Long sea swims and sanitary protection - Triathlon Week

02-27-2005, 05:25 PM

The swim was yesterday (Sun 27th), just thought I'd let you know what
transpired.

I thought I was going to be in luck - Saturday night and still no sign
of It. No such luck - woke up at 5am on Sunday to prepare for the
start of the swim and It had started. Curses (pun intended).

In the previous few weeks I had managed to locate a supplier and
acquire a rubber cup device called a Keeper, and had experimented with
it on my previous cycle with not altogether satisfactory results. So
I had to decide what to go with - standard internal protection or The
Keeper. Decided on the latter, not altogether convinced it was the
right thing.

The logistics of the swim were: leave home at 6am, register 6:15am,
embark on boat 7am, boat sailed 7:15am, arrive at the island 8am, swim
starts 8:30am, I finish at 10am. I had access to toilet facilities at
the start, on the boat, on the island and at the finish, so I was able
to check & empty the device, though I had only ever done this before
in the comfort and cleanliness of my own bathroom. Anyway, it seemed
to function ok and did its job, which was the main thing.

As for the swim, it was as near the perfect conditions as possible -
clear sunny sky, calm sea, unlimited visibility and comfortable water
temperature (around 23.5 degC). I decided to forgo the wetsuit as I
felt that the risk of chafing and overheating in it outweighed any
benefit I might get from it. My time for the 4.5km swim was 1hr 31:30
which was pretty much spot on my goal time of 1 1/2 hours (my husband
joked that they were getting worried about me as I was a couple of
minutes late).

So the logistics turned out to be not so bad after all, though I could
really have done without the extra hassle. I can't imagine how women
who do Ironman and really long endurance events manage the process.

Liz D

02-27-2005, 11:37 PM

Liz D wrote:
[snip]
).
>
> So the logistics turned out to be not so bad after all, though I could
> really have done without the extra hassle. I can't imagine how women
> who do Ironman and really long endurance events manage the process.
>
> Liz D

From one of my ex g/f's experiences It all seems to stop when training
that hard.

Which pleased her, mainly, apart from peeing on a stick every month (:

Steve

02-28-2005, 11:07 AM

[Only registered and activated users can see links. ] (Liz D) wrote in
news:55f01bc2.0502271625.6a54ff77@posting.google.c om:

> The swim was yesterday (Sun 27th), just thought I'd let you know what
> transpired.
>
[SNIP]
>
> As for the swim, it was as near the perfect conditions as possible -
> clear sunny sky, calm sea, unlimited visibility and comfortable water
> temperature (around 23.5 degC). I decided to forgo the wetsuit as I
> felt that the risk of chafing and overheating in it outweighed any
> benefit I might get from it. My time for the 4.5km swim was 1hr 31:30
> which was pretty much spot on my goal time of 1 1/2 hours (my husband
> joked that they were getting worried about me as I was a couple of
> minutes late).
>
> So the logistics turned out to be not so bad after all, though I could
> really have done without the extra hassle. I can't imagine how women
> who do Ironman and really long endurance events manage the process.
>
> Liz D

As I recall from your original post you thought wearing the wetsuit let
to added problems; but you opted to not use the wetsuit afterall. Had
this been a concern if you knew you were not going to use the wetsuit?

02-28-2005, 09:27 PM

Steph <CUT_skipatrol@hotmail.com_CUT> wrote in message news:<Xns960B66ED8F479skipatroluunet@66.75.43.157> ...
> [Only registered and activated users can see links. ] (Liz D) wrote in
> news:55f01bc2.0502271625.6a54ff77@posting.google.c om:
>
> > The swim was yesterday (Sun 27th), just thought I'd let you know what
> > transpired.
> >
> [SNIP]
> >
> > As for the swim, it was as near the perfect conditions as possible -
> > clear sunny sky, calm sea, unlimited visibility and comfortable water
> > temperature (around 23.5 degC). I decided to forgo the wetsuit as I
> > felt that the risk of chafing and overheating in it outweighed any
> > benefit I might get from it. My time for the 4.5km swim was 1hr 31:30
> > which was pretty much spot on my goal time of 1 1/2 hours (my husband
> > joked that they were getting worried about me as I was a couple of
> > minutes late).
> >
> > So the logistics turned out to be not so bad after all, though I could
> > really have done without the extra hassle. I can't imagine how women
> > who do Ironman and really long endurance events manage the process.
> >
> > Liz D
>
> As I recall from your original post you thought wearing the wetsuit let
> to added problems; but you opted to not use the wetsuit afterall. Had
> this been a concern if you knew you were not going to use the wetsuit?

It did seem that wearing the wetsuit somehow increased the absorbtion
of water from the outside, so not wearing the wetsuit may have made
things easier had I opted for normal internal protection. As things
turned out, I had ample access to toilet facilities and would probably
been ok with normal protection with or without the wetsuit.

Liz D

03-02-2005, 02:59 PM

Liz D wrote:
> The swim was yesterday (Sun 27th), just thought I'd let you know what
> transpired.

Congratulations! I'm impressed. Was the sea calm? Were there many
people in the event?

Pam

03-07-2005, 05:15 PM

pam_in_sc <[Only registered and activated users can see links. ]> wrote in message news:<[Only registered and activated users can see links. ]>...
> Liz D wrote:
> > The swim was yesterday (Sun 27th), just thought I'd let you know what
> > transpired.
>
> Congratulations! I'm impressed. Was the sea calm? Were there many
> people in the event?
>
> Pam

The sea was very calm - not quite glassy but with minimal chop and
only the odd swell from passing boats, until the last 1km into the
beach when there was a little swell but it was running in with us.

There were 319 finishers: I finished 172nd overall and 34th out of 92
women. I must say, I'm rather pleased with myself!

Liz D