Biker's Tan & Swim Progress

I do most of my workouts in tight shorts that go to about mid-thigh. This means that I've slowly developed a biker's tan, but today it reached epic proportions. More details below, but first an account of another busy Saturday.

Firefighter Challenge

I woke up early this morning to watch Jason participate in the Firefighter Challenge and Run The Rosen Stair Climb. The course: crawl through an obstacle course simulating a collapsed building, run to and drag a charged hose towards some cones, turn on the hose and knock over the cones simulating putting out a fire, drag a fire sled about 100 feet to simulate pulling a body of a burning building, then climb 14 flights of stairs. He said it was indeed very challenging, especially the stair climb.

Biking

The event started almost a half an hour late, so it threw off the rest of our morning plans a bit. When we finally made it back, we met up with Kelly and Eric for some biking and swimming. We rode from our apartment to Cady Way until the bridge, then to the pool for some laps. Since Eric's chain was acting up, Jason biked home to get the car while we swam. After the swim, he drove them home and I rode home alone in my new mountain/adventure bike. I was hoping to ride a bit faster alone, but that plan was quickly died by the headwind coupled with my diminished energy due to swimming and sun exposure. Oh yeah, in case you missed the subtle reference above, I bought yet another bike (pictured on right) for around town riding and some light off-roading: a Jamis Explore 2.0

Swimming

I swam about 400 yards. This is an estimate because I was working on my stroke/breathing so sometimes I didn't make it the entire length of the pool. It is possible I actually swam more yards, but this is the laps I actually remember counting--I stopped counting when Jason showed up and helped me with my stroke.

I used a pull buoy to help me focus on my stroke and keep my body in better alignment, and that helped a lot. I am still having issues swimming with my head in the water, and thus waste so much effort unnecessarily, but I am getting better. I actually do quite well when I have my head in the water and can lift my head to come up for air, but all hell breaks loose when I try to put my head back in the water. I managed a few strokes several times, but almost every time I reverted back to my old ways mid-way through the lap.

Biker's Tan

I underestimated (as I often do) how much sun you get while swimming, and I forgot to reapply sunscreen after we biked there. I swam in my tri shorts, and now I have an absurd biker's tan and a bit of a sunburn :(

We went to Sports Authority and I bought a new swimsuit, but I'm going to look (more) ridiculous in it the next few times I go to the pool. They had this really cute one with skulls, but it was much too tight. I know they are supposed to fit tight, but how tight? So I ended up with a plain blue nike one in the same size that seem to fit more comfortably, but now I am seeing not so great reviews for it so I may return it.

Can anyone recommend a good swimsuit for doing laps and enlighten me about what kind of fit I should look for?

I stopped by Target in search for some shorter shorts to possibly swim in instead, and ended up with a second swimsuit (pictured on right--no, that's not me =P) because it was just too cute for words. Now I need to go to the beach or tubing (or maybe a water park! ooh!) so I can wear it.

So this concludes another busy Saturday. I planned to do a brick workout this morning, but that didn't pan out. I may do it tomorrow instead of the planned 5 mile run, but I'm going to play it by ear since I am so tired and a bit burned out (literally) of outdoor activities at the moment. I didn't even go to the run hash tonight. I'm never going to get my hash name :( I think I'll go draw or take a nap :)