Monday, March 2, 2009

Ready for the open water - not yet.

One who bathes willingly with cold water doesn't feel the cold. - Tanzania Proverb
I did an easy swim this morning. Warm up then 1000 yards in 15:56 - the same time as last week. I have been working on form all this past month with my swim class. I am really going to increase the volume during March - my 1/2 ironman is just a month away. I have to get in the water with the wetsuit. I have never swum in it! I have heard some horror stories about being claustrophobic and panic attacks and such - I do not want that to be me.

Funny thing, I bought an aquarium thermometer the other day so that I could see how cold the lakes are right now. I tied a string to it and found a bobber (it was actually a rusty small propane tank – the individual sized ones). I tied the bobber about a foot up from the thermometer and threw it out in the lake. I guess I either threw it too hard or the string was not long enough because the string broke. There was my thermometer and bobber floating in the lake about 20 feet out. I was not planning on it but I pushed the kayak in the lake to fish out this apparatus. Long story short, the lake is 57 degrees. A little cold to say the least. On top of everything else – I ended up breaking the thermometer.

1 comments:

Missy said...

OUCH, yeah, unless you're training for a cold water swim 57 could hurt ya! I DO hate a wetsuit. I just don't have the freedom of movement but I also had a base level suit. Now, I got nothin!