Thursday, May 15, 2008

Who knew the water would be so cold

So yesterday was my first open water swim of the year. And possibly my least, at least for a while.

I headed down to the local watering hole (lake, not bar), shimmy into my wetsuit, noticing of course it's just a tad snugger than last year, and get ready to swim. I managed to coerce a fellow triathlete and coworker of mine to brave the cold spring waters, and slightly more intelligent friend to paddle along side. I'm feeling relatively optimistic about the swim as it will be good to be in open water again, and really, the water couldn't possibly be
that cold.

As I trudge into the water I'm feeling ok, however my partner in crime is only wearing a shorty wetsuit and seems to be beginning to hate me for talking her into this. Eventually we both managed to get neck deep in the water, and that's when it got really painful. It was like someone had frozen my lungs shut. But to have gotten all dressed up for the occasion and come this far would be such a shame, so on we went.

Our goal was a there and back, which i probably a little over 1/4mile roundtrip. Short, sweet, and dang cold. To swim with our heads up a la doggy paddle was frustratingly slow and awkward. To put our faces in the water and attempt to freestyle was like sumberging your head in a bucket of ice water. Repeatedly.

That one lap was enough to make a girl give up open water swimming all together.

No future plans have been made to open water swim.

No comments: