First Open Water Swim

I did it. Lake Ontario, 60 degrees. It IS cold! Even with a wetsuit. Especially the first couple of minutes in the water. Filling the wetsuit with water was a shocking experience.

After waiting for the water to warm up in my wetsuit, I started to get used to the cold on my hands and feet. Then another shock. My face! Arg. For two minutes I get an ice cream headache. Probably my brain trying to tell me this is not such a good idea. But I ignored it and pushed to get to that first buoy.

Once I started swimming, I forgot about the cold. All that was in my mind is the openness, the fresh air, the smell of the water. Anything else than chlorine is good! And my goal, different from usual, getting to a buoy, swimming straight. How wonderful it is not to look at a line at the bottom of a pool, feeling the waves and trying to be in sync with nature. This is how swimming was meant to be.

It might sound weird, but my first experience with open water swimming was far from being scary. Just a bit cold. So I did only about 1100m, which I think is acceptable for a first time, and in 60 degrees water. I really enjoyed it, and I'm looking forward to the next group swims, I'm actually thinking about going twice a week, when my initial plan was once a week in the lake and twice in the pool.

I have to say this boosts my swimming motivation, which was extremely down lately...