i got up early this morning around 6 and had a banana and drank some water mixed with Base Performance Amino blend. then i limbered up a little and put on my wetsuit. the lake is about 5 minutes from my house and it has a beach entry and no boat dock. therefore it is calm and quiet and so far no boaters play in the area...especially at 7 am.
so anyway i get to the lake walk down to the water as their is a couple of folks setting up for what looks like a big group picnic or something. i love the looks i get when walking towards the water with half my wetsuit on. its like they are trying to figure out if i'm gonna swim or scooba dive haha.
anyway i drop my bag and wade in to about thigh deep and finish putting my suit on. on with the goggles and cap and off i go for a warm up swim...
now what i haven't told you yet is i'm afraid of water i can't see in!! so the minute i put my face into lake water its a battle of wills in my mind. i have to literally tell my body to relax, tell my breathing to stay controlled, and tell myself to stay calm. i can panic if i don't. so anyway i swim out about 50 or 75 yards and then head back in. my shoulders feel tight from softball the night before and my back is a little sore as well. i make it back in stretch up a little and then stand there about chest deep and think about my workout
my plan was to swim for 30 minutes straight...now in a pool this isn't too terribly difficult. yes it's a long time but you get a mini break each time you turn around at the wall. in a lake it's non stop. today the water was nearly smooth as glass. so i drop underwater and push off. i swam about 75-100 yards out then turned right. i stay in a cove that seems to be about 500-800 ft wide. it is C shaped with big trees at each tip. i use the big trees to mark the line i want to swim on. since obviously in the lake there is no black line like there is in a pool. so you have to spot up ahead where you need to go, then swim blind for a while and spot again to make sure you are on course.
the first few minutes were tense...i typically get freaked out if i let my mind wander. i've seen to many horror movies so i picture things coming from underneath me as i'm looking down into the darkness. the first time i swam in the lake i about near hyperventilated, mostly cause the water was cold and very rough...it was the weekend after the flood so the water was really high.
so anyway i had about 4 or 5 moments where i had to calm myself mentally. twice i thought i heard something behind me...yes i know that's crazy...like a bass is sneaking up on me or something. it was just the noise my arms were making in the water. once i ran into a twig or something. and once or twice i thought about what would happen if i cramped up...nobody would be able to get to me and i would more than likely drown if the cramp was bad enough.
so 10 minutes in and i've gone down and back between the two points a few times now and i notice i'm about 300 yds from shore!! i had been drifting out all along haha. i also take inventory of my limbs. my shoulders are really aching and my back is killing me. i have a pinched nerve in my low back and the wetsuit makes my legs float higher than normal and pinches the nerve. so i decide to go back to the other end turn around and then at the halfway mark turn back to shore. when i made the turn to shore i picked the pace up a little. everytime i spotted though it looked like i hadn't gone anywhere. it seemed like the swim back in took forever.
i made it to shore with a total time of 18 minutes and some change. probably could have stayed out their for 30 but with my soreness and the fact that i was alone, i would rather be safe than sorry. when i'm not fighting the open water demons i really do enjoy my lake swims. my next race is in July in the Cumberland river right next to LP Field. should be fun and probably will freak me out since i'll be in the water with a ton of other swimmers getting kicked and elbowed haha. either way i'll have my game face on and will be ready to go. probably gonna hit the lake again in the morning and start back running and biking on monday!! hoorah!!
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