First open water swim

“How hard can it be swimming in a lake (and) in a wet suit?” I thought. I’ve spent the best part of 18 months getting to the point where I can front crawl the requisite 1500m comfortably, and am pleased to say that this is now the case – in a swimming pool. So, with less than 2 weeks to go before the event I made use of the local (Leeds/Bradford) triathlon club’s open water swim sessions at a sailing club lake in Otley.
My borrowed wet suit I’d already tried on a couple of times and it had seemed to fit fine. But donning it at the sailing club all of a sudden it felt small and uncomfortable. Too tight. Everyone else seemed to look the part in theirs – they all looked like triathletes – while I just felt awkward in mine. Mind you it was about 30 degrees in the shade and I was too warm stood about in it waiting for the off. My new goggles though would do the trick – ‘proper’ Tri goggles. Cool. The guy in the shop assured me they would be the best thing for open water swimming. I’d tested these in the pool a few times and they gave me much more vision than the old smaller ones.
I got chatting to a bloke who’s first time had been the week before and his one comment was that he’d had trouble breathing. Eh? As I said – how hard can this be?
A couple of safety announcements – us newbies were wearing white hats so we could be spotted – and we walked down to the water. OK then so here we go…
And… I can’t see. Anything. How do you look up to see where you are going? I try this and my breathing is all over the place. And I can’t breathe. And my suit’s too tight. And I’m getting a bit of a panic on here. Ok, on my back and calm down a bit. It’s only swimming. There’s the safety bloke in his kayak – I’ll flag him down and seek advice. “Calm down.” He says. Yeah? Cheers. Try again. Same thing – no vision at all and a real issue trying to re-organise stroke and breathing to try to be able to get my bearings. Breathing all over once again and I’m on my back .. calming down. “Get some water into your suit to take the pressure from round your chest.” He suggests. Good idea, and this does work. Amazing how warm the water is by the way. Goddammit now my fancy new goggles are leaking. Bloody things. On my back to sort these out. Breathing to both sides is no good as the sun is low and on the clubhouse side I cannot see a thing. The other side points of reference are trees and an island so I am all over the place and also not balancing right for some reason. Breathe to one side and count strokes to take my mind off everything else. Better. Ok, one (450m) lap done in a really useless stop and start fashion. Take a break. Get my shit together. Deep breaths. Right, back in and try again. Relax. Better. Breathe to the one side only and doggy paddle a couple of strokes to look up if needs be. Follow someone? No good as they disappear once they get about a foot away from you in the water. Is that a marker buoy ahead or someone’s hat? No idea. Whatever – head for it. Yuck – weeds and stuff in the water when it gets shallow – not too keen on that. It was a buoy. More water in goggles – I could fucking strangle that guy in the shop. More faffing. More disorientation. Some actual swimming. Is that another buoy ahead? I think so. The last one. Ok, two laps done and the second was better. Another? Err, no thanks - I’m out of here. And then there's getting the wet suit off - I can see that's going to be fun under competition conditions...
At least the other guys are really good to chat to and very understanding – I seem to pretty typical for a first timer, if a bit more useless than most. Lots of good advice, and I’ll be back next week for my what will be my last practice before the race. Gulp. A dock has to be better than a lake right?