Swimming in the lake

So on Thursday I'm going to swim in the lake, I want to get in the pool the day before so I can get my strength up for a long swim. With the house renovations on the only way I can get a swim is to get in the pool for 06.30. This proves very hard as I finished decorating late on Tuesday night but with determination I get out of bed at 05:45 and manage to be in the pool for half six. I have a great swim in the pool and manage to do 74 lengths (1850m).

On Thursday I get myself all ready. I make sure I have some good carb foods before I go and Marie and the boys come along with me. I feel a bit nervous as the weather is pretty grim but the website tells me the water is 14 degrees. Sounds cold.

When I arrive it's very busy, and the lake looks cold. I decide to go and register and sign the waiver form. I have to buy a swim hat and the swim costs me £5. I can swim as many times round the lake as I want..

Getting in the wetsuit wasn't too bad and as I walked out Darran arrived. I walked down to the lake and checked it out. There were four large floating buoys which marked out a 750m course. After speaking with the lady at the side she told me about the safety side and said the water was lovely.

I jumped in and instantly got that out of breath feeling. Darran was wearing neoprene gloves and socks which help loads. He pushed off so I followed.. I really struggled for about 50 metres as the cold was making my breathing shallow. I swallowed some water and really had a bad time.. I soon got used to the cold and managed to get a good stroke going. Darran was by my side. The next obstacle was "direction". I'm used to seeing a nice blue line four feet down. Not the case in the murky dark lake water. I was swimming for about 3 mins and realised I had gone well off course. In fact this was the case for the whole 750m swim.
When I finished I got out and had recorded a time of 14 mins. Very happy with that considering my start. Darran was about 4 mins behin me. It's not his best event but he more than makes up for it on the bike..


After a quick chat with Darran I decided I would go again. I was ready for the cold this time and pushed off. On this swim the cold hit my head. It was really bad. I was considering stopping but I pushed on and again after a few mins I got used to it.. I was thinking in my head what the hell am I doing... A year ago I would of been drinking beers or playing computer games in my spare time..

I finished the last 750m in about 19 mins. Again not too bad and this time I got the hang of navigation. 6-8 strokes and then look up and adjust your direction if need be. I really enjoyed my first go in the lake. It was cold but it's only 3 weeks into the start of the season. I will try and get up there every couple of weeks and am aiming to do all three events as soon as I'm up to running 5k again.