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| Colleen, me, Will at Lake Bartlett after he swim |
Colleen, Will and I went to Lake Bartlett for a quick swim today. The water temperature was around 64 degrees (brrrr). I wanted to see if I would be comfortable in my sleeveless or full-sleeve wet-suit. I wore my sleeveless wet-suit and swam from one bank (starting at Rattlesnake Cove) to the other bank which is about 300 meters.
As the three of us started swimming, I was cold at first. As I dipped my head in the water, it took my breath away. After a few hyperventilated breaths, I managed to start swimming at what I thought was a smooth, easy cadence. In less than 200 meters (in the middle of the water), I panicked. I stopped and started doing the breast stroke. I felt claustrophobic. I wanted to get out of the tight wet-suit, I wanted to get out of the water, I wanted to just stop and relax. I took a couple of deep breaths and removed my goggles. That helped. I was at least looking at the world without any filters. After about a minute, I put my goggles back on and finished my swim to the other bank. It was a very uncomfortable swim and all I had done was less than 300 meters.
After spending a few minutes at the other bank, Will and Colleen decided to do a longer swim around a couple of buoys while I decided to take a much straighter route back. My swim back was much more relaxed and easy. I decided to concentrate on my breath as I swam back to shore with easy, smooth, long strokes.
In the end, I ended up doing only around a third of a mile at a relative brisk pace. Wet-suits help with speed; they are buoyant and help in keeping the body horizontal to reduce drag. However, overall it was an awful swim. I couldn’t to handle the cold. How will I handle thousands of other swimmers swimming around me? How will I handle swimming 2.4 miles in open water? Yes, I am officially scared of the swim.
In the evening, I went for a short 30+ minute run around DC Ranch. I wanted to concentrate on my breathing to take my mid off the awful swim this morning.