I attended a meeting for local Redman athletes – seems less than truthful calling myself an athlete, I’m just someone who loves to ride a bike and now swims – but okay I like thinking of myself as an athlete so I’ll use the term.
Anyway back to the meeting; the RD (race director- I’m learning a new language – triathlon-ese to augment my bicycling vocab – oh boy) mainly just answered questions and provided basic info about the event.
Most of the questions had to do with the swim – and the lack of water in Lake Hefner. The RD told us water is to be released into the lake in the next couple of weeks which besides allowing for people to swim rather than walk the course should also reduce the blue-green algae problem. A little rain and cooler temperatures would go a long way in helping with that. Which would also help with my own problem of needing to wear a wetsuit. I need all the help I can get to swim my 1.2 miles and although I wasn’t a fan initially I’ve grown to really appreciate the buoyancy of my wetsuit and the improved ability to slip through the water dolphin style. Well, more like hump-back whale style but you get the idea.
If the water temperature is 78 or below we’re wetsuit legal; if the temp is between 79 and 83 you can swim in a wetsuit but you will become ineligible for awards should you place or win your AG (age group). If the temp is 84 or higher no wetsuit allowed… period.
I’ll be wearing mine unless they aren’t allowed. I’m praying for rain and cooler temps. Hell, everyone here is praying for rain and cooler temps – it got up to 104 today.
Fall is just around the corner?
