Week 16 – Sunday

Paul, Ryan, Todd, Brent, and I headed up to Lucky Peak for our first swim in the lake. The water was going to be much colder than Clock Tower, so we needed to get familiar with the feeling.
It was windy and the water was choppy, but the air temperature was nice. We suited up and got into the water. It certainly was colder than the pond, but not as bad as we had feared. We gave ourselves a few minutes to adjust to the temperature and then started off from the boat ramp at Turner Gulch toward another dock to the east.
I started off fairly slow and felt relaxed at first. However, the choppy water made it difficult to get into a comfortable rhythm. There were several occasions where I’d get completely swamped by a wave and end up with a mouthful or water instead of air. Either that, or I’d make an arm stroke that didn’t find water initially. This was making for a difficult swim, and I was forced to roll onto my back and regroup before continuing on.
I finally reached the turnaround dock where the rest of the guys had been waiting for some time. I rested there for a minute before starting the return trip.
The way back was much better. I was still getting swamped by waves and boat wakes regularly, but I had adjusted to things and they weren’t as disruptive. I was able to stay with our pack this time.
Although I was pretty slow, I really enjoyed this swim and it was good to experience choppy, rough water. I figure the conditions on race day won’t be any worse than this, and perhaps could be better (aside from hundreds of other swimmers).