said it was too bad the conditions weren’t very good. I was kind of surprised. I didn’t think it was that bad.

And around the buoy and back towards shore. I did try freestyle a couple of times, and put my face down in the water briefly. But again, the goggles just weren’t working right for me. I decided backstroke was OK and mostly backstroked it in. Getting in past the breakers wasn’t too hard. Overall a success. I wasn’t panicked during this swim like during my triathlon and I felt like I could possibly do another circuit. But I decided not to. I decided to stop at one this time. Next time I’ll do two.

Afterwards I waited and said good-bye to Nina (my Twitter friend) and her husband and then I did a five mile run along the shore. I went up past the Santa Monica Pier. Last time I was there was when I did the Santa Monica 10K Classic in April 2006.

Anyhow, this whole experience was so positive, and I want to do it again. So I joined the L.A. Tri Club that afternoon. I am planning to attend a number of their training events. I’ve RSVP’d for next Wednesday’s “Ocean 101” and I hope that this Sunday I will go out and do their “Chicken of the Sea” swim. I figure I gotta just keep doing this and the more I do it the more comfortable I’ll become and I’ll get pretty good at it.

Jenny at Moonlight Beach in Encinitas after Wetsuit Purchase

So I’ve been going back and forth over the whole wetsuit thing for a while now. To buy one or not? Finally decided to buy one. Then which one to buy? And how to buy? Or to rent? 

Basically, I plan to do enough tris that rental costs would add up quickly and be more than a purchase price. Plus I want to have the suit available to me for practice and to become comfortable in it. And even though I have a few friends who’ve done a number of tris with no suit, I have so many people encouraging me to get one not just for warmth, but for bouyancy as well, that I decided to go ahead and buy.

Early in June someone on Twitter posted a sale link to xTerraWetsuits. Half price deal on some of their popular, top-of-the-line suits (sale ends June 29, 2009 but it looks like they’ll be having additional promos in July). I was infatuated really with the Vortex 3 full suit. But afraid to order online without trying on.

Me in my New Wetsuit - not the most flattering but...

Friends on Facebook and Twitter encouraged me to go to a local shop and try wetsuits on, rather than order online. So I did go to a local bike shop on Wednesday and try on some wetsuits. Quite an adventure.

Still, enamored with the Vortex 3, I looked on their site and saw they did have walk-in hours at their San Diego location. So an expedition for Friday was planned, to drive down there, try suits on, and if I liked, buy one. There was an investment of time (about 3.5 hours in freeway traffice all told for the day), but got a suit that I like and I know it fits and a good price. I’m happy with the results.

We left the house a bit after 11 am on Friday June 26th  and made it to their offices before 1 pm. They were really helpful and nice. The one thing I regret is that I made a fingernail tear in my new suit just trying it on, and I was incredulous as I was being SOOOO careful. But the employee said it is very easy to make these. I got some instructions and materials for patching it and it is already patched.

We left there at 1:30 pm with a new suit, got gas and headed back north. Jenny was with me, and we stopped at Giovanni’s on the 101 Hwy for lunch  in Encinitas and then spent some time at the beach there before getting back in the car to power the rest of the way home.

Moonlight Beach in Encinitas where we stopped after lunch

Since I’ve written the above I’ve already been to the beach twice with my wetsuit and tried it out. Will have to write about that next…

So today I went to the San Dimas location of Incycle Bikes. I called first to ask if I could come in to try on wetsuits, and they said, “Sure.”

When I walked in I was asked if I needed help by the same guy I’d talked to on the phone. He sized me up visually and decided I should wear an xsmall. Which kind of surprised me, because based on my weight and height I usually seem to be at the top of the size small range, almost into medium, in the sizing charts I checked online. Another lady in the shop, who apparently specializes in wetsuit fitting, agreed strongly that I would need xsmall because the small would have too much room in the arm area because I’m so thin (not really). So they gave me an XS in the Zoot Synergy and directed me to a fitting room to try it on.

I had worn my tri top and shorts, since I figured I should wear what I was most likely to have on under the wetsuit in a real event. Thank goodness, because these wetsuits are so tight there’s really no room for anything else on underneath! They also gave me a plastic bag, like the grocery stores use, to put over my foot and hands as I was pushing them through the legs and sleeves, so that it would slide through more easily. Apparently one would usually apply Body Glide liberally all over before attempting to don a wetsuit. In lieu of Body Glide, use a plastic bag.

Well, I tried my darndest to get that xsmall suit on. I pulled and stretched the legs, trying to get them up my calves, over my knees. I must’ve spent at least 10-15 minutes just trying to get the darn legs on. But it became clear to me after massaging and tweaking and stretching and pulling, that the crotch of that suit was never going to reach my body’s crotch in a million years. The suit-crotch remained steadfastly a good 4 inches below my body-crotch.

In the meantime I’m expecting the guy to return to the dressing room with a size small, as he’d said he would look for one. I also was becoming disappointed thinking they must not have a small or the guy had forgotten about me, since he hadn’t returned to the dressing room yet.

By now I’m also sweating and getting perspiration marks on my top between the boobs and in the small of my back, from wrestling with this darn suit, trying to be good and follow recommendations from those “in the know” and make it get on me like they said it should because they believed it was the right size. Well I finally gave up and went to look for the guy.

He did have another suit for me to try on. The Zoot Fusion in size MSH which he said was Medium Small. OK. I was able to get this one on without near as much wrestling (some). And zipped. I emerged from the dressing room. “Do I get a prize for getting it on?” I asked. So the guy says this fits me much better and is the size I would wear, and is the next size up from the xsmall I had tried on (which was a different style). Their rental rates are $25/day (for 24 hour period) and rental can be applied to purchase price of a new suit. They also sell used ones at the end of the season.

Well, I took the second suit off, it was quite damp inside from my wrestling workout. These things do NOT breathe (as you would expect) and so I couldn’t help but perspire in addition to whatever sweat I’d already worked up from wrestling. So I gave them back to the guy inside out and said, “Uh, they’re a little damp. It’s kind of a workout to get them on.”

Anyhow, he was nice and helpful. However, I look up the sizing chart online and see that actually there is another size in between the xsmall I tried and what I was  finally able to get on. Turns out MSH is really Medium Short, and that there is a Small size in between MSH and XS. Hmmm.

Anyhooo…tomorrow I’m going to drive down to San Diego and see if I can try on in person the Xterra suit that I was ogling at such a decent sale price. Only if I feel 100% totally positive about that suit will I buy it. If I have any doubts, I will pass and do something else. I can still check out suits at some other local Tri shops such as Onetri.com in Santa Ana, and there’s a tri shop in Redondo Beach and one in Irvine. And also wetsuitrentals.com to consider. I guess I don’t have to rush it. Take my time and get something that I know is right and that I’ll be happy with.

Vortex 3 Fullsuit $199 (Reg. $400)

I’m so nervous about choosing the wrong size or something that doesn’t fit me right. I’ve never tried on ANY wetsuit before, nor obviously swum in one. What should I do? Buy this one? Or give it a miss and go to a local tri shop and get fitted for one there? Help? Advice?