I have a 6’ 200lb athlete/client who thinks he can do a tri swm this weekend in 64 degree water sans wetsuit. I know my skinny little body couldn’t do it. Is he crazy?
I have a 6’ 200lb athlete/client who thinks he can do a tri swm this weekend in 64 degree water sans wetsuit. I know my skinny little body couldn’t do it. Is he crazy?
No people do this all the time. When I lived in SF there are tons of people that swam in the Bay without a wetsuit year round. Most of them had a little insulation but there were some that were skinny like me.
Why would he want to?
That’d be my question… sure he probably could and if its short it wouldn’t be that bad. But I surely wouldn’t want to swim in that cold of water without one especially if i’m not used to it. That could just start a miserably cold day.
My favorite temperature is about 68* to swim in…it feels darn cold to start but then isn’t too warm once you’re moving & keeps you moving.
If he’s not swam in colder water this year or ever before, PLEASE tell him to get a warm up swim if it is AT ALL possible. Even if for nothing else to get wet & get the shock factor over. There are many instances of this causing issues with the swim & possibly even greater health concerns. Once he’s past the HOLYCRAPCOLDHELLCRAP moment it should be fine…
He will not feel warm coming out of the water, but he shouldn’t turn blue or anything. As someone else said, the bay is sub 60* & people skin swim all the time. There are entire groups dedicated to cold water swimming…you just have to be a little smarter about it.
I guess it depends on the swim distance. If it’s a sprint tri of 400 meters or less, I guess you could suffer through it. Olympic distance or greater, I would want a suit.
Once he’s past the HOLYCRAPCOLDHELLCRAP moment it should be fine…
Yeah I never get past that moment, I can deal with a lot of stuff but i HATE being cold.
It would probably depend on the length of the swim, the air temp and wind. Also his experience swimming in cold water and swimming in general. Regardless of the above it would probably be very uncomfortable.
I have a 6’ 200lb athlete/client who thinks he can do a tri swm this weekend in 64 degree water sans wetsuit. I know my skinny little body couldn’t do it. Is he crazy?
I did a sprint in 61 F. It sucked but it wasn’t unbearable and I wear a john. I should add… it was a reasonably warm day 75 F maybe? So that helped once you got out of the water. I declined a “warm up” once I felt how cold it was.
I have a 6’ 200lb athlete/client who thinks he can do a tri swm this weekend in 64 degree water sans wetsuit. I know my skinny little body couldn’t do it. Is he crazy?
I am 6’ 200. From this past weekend - 500m swim sprint tri in 63ish water, no wetsuit. First third of the course (no warmup) was “holy crap this is cold!”, hyperventilating and my stroke technique went to sh**. By the second third I got my breathing under control, by the last third my stroke was back. Came out into 55 degree air and could not get blood to move into my head (impaired thinking) or legs and eventually DNF’d as a result. Didn’t get warm until several hours later despite wearing sweats and rising air temps. I went off and left my suit at home like a dumb a** or I would have been wearing mine.
Is that really much different than a 55 degree-ish wetsuit swim? I certainly don’t like those, but they’re (kind of) manageable. And by manageable, I mean I get cold-air bronchoconstriction in water temps below about 60-61. So 64 sans suit sounds better than 55 with a suit. Nothing quite like trying to race while breathing through a sippy straw.
i raced olympic distance this weekend in 64* water. air temp was about 60* at the start with 15ish mph wind; not ideal conditions. there were a few guys that raced without a wetsuit and they survived. i was happy with my sleeveless and wouldnt want to go without. but if i had too, i think after i got past the shock it would have been fine.
I’m personally of the opinion 64F is just about the perfect temperature for a nice little wetsuit swim. But I am 6’ 160lbs. 40 lbs of insulation would probably change my mind.
64, no problem…we used to do it all the time before triathlon wetsuits were invented!
Since I often trained in pools with wonky heating systems, I’ve done my fair share of practices in mid-60s water temperatures in the usual Speedo, latex cap, and goggles. No big deal if you’ve done enough cool water swimming to suppress any freak outs about cold water on face, but it becomes more of a problem if you haven;t had to learn to deal with it in a nice controlled swimming pool first.
He’s not crazy. Personally, I feel like I’m roasting in anything above 70 degrees. I wish all races were below 60 degrees…
I did an OWS in SF’s aquatic park coupla years ago . . . water may have been 57? Thought I’d be fine in my neoprene cap and tri-shorts because all these grizzled old dudes were out there with the same caps and speedos. Well, they called it after about 600m… I stayed out for 1800 and felt GREAT by the end–warm all over.
When I finally got out, I had hypothermia. Good times.
I am 6’ 200. From this past weekend - 500m swim sprint tri in 63ish water, no wetsuit. First third of the course (no warmup) was “holy crap this is cold!”, hyperventilating and my stroke technique went to sh**. By the second third I got my breathing under control, by the last third my stroke was back. Came out into 55 degree air and could not get blood to move into my head (impaired thinking) or legs and eventually DNF’d as a result. Didn’t get warm until several hours later despite wearing sweats and rising air temps. I went off and left my suit at home like a dumb a** or I would have been wearing mine.
I assume this was TexasMan, based on your username. I did the Olympic in a sleeveless wetsuit and have no clue how anybody did that without a wetsuit. I saw numerous people voluntarily doing the Olympic distance without one. Sorry to hear you DNF’d. My feet didn’t thaw until mile 2 of the run.
Whats the best neoprene cap to buy or warmest?
Nah, should be fine. Try to get in the water and acclimate before the horn!