2/19/11 Tri Training: Open Water Swim



Today was our open water swim in Redwood Shores. When I woke up this morning there was snow on the hills that can be seen from our house. I knew it was going to be cold... When I got to Redwood City, it was already feeling very chilly and we weren't in the water yet. After a mini transition clinic, we got our wetsuits on and got into the water.   



Allesen, Kai & I... smiles, pre-swim



Brrrrr..... OMG and probably some other expletives that I won't say! Okay, I'm not good with being cold so just getting in was a huge achievement for me.

The first thing we were told was to allow the water to get into our wetsuits in order for our body heat to heat the water to provide additional insulation for us. As cold as the water was, allowing water in was not comfortable but I have to say, I understand what that all means. I could not get calm from being so cold. All I kept hearing was, "don't worry, eventually your hands and feet will go numb." Seriously, that's insane!! My hands and feet never went numb, they just hurt.



Proof that I was actually in the water

I've trained now for almost 3 months so swimming shouldn't be a problem, right?? Wrong! I put my face in the water and I could not get my breath together to swim. I felt like I was breathing so hard and I hadn't even taken 10 strokes. So onto my back again... I hadn't been on my trusty backfloat position all season and here I am in open water and on my back. It was pretty frustrating which made for a discouraging day. I even had a few moments of feeling the need to throw up. Imagine, the taste of salt water, nasty smelling salt water and the fact that the water is not clear. Nothing about today's swim got better. I went back and forth the short distance twice but nothing to write home about. We were probably in the water for about an hour. As soon as we could, I got out.

It was so difficult to pull the wetsuit off with frostbite fingers. Fortunately because of a suggestion by one of the mentors, I had some warm water to pour on me. It helped for a moment but it took all day to thaw out and bring my body temperature back to normal. This was by far one of the top things of what not to do in the middle of winter.

Our next open water swim is scheduled for March 6th. I decided to try this again since I had a terrible experience. It's probably still crazy since what makes me think the water temperature will be any different in a few weeks??

We were told the water temperature in Hawaii today was 82 degrees. :o)

Aloha,
L