Off the Deck

First of all, I think this primarily affects women more than men. But I swear I have heard of and seen more “suit hickies” this past year than ever before.

Let’s back up for a second though, and define “suit hickie.” This is the resulting skin damage caused by regular chaffing of a suit against one spot of skin.

For example, the worst suit hickie I’ve ever experienced was after my second-ever open water 5K. I wore a suit with thin straps that day, and they just rubbed, rubbed, rubbed against my neck with every stroke. After the race, I had patches of raw, red skin along each side of my neck. They felt like burns, and I actually had to cover them with bandages for a few days to keep them protected while healing (not to mention to prevent innocent, non-swimmers from being grossed out by the site of huge neck-welts.)

Luckily, those two suit hickes healed within two weeks or so, sans scars. This year however, I am learning of seemingly permanent suit hickies! For one, the above-mentioned neck-chaffing affliction seems to be on the rise, leaving dry, scaly patches of red-purple skin in its wake.

Perhaps this incident spike correlates to the new-ish popularity of complicated suit backs? In recent years suit designers have gone crazy — thin, multiple back straps crossing every which-way. In theory, I think they are meant to help better anchor suits through movement (as well as look super cool! I am definitely a big fan of Speedo’s “corset back” suits — I own two). But I also think that more, skinny straps means more opportunity for chaffing if the fit isn’t perfect. And let’s face it: suits are not made to order.

Most alarming however? The “Logo Hickie.” Several of my female swim friends now have seemingly permanent logo marks (going on one year+) on their hips from their practice suits. It seems to result from a combination of chaffing from the logo stitching combined with sunlight burning through the lighter logo material.

I just hope this isn’t some new nefarious marketing ploy…

Until next time,
Rebecca, swim evangelist

When showering the other day, I noticed I still had my suit tan lines from the summer.

Which is kind of odd. I mean, it’s been 3+ months since I last swam outside — how long do tan lines last? Is this normal?

Especially because the local mountain climate reduces my annual suit sun-exposure via a short summer outdoor season. No, I haven’t gone on a warm-weather vacation since summer. And, after having a variety of “suspicious looking” bits o’ skin scraped off my back to be analyzed at a lab over the past few years, I religiously slap on sunblock in the a.m. and again before swimming outside.

Heck, I didn’t even swim that much this summer outside because I took 3+ months off from training.

I can’t recall when past summer tans have faded. December? March? It certainly seems like I kick off each spring with a nice, pasty skin tone though.

Maybe because I have been ingesting vast quantities of Vitamin D since May, my skin is actually absorbing sun light for the first time in my life. Wait a minute — I think I have that backwards: Vitamin D is supposed to protect skin from burning and thus tanning.

Nope. There’s only one solution left. After a lifetime of training outdoors during summers, the suit lines have become permanent!

Until next time,
Rebecca, swim evangelist

Ugh! After Saturday’s meet results, looks like swimming on my own for two days and going to a practice two days a week isn’t working.

Granted, the water/indoor facility air temp were both frigid. And it’s been a tough month for my body (lots of shots: two immunizations plus keeping up the allergy ones; peak allergy season for me, etc. But hey, at least I’m healthy. Believe me, that’s a HUGE step forward compared to prior years at this season!)

No, “lack of quality training” explains more about my performance. I was sluggish in the 1000 free (I didn’t look at my splits but I’m pretty sure I held an even but pokey 1:16 pace) and awkward in the 100 back, which I kicked off with a back-flop start. Yikes! even more embarrasing, I bagged on my last two events — 100 fly and 50 breast. I don’t often do that because I’d like to believe that I believe any racing experience is better than none, but I 1) just couldn’t warm up, and 2) get motivated after two icky swims.

It’s time to face the music — I need to find more practices. Swimming on my own is good for things like drill work, working on weak elements such as kicking. But two times a week of this on a regular basis is not doing anything for my speed, endurance or “ggrrrr” factor in the water. It’s not like I’m skipping sets, softening intervals or leaving early when I swim on my own. I’m just not being progressively pushed.

The other problem is that “two practices a week thing.” Thanks to various pool closures and a lot of canceled weekend practices, it’s been challenging to get in two practices per weekend for months…

Sigh…what to do now? I guess I will look for ways I can wrap my schedule around mid-day practices or driving further on weekends to find a team to train with…

Until next time,
Rebecca, swim evangelist