Open Water Swim

I could not wait for this past weekend. The team was going to do our first open water swim and that meant I could use my new friend the wetsuit again. I got to the lake and wiggled in to the wetsuit. It’s tight but I think it fits me just right. I saw a girl on the team who had a suit that was just too big and that’s going to make it hard on her to swim. I hope they get it swapped out for her before the race. It took a while for the entire team to get in to the suits and get down to the waters edge to start this swim. I knew the water would be cold but I was shocked when a stepped in the lake. It was so cold and I just wanted to get out and go run or better yet go home. After a few seconds I could no longer feel my feet and I had not even gotten in past my knees.

The goal of today was not a long swim but to just get us used to open water (not being able to follow a lane line or bump in to a wall). They had a few people in canoes and kayaks out helping as we made our way deeper in to the lake. I put my head down and started to swim and immediately rose back up. My face was tingling and I was having a hard time catching my breath. I looked around and could see that everyone was having the same problems. People that I have seen swim a long way with little effort in the pool were struggling after 10 yards. My goggles fogged up right away and I could no longer see anything, below or above the water. I cleared the goggles and tried to calm down. I spotted the first swim buoy and started swimming. I could only get a few strokes between breaths and never seemed to get in good rhythm but I kept going until I finished. I stumbled out of the water a little dizzy and back on to shore. We then made our way up to the parking lot and changed in to some running clothes. It felt good to be dry and warm.

I went for a 4 mile run that felt great. Running with a group is much better then running alone. I can go much further and faster with a group then by myself. If I can latch on to someone in the race that bikes and runs a little faster then me I think I will finish much stronger.