So, tonight, I'm going for my first real life, actual, in fact open water swim. Sure, I swam for like 10 minutes in the ocean in Mexico and for like 5 or 10 minutes in the Hooza river, marveling that if I adjusted my stroke speed, it was like an endless pool. But I haven't really done any open water swimming.
Its time.
SBR guy is one of the organizers of this biweekly event and I have finally gathered the courage to attend. They are holding open water swim "races" every other Wednesday night at Creve Coeur Lake - I put "races" in quotations because I know I won't be "racing" this evening. I'll be happy if I'm not "drowning" by the end of it all. So, the plan is 1600 open water meters followed by an hour easy cruise on the bike. I'm nervous. No, not true, I'm actually semi-terrified. I'm semi-terrified of the following things in the following order:
1) Drowning.
2) Getting cancer or some bizarre bacterial illness from the crap in the water (they do test the water the day before each swim but it scares me anyway)
3) Being DFL in the water with people coming up to me and asking if I'm OK.
Yikes.
If any of you have any advice or positive mantras to pass on, I'd be grateful. Writing this is making me even more nervous.
As the infamous and well loved Winnie the Pooh is so fond of saying:
Oh, help.
6 comments:
I think #2 is probably the only legitimate fear in the bunch :-)
I have yet to make it to the open water yet myself. I take solace in the fact that the local swimming hole is pretty clean.
Part of that is my dislike of cold water though! I thought I would at least wait until the official start of summer before jumping in! Brrr!
"get 'er done!"
no need to thank me, i'm here to help.
sersly, this is like clipless pedals, another right of passage, as you continue your triathlon journey...
there is nothing wrong with being DFL during your first trip to open waters - in fact, it's a good idea. The experience can be overwhelming.
best advice I ever got is to go slow.
if you think you're going slow enough, go slower.
wrt "contamination" go home and take a shower after, you'll be fine.
i'm a scientist, I know stuff.
On the bright side, you don't have to worry about sharks. Don't you feel better now?
Honey, You did a great job!
I'll bet it went much better than you thought it would. There's much to be said about being really afraid and then finding out it's okay. So - was it okay?
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