I ordered this wetsuit from PX Triathlon – www.PXTriathlon.com – because of our cold conditions we have been having here in the Northeast.  Winter just won’t leave, which left me worried about the water temps in my early season triathlons.  I went up to Lake Placid to try it out in some very chilly conditions.  I went up for a triathlon training camp with some good friends for the Memorial Day Holiday and wouldn’t you know it, it started snowing while we were there.  So I thought the conditions should be perfect to try out my new HUUB Full Wetsuit Aerious 4.4, or maybe I have a touch of the crazy bug.  Probably a little bit of both.

I ordered the Small Tall (SMT), I am 175lbs and 6’2” tall.  I was right on the upper end of the size chart which I thought would be perfect, nice and snug.  I ordered it and PX Triathlon had it to me in 2 days, perfect!!  I pulled it out of the box like a kid on Christmas morning and I thought I had ordered the wrong one, I wasn’t sure if it would my 8 year old daughter.  I thought I might as well try it on before sending it back and getting the next size up.  I wiggled a bit and worked it up my body and got it on.  It felt nice and snug with no air pockets what so ever.  It felt great, guess I won’t be sending it back. 

Test day in Lake Placid.  I walked up to the beach in Lake Placid contemplating if I should go in or not, and looked out over the empty chilly lake with the top of the water looking like glass, and decided to suit up.  I wiggled and squirmed again but not as much this time.  It felt nice and snug, kind of felt like my skin.  The wetsuit material was stretchy, and conformed perfectly to my body type.  I felt the sand between my toes as I pulled my TYR Velocity Goggles over my eyes and dove into the shallows of Mirror Lake.  The first sensation as the High 50 degree water temp hit my face was man this is crazy.  I took about twenty strokes and got myself into a rhythm and started to evaluate my new wetsuit.  I felt the buoyancy effect right away as it popped my body right to the top of the water.  Then I concentrated on feeling the arm restriction from the sleeves of the suit.  As I rotated my arms around my shoulders I could not feel any restriction what so ever.  I have more restriction in my ZOOT sleeveless than I do in this HUUB Wetsuit.  The material is thin and flexible enough that it does not interfere with the swim stroke at all.  It felt almost like I was swimming without a wetsuit, in terms of arm restriction.  Very refreshing to feel like this when swimming long distances like in a Full Ironman.  Then I finally realized I forgot to check how I felt temperature wise.  Well I wasn’t frozen up to this point.  Since the temperature didn’t cross my mind after the initial shock, it goes to show that even though the material feels thin, light, and has a high elasticity that it doesn’t comprise the temperature controlling nature of the wetsuit.  I did not feel cold in the least and actually started breaking a sweat towards the end of my 25 minute swim. 

Finally I had to get this thing off of me.  I raced up the beach as I would in a race and pealed it off my upper body with ease and then made quick work with my legs.  It did take me a little longer to take it off my feet since the elasticity is very high but nothing that a big yank couldn’t take care of.

This product , the HUUB Aerious 4.4 Full Wetsuit is a great product.  I was very impressed with all the qualities of this wetsuit.  I felt that the makers of this wetsuit really took their time doing their research, design, and constructing such a great product.  I would recommend this product to all my fellow racers that want a quality product.  The whole process from ordering it from PX Triathlon to trying the wetsuit out seemed flawless and close to perfection.     

    This morning I started out with my first taste of the bike course and the winds of the Lava Fields.  I was very excited to get on it and to see what it's going to be like.  Though my ride was short, I managed to get some valuable feedback from my little training session.  I felt like the course could be extremely fast but if I take it out too fast in the beginning of the bike it could come at a cost later.  If I hit strong winds at the late stages of the bike then it would catch up with me in the marathon and proper nutrition is essential.  I have to be extremely careful to not get caught up in the time, speed, people flying by me, etc. and just concentrate on how I feel and make sure I am comfortable at all times, while keeping a positive attitude. 
     I then drove home to be greeted by a smiling family ready to head to downtown Kona.  We just walked around on Ali'i Dr. stopping at the different product and gear booths.  The kids always love picking up all the free stuff.  Then headed over to registration to make it official.  So #1672 is officially signed up and ready to go.  Then we made a must stop at Lava Java for lunch and saw a lot of Pros and fast looking triathletes, while chowing down on a great healthy meal. 
    We then came back to rest up before heading back downtown for the Ironman Parade of Nations and to see Macca at the Profile Design tent.   

    Just being there for the Parade of Nations, getting to see Macca and seeing the expo briefly really started getting me amped up for the race.  It was a great feeling when I saw all the people lining the streets just for the parade and then I realized, this is what it will be like for the race.  AWESOME!!!!  Can't wait.
    We finished up the night at where the rest of the K-Krew is staying and celebrated our son's birthday.  Happy 4th Birthday BooBoo!!