First Open Water Swim of 2008

I figured with less than a week before my 1st Triathlon with an open water swim (5430 Sprint), that I'd actually go out and do at least one open water training session at Union Res, about 10 minutes from my house. Makes sense right? In addition to my first open water swim of the season, it's also my first swim in my new AquaMan wetsuit!

When I got there, it looked like everyone had a similar idea, because there were 30+ people ready to go swimming, typically there's 5 or 6. Normally I'm very comfortable in the water, no problems, but something about being trapped in neoprene leads to hysteria, usually at the farthest point from shore. I think it's just a matter of acclimation, it's just not a normal feeling. At this point, I can't imagine spending more than 15 minutes swimming in the suit and I even started to contemplate not wearing one for the next race, which is 1500 meters. I'll keep practicing, would hate to not wear the wetsuit, I think I just need to get used to it.

I did four laps of the 400 yard course and it felt very good, very comfortable, averaging about 6:30 per lap, which should translate to a 14/15 minute swim this week at the 5430 Sprint. The big difference I noticed for the first swim of the year is how straight I swam. Last year I was all over the course, left, right, way right. This year I noticed that when I maintained a steady kick, I seemed to stay on course. When I got lazy and stopped kicking, off the to the right I went. I'll think of my feet as my rudder until I otherwise disprove that theory and keep kicking. Another challenge is sighing the bouys. I wear glasses and although I'm not blind, I have a hard time picking up the bouys sometimes. I found today that I almost have to stop, sight in on the bouy and repeat as necessary to stay on course. I'm sure that sighting method won't endear me to those swimming behind me, but I've got to do what I've got to do right?

This is one of my favorite videos. I've only done one mass open water swim start and I escaped without a scratch, but everyone has been telling me how aggressive Boulder area swimmers are, so we'll see. My training swim last night didn't get to this level, but maybe next week?