Arbour lake

Hey,

The swim went really well, I had an awsome workout. Driving out there I had doubts though, I saw on a sign that it was only 7 degrees and with the water 12 earlier on. Does this mean that the water temp will be cooler now with all the fresh rain water we've gotten??? I think if it was just me going I might have turned around, Curtis and a friend Tina were gonna meet me there. I figured worst case scenario we could drive the bike/run courses since I had written the directions hastely down.

I got to the area and couldn't find the gate, or the entrance at first. Oh well Curtis called me on the cell and helped me out there. We got to the gate and found that there were quite a few triathletes there and even saw some in the lake. It can't be that bad can it? The security person there was super nice and let us change and store our stuff right in his office. The tug awar with the wetsuit wasn't too bad and out we went. Wow the cement/path was cold and my feet were numb before we got to the water. It was still raining and the water temp was warmer then the air temp. I guess that makes it easier to get in.

The water was freeeeeeeeezing at first. The hands and feet went numb right away. In fact I made up my mind there was no way I could swim in that. I have asthma and from the past I knew that cold water does not work well for swimming. I can never relax enough to breathe while doing freestyle. Oh well they egged me on and someone else made fun of me cause I was wearing a Ironman finisher swim cap, so I tryed to swim a little. Surprisingly enough the moment I started swimming there was no gasping, no having to stop to catch my breath. I was really shocked my face was cold but I was swimming!!!

We swam straight ahead to the far end of the lake non-stop and I was easily able to breathe and stay relaxed. It was a lot of fun, lot more fun then swimming in a pool. Well we continued on to the other end of the lake, both corners. We stopped at every corner to wait up for people, Curtis was having goggle problems, but eventually got it to seal. He has contacts, plus with the cold water it kinda sucked to get water in his goggles. We did a full loop of the lake including all corners and my arms felt great, the best I've ever felt in this wetsuit.

Looking at the map later I saw that we actually swam more of the 750m loop, Susi informed me that doing the full lake would get you about 800m. Oh well I was pumped after the first lap and wanted to do more, so we swam to the far corner again, Curtis and Tina swam back while I continued to finish up the lap. So that gave me like 1600m aprox. I saw some small fish under me at one point and a dead body I wonder if I should say anything?? I think I'll go a few more times yet before the weekend, yes the water is cold but it's swimable, you just have to get used to it. Even with the asthma I can breathe, no inhaler help needed. It's so much more fun then swimming in a pool, I'd like to add it as a regular swim in the week. Won't be able to do it at Arbour after the weekend, but some other lake would be good. It's really good practice sighting, swimming in neoprene, etc. For Arbour I think I'll use the houses to sight, it's wayyyyy easier then swimming in a big lake like IMC or CDA. Cheers,

Darryl