Christmas in June

It is not something that you see everyday, but my wife was witness.

The reaction of two regular guys in their fourties opening a package full of Swimrun gear from TYR Sweden.

As you may know Fredrik and I decided last summer to compete in Swimrun races this summer. Just hours after our third Swimrun practice I get a call from Fredrik that he was on his way over and that our goody bag (box) had arrived. Fredrik and his youngest Svea arrive and before we even get the box open she’s off with my girls playing.

Fredrik and I then open the box. Our smiles going from ear to ear. As we pull out item after item. It was like Noah’s Ark everything came in two 😉

You might be quoting Brad Pitt from Seven right now “What’s in the box?!?”

Well let’s start from the top. We got the new polarized Special Ops 2.0 in multi-color. The sit perfectly and with a slight red tint will work perfectly for our races for anything the weather gods throw at us. The red tint improves vision if there is an overcast and the polarized lenses protect against clear skies and sun.

Normal swimming races forbid the use of equipment, but in a Swimrun there are less restrictions. Being strong swimmers we decided that we gain so much by using paddles. We can take longer strokes, swim relaxed but still cut through the water. To help we got a set of Catalyst 2 paddles, medium. The key to sizing paddles is finding the size that gives the most effect without risking shoulder injury. Since most of our races include approximately 4km swimming we chose medium. In a pool for a harder pull series I think large would work but for these races we went with medium. Notice in the picture below the shape of the paddles. This helps create a balanced pull under water. We can’t wait to try them out.

In a Swimrun race you take everything with you that you need from the start to finish. That means swimming with your shoes on. The key to swimming with shoes on is not to kick but also to maintain body position in the water. If the buoyancy of you wetsuit is not enough to key your feet up the a pull buoy can be helpful. For the coming two weeks we will be testing the Hydrofoil buoy. If we can be more efficient in the water it will be worth the extra grams to run with the buoy. We just need to experiment with the best way to attach it.

Both Fredrik and I have been swimming with TYR wetsuits for years. I got my first Hurricane C3 in 2009/10. And last summer we upgraded to C5. Fredrik a full body and myself a sleeveless model. We both love the freedom the TYR wetsuits gives. People often complain that it’s harder to swim in a wetsuit, it’s constrictive, hard to breathe and rotate their arms. That’s never been the case for us. Our suits feel like a second skin. So it’s only natural to assume you will see us this summer in the new Hurricane C3.