"Watch out for lake rats"

My first open water swim didn't go so well last night. It began when we arrived at Cedar Lake, and Jihone pushed me into a patch of algae, yelling "Get started!" Things only got worse once I started walking to the edge of the swimming area and felt unknown substances and possibly lake creatures underneath my toes. I'm not going to say that I was scared, but I will say that I had a mild panic attack when I put my face in the water and realized I couldn't see anything, even when using my goggles.

Once I had actually calmed down enough to contemplate swimming, more disasters ensued. My stroke broke down completely. I'm used to swimming four strokes, then turning to breathe. In the pool this isn't a problem because I can see through the water at all times. But in the lake, I found myself swimming in complete green darkness for four strokes until I finally took a breath and sighted.

After a brief coaching session, Jihone and I agreed that I needed to take a breath more frequently in order to see where I was going. Once I started taking a breath every other stroke, things got a little better, and by the end my confidence was back up again. If nothing else, now I know I need to do a lot more open water swimming before August 22nd. 26 days until race day!

Tricks for not appearing lazy whilst swimming...

I went swimming today at the Y, and I think I swam about half a mile. I didn't keep an exact count of my laps, but I know I swam at least 16 laps, and the lifeguard confirmed that a half mile was 18 laps. So I was somewhere around there.

Now I'm home, freshly showered, and exhausted. Swimming is something that I really enjoy, but it is an activity that is energy draining. I swam 10 laps freestyle without stopping, and then I did a little trick I like to call the goggle check.

The goggle check is a way to catch your breath in between laps without looking lazy. Instead of stopping at the end of my lap and just hanging out by the edge of the pool. I take off my goggles and attempt to "adjust" them. Sometimes I even take it a step further and pretend like they leaked mid-lap, and I really need to fix them before I begin again. Ha! My goggles don't leak. They are made by TYR, cost $15, and I purchased them at Midwest Mountaineering. Believe me, they are top notch.

And yet, I continue this charade in my attempts to fool anyone who may be observing that I need anything but a break. After a well timed goggle check, I finished up with some more laps consisting of backstroke and breaststroke before heading out. I felt a lot better swimming this time around, and hope my comfortableness level continues to increase.