I’m doing the Florida half ironman. Should I wear a sleeveless wetsuit or a full, or non at all? Why? I am not a very strong swimmer,very prone to over heating and am worried a full would be too hot for the florida water, but i can’t get frim info on what water temps will be in the lake where the race is.
Any help much appreciated.
Neil
I don’t know the lake, but I would be surprised if wetsuits were an option. The operative words are Florida and May.
I am also doing the florida 1/2 and according to the website it is a wetsuit legal race. If you are not a strong swimmer I do not see why you would not want to take advantage of being allowed to wear one. I don’t think that lake ever gets too warm like the ocean down here.
Good luck on your decision.
There have been triathlons around May before in the same lake and too warm for wetsuits…very doubtful they will be allowed.
…aaahhhhhh, the lakes down here get much warmer than the ocean does!
Im doing the FL 1/2 as well, and I’m not wearing a wetsuit, i see absolutely no reason for it, especially if youre prone to overheating. Instead, if you happen to be in the 18-24 AG, wear your cycling gear (i.e. shoes and helmet) in the swim, this should save time in T1!
Im guessing from you name you have some affiliation with UF? I’m gonna be going there next year, and was wondering how the Tri-gators and cycling team were. Sorry about changing the topic
Apolack1,
Yes, I’m a UF graduate and live in Gainesville…I’m not sure how the tri team is (they are the only tri team in town)…I know they ride with Team Florida (the cycling team) and swim with a master group…Here is the link to their web page…It sucks and you really can’t get too much info from it… http://grove.ufl.edu/~trigator/ …As for Team Florida, they are pretty good and if not winning, are usually in competition for the Southeastern Collegiate Cycling Conference Championship, for both road and MTN biking…Here is their link. http://grove.ufl.edu/~cycling/ …The Gainesville Cycling Club has some decent rides too www.afn.org/~bike the web server is down for mainenance today, I believe…Let me know when you get in town, I can show you around…Oh yeah, the bike shops suck here, although I think Team Forida has a deal worked out with Gator Cycle since they are a sponsor, that may make a difference to you…Team VetMed rides too…What will your major be?
yeah, ive looked at the websites and everything, i just wanted a little insight into the reality of the tri scene there (hopkins has zero tri scene). Im not gonna be an undergraduate, im going to med school there.
I can’t tell you much about the teams, but when I was up there last year with my son, I can tell you that one of the guides has a triathlete roommate that is incredibly hot and trains wth the school’s tirathlon team.
Come to think of it, what else would you want to know anyway?
sorry if I was wrong about the water temp, but I figured since they are strongly urging the use of wetsuits on the website that the water will be cooler.
Strange that they’re urging wetsuits so much, unless they’re expecting a whole bunch of first time 1/2IMers with limited swim experience. Racing anything down here between about May and October, you get a strong strong possibility that heat management is going to become the fourth discipline. I just can’t see risking coming out of the swim overheated already when you’re facing 90+ and humid on the rest of the day. Yeah, the swim might take a couple minutes longer, but the tradeoff for avoiding heat exhaustion on the run can be well worth it, especially if you aren’t acclimated to the climate.
I am also taken aback by the advising the use of wetsuits, i wonder if anyone from FL 1/2 would respond to this thread and shed some light on it. I feel really weird using a wetsuit when the high is gonna probably be in the mid to high 90’s
The trigators club is very laid back. Are club ranges from newbies, to serious racers, to occasional pro, to those that just show up for free beer. The age range is freshmen to grad students who don’t know that they’re suppose to graduate sometime with some undergrads not ready to move on to the real world thrown in there. I guess the main group workouts for a week are usualy a tempo run, a track workout, and a pool workout. In general, people just group up to ability levels and usually scedule additional workouts together. The main races we do is Clermont and collegiate nationals. We’re taking like over 20 people there with a stop in Las Vegas. Got to remember not to gamble away the bike.
I would have liked to have done this race, but it is just going to be another heat stroke avoidance exercise. I am in FL, so I get this nine months a year already.
This race fits a nice hole in the race calendar. Unfortunately, the hole is there for a reason. A half IM in the weather I would expect there that time of year is just too much for these old bones. I hope this race turns out better than I would expect. It sold out, so I guess plenty of others have a different opinion.
sounds like a lot of fun, ill have to look you guys up when i get down there. Let me tell you about the tri scene at hopkins (where i am graduating from in may); there’s me, and this guy who i occasionally run into at the pool, and sometimes try to meet up with for some workouts. Yeah, its pretty dead. Right now I train on the bike with the bike team, then its solo for the run and swim, i would love to have some real endurance athletes to talk to, all the cyclists do is cruise, then go all out, HR is either 115 or 190, they never sit in the endurance zone that ive grown to love. I really see this part of the season just a focus on FL 1/2 IM, then hopefully race with you guys. =) Oh, you guys have outfits or anything, I would love to rep you guys at the 1/2, ive been a gators fan for a while, and have a ton of friends who go there, im so stoked to be heading down there in a few months.
I almost guarantee no wetsuits. The water temps will be well into the 80’s by that time of year. Hell the Gulf was 81 last year at the Gulf Coast 1/2 and the avg air temp and water temps for the Florida Half are much hotter than it is in Panama City.
http://www.floridahalfironman.com/info.html
actually, they are strongly advised. I dont really think its spring fed even, i dont understand this
I’m not getting it either. But then I’ve got my suspicions that they grabbed what they thought was a good spot on the calendar- between spring break and summer vacation seasons. Granted it’s the same spot in the calendar that Gulf Coast fills, but Gulf Coast has somewhat better odds for nice racing weather.