Change in attidude

It's amazing how I can go from "it looks cold I'm going to be miserable" to "I could swim forever" in the period of half a mile.

Swim in the rain, eh?

I went down to Magnusun for a Sunday morning swim. It was raining lightly, so I left all my dry stuff (towel) in the car. Slipped into the wetsuit and headed down to the beach. As I was finishing getting dressed, a man asked me how cold the water was.

I said, "I think about 55, I didn't check today but last week the bouy reading was about 13, which is around 55."
Man: In the winter it gets down to about 45, doesn't it?
Me: Yeah, I think the coldest is about 8 or 9, so around that.
Man: What are you, Canadian?
Me: Well, dual, actually, but the bouy reports in Centigrade, hence my thinking about the temps in C.
Man: I knew I'd get it out of you!

I walked off to swim.

Did my half mile out and back. I'm out of swim shape. And the water is still cold on my face. Most of the "out" was warm up. But for the "back it was easy to put my face in the water and just swim.

I did notice that the current in the lake was going the wrong way.  I swim north of the ship canal, which is wear the lake drains to Puget Sound. So usually the current is from the north to the south.  Today it was from the south.  This also made the "back" portion of my swim "upstream" and therefore a little tougher.  Not sure if it was the wind's direction or if one of the in-put streams was causing the current.

When I got back to the beach there was a 5-year-old birthday party going on. They were flying kites-- in the rain. I took off my wetsuit and showered off in the outdoor shower.  One kid was staring at me while I was showering.  I could tell her mom was uncomfortable with how hard she was staring. So I spoke to her, telling her about the wetsuit and how it keeps me warm in cold water.  She just kept staring.  I wonder why I was so interesting to her.

Another mom asked me what triathlon I was training for.  I said just swimming. She seemed disappointed.

And she's back....

Got back in the water for the first time today.  Did about a half mile "shake down" swim.  Everything still seems to work (mostly my body, the gear is all fine too), and once I was warmed up, it wasn't too bad.  Air temp was 80. Water about 55.

So what happened to the winter swimming??  Mostly, life got in the way.  I missed a few weeks in a row while my husband moved in with me.  And during that time the lake temperature dropped significantly. Suddenly it seemed too cold. I'm sure if I'd kept things up those weeks I would have been fine, but with the time off, I couldn't face the cold.  May try it again next winter.  In the mean time.... it is time to swim through summer.