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June 10, 2006
Unchartered Territory
Today O and I traveled about an hour north of our house to Moraine State Park. It has been a beautiful day! And the park was great. We had several goals for the morning/afternoon. O wanted to do his long run (there are some nice trails) and I wanted to (1) swim in open water, (2) try out my wetsuit and (3) practice the swim to bike transition.
When we finally figured out where on the lake I could swim, I got all geared up and then got scared. First, it was about 60 degrees and pretty windy and just standing around outside felt cold! I feared what the water would feel like, even with my wetsuit on. And I really just didn't know how to go about it. O walked down to the water with me and I walked in, walked a little further and stared up at him. It sounds strange but it was the first time I ever swam in anything other than the pool. I've been in the ocean before but just to play, not really "swim".
I decided I just needed to pick out a buoy and go and so that's what I did. The first "lap" was rough! I don't know if it was fear or the shock of how cold the water was but I felt like I couldn't breathe! I settled down eventually though. I wasn't there to swim a workout or anything, I just wanted to get used to things. So I just swam out and back to this certain buoy 5 times, each with about 1 minute rest in between to gather myself. I'm guessing each "repeat" was about 300 meters based on how long it took. Some observations:
1) Scariest thing about swimming in open water - you can't see a darned thing! You put your head in the water and see darkness. I was taking breathes every stroke at first just to see light and make sure I was indeed still going.
2) I can now understand why people wear wetsuits even when swimming in warm water. They definitely help with buoyancy. I was super glad to have mine today because that water was chilling! My suit is full body but with no arms. When I finished my first lap I looked down at my arms and they were bright red. COLD! My first tri is in South Carolina though and the race director told me that the water temp is usually around 80 degrees. Tempting to move south just for that fact... :)
3) There are gross things in lakes. I kept getting tangled up in nasty things. One time I thought for sure something was attacking me when I realized that it was the long zipper string on my suit. Opps. :)
4) I do not, under and circumstances, swim in a straight line. True, there was a current that kept pushing me to the right, but I would look up at my buoy and realize I was going WAY off course. I'm pretty much just going to add a good 200-400 yds onto any swim distance in all my tris. :)
5) I tried the whole time not to remember that in a race, not only would I have the challenge of swimming in open water, but I would also be swimming with 100s of my closest friends, thrashing and kicking all around me. I don't even want to think about what that's going to be like.
I'm really glad we went and I tried this before my first race. I might have been scared away from tris forever had my first open water swim been under pressure! Anyway, on the last repeat I practiced getting up and trying to run out of the water while taking off my cap and goggles and starting to peel off my wetsuit. It was tiring! But the wetsuit comes off a whole heck of a lot easier than it goes on. That's one thing for sure...
After the swim me and my soggy self hopped on my bike and rode off. And I instantly knew it was going to be a tough ride. The park is hilly and when I made the first turn I got smacked in the face with an awful wind that haunted me the rest of the ride. At first I was annoyed with the wind, then frustrated, then angry and finally I just started to laugh about it. I stopped trying to fight it and just rode easy. There were some monster hills that I rode up at about 7 MPH! But I survived. I hope race day for all my tris brings flat rides and calm winds. :) I just did 21 miles and finished right about when O was finishing his run. It all went smoothly. And I was humbled a little. My first tri is going to be quite an experience I think!
Posted by beth at June 10, 2006 7:20 PM
Comments
Wow, I felt like I was right there with you in that cold mirky water. What a trooper you are! It will be a lot better in the actual race if only because you will have tons of people all around you in the swim. Just look out for over-eagar triathletes trying to swim over you least you get in their way.
Posted by: Dawn at June 10, 2006 8:06 PM