Men in Rubber Suits








I still can't believe it, but yesterday Mike and I went to our favorite candy store, Fleet Feet Sports, and bought wet suits! It's just further proof that being married to enthusiastic triathlete women can drive any man crazy since we sure aren't swimmers. We have our own unique styles which basically involve splashing, gasping for air and getting passed by three year old children wearing swimmies. We count strokes by the dozens for 25 yard swims. Improvement is measured by how many lifeguards follow us as we do laps. I think the lifeguards draw straws to see who will have to give us rescue breathing when the bald old guys drop to the bottom of the pool.

Mike, who writes a weekly e-mail newsletter that is so popular people he doesn't know receive it, gave permission to share his version of our trip here.

"Put this into your mental photo gallery.

Yesterday, Mike McGridlock and I brought our relationship to a new level. We have been running together for 15 to 85 years now. We have run through heat and snow, mountains and valleys. Yesterday we fought rush hour traffic together to go to Fleet Feet for a wet suit sale.

They were selling rental suits for low prices. It was a tough deal to pass on. So there we are. Mike McSwimswiththefishes and I standing in the middle of Fleet Feet looking like two beat up old bald super heroes that just came out of a tremendous battle with our old nemeses AARP Man and his evil partner Tuition Payment Guy. All we needed was Lou there and it would have looked like a “Sea Hunt” reunion.

Mike was pathetic. “Does this fit right?” “Does the suit make my butt look big?” “Why is the zipper in the back?” “I can’t get this over my jeans.” “Hey, I can really break dance with this on.” It was embarrassing watching him spin on his back singing the theme to Star Wars."

Mike is prone to mixing truth and rumor, after all, everyone knows I only Moon Walk and can't break dance.

So where do these suits lead us now? Well, first I'm buying lots of shampoo to clean out this former rental suit. I've heard what triathletes do in these suits, and it isn't good, not that the suit isn't cleaned by Fleet Feet, but one can never be too careful. Then I will wear the suit to the pool and see if I can't beat that three year old in the next lane.

Comments

  1. AnonymousOctober 5, 2007 at 11:46 AM

    so, when do you buy the roadbikes? and how long until you sign up for a tri????

    ReplyDelete
  2. AnonymousOctober 8, 2007 at 6:41 AM

    I am in the market for a used road bike. For now it is just to be able to go out with Eileen. It would need to a deal like the wetsuit as I am having way too much fun buying roofs, driveways, and tuition.

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Motor Imagery

Image
In the book, " The body has a mind of its own " by Blakeslee, the authors state that, "While many types of mental practice are undoubtedly helpful, motor imagery is the only technique that alters your body maps in the same way physical practice does. Visual imagery (as from a spectator's point of view), relaxation, hypnosis, affirmation, prayer...may help you...but will not alter your motor maps." (page 60). Several experiments have been conducted that verify this information. A simple example is that if you imagine moving your little finger for ten minutes a day, after four weeks it will be up to 20% stronger. Motor imagery has been used by pianists, dancers and all types of athletes. It is not something that will help you overnight get better at swimming, running or biking, but over time, just like with physical exercise, it does promote stronger muscle memory and physical attributes.
Read more

Head Over Heels

Probably not the best way to ride a bike, looking at the pavement up close, arms stretched out, seeing the rear tire straight up in the air. Once Jan knew I was only bruised and my bike was okay, she had a nice laugh. Apparently I didn't look too graceful flipping up towards the handle bars, arms and legs spread out. Fortunately I was going very slowly making a turn when I hit a hole off the shoulder of the road. The result was just a leg bruise. Jan ran 11 miles and swam almost 2 miles on Saturday. On Sunday, a beautiful day for bike riding, we rode the 6 villages route . I went 76.5 miles, she completed her scheduled 80 miles by going around our block several times. The route is 66 miles, but we did an extra 10 miles around Churchville. Our overall mph time was pretty good, faster than the cutoff time for Ironman. The roads were in pretty good condition, not too much traffic except for .5 miles on rt. 31, and only a few barking dogs that scared the heck out of us, but didn't ...
Read more

Supportive Husband?

I'm having a difficult time drawing the line between "gentle" encouragement of Jan's Ironman endeavor and being thought of as an overbearing bully where whatever she does in training isn't enough. Yes, she has trained over 8 hours in the past six days. Yes, she will be doing some massive swimming, biking and running this weekend. But I still worry about whether it's enough to make the time limits at the Tupper Lake Tinman in three weeks and Louisville Ironman in twelve. So, I sometimes feel that if I'm not going to push her, who will? Yes, Jan is obviously self-motivated and highly competitive. But even the best athletes usually need an extra push now and then, don't they? I can't imagine being a real coach and a husband or wife of the athlete you are coaching. That seems like an absolute no win situation. Something would have to give in the relationship. It's one thing to coach, push an athlete to do an extra interval or two, have them get ups...
Read more