.695 Leagues under the Sea

There's only a slight chop to the water.  I can see the river bottom and some small fish swim by.  It gets darker and the fish get bigger.  Then there is only darkness.  And silence.  That's when the giant octopus tentacle ensnares me and pulls me under.

At least, this is what runs through my mind.  My fear of drowning on my own has abated, especially with this fancy wetsuit which is quite buoyant.  So now I only fear being dragged under by a giant sea creature.

Giant octopi in the waters of the coast of San Diego?

Lucky Lisa, who seems to win entry into the NYC Triathlon every year via raffle ticket, suggested we swim in the harbor while out coaching in San Diego.  We weren’t sure exactly where we would do this.  The Hotel we were staying at butts up against the marina, and I know there are some great beaches to the north, but neither seemed quite ideal.  As I was returning from my awesome 12 mile run that Saturday, I spotted a guy in a wetsuit getting into the water.

“Hey, good morning!  Is this a good place to swim?  I have to do this later today…”  The friendly man explained to me that this stretch of water alongside the marina was home to the swim course of a triathlon he was training for.  He advised me to stay close to the rocks because the boats aren’t used to seeing swimmers, and told me that from the spot where we stood to the last boat on the left was exactly 1.2 miles.  How convenient.

I told Lisa about the spot and we set out immediately after our short coaching gig that day.  Brian, Casey, and Amanda tagged along for their entertainment.  It was my first time swimming in the wetsuit and my second attempt at an open water swim.  I was nervous.  It was nice to have Lisa there and doubly nice to have the support of these fine folks.

We parked the car and I proceeded to put on my wet suit.  The difficulty of getting a wetsuit on is a frequently discussed topic I’ve found.  Before I could even pull into it knee-high, Amanda and Casey noticed something was amiss. 

“It should be tight.” There was a lot of space around my calves and behind my knees.  It was weird.  “This suit is too big.  It won’t keep you warm.”  

Well, maybe I just need to finish putting it on.  As I tugged it up, I realized the zipper was in the front.

“Oh shit, ha ha ha… I put it on backwards!”

Wetsuit is on.  Now how about this cap?

After everyone had a good laugh at my expense, I peeled the suit off and put it on the right way.  The fit was much better, but still, it was too easy.  Lisa uses plastic bags to get her legs in.  I hardly struggled.  Amanda described a tug-jump move to get the legs on.  Also, not necessary.  Knowing that the suit must be the wrong size, I decided to go in anyways.  I didn’t want to miss this opportunity and wasn’t too worried about being cold.

Lisa and I walked into the water together.  “Don’t worry about me.  If you want to take off, just take off,” she said.

“I won’t!  I’m gonna be too busy worrying about me!”

A good luck hug.

I did just that- took off- and it was a much better experience than I was expecting.  What a weird sensation, being so buoyant in the water!  I swam down almost to the boat on the left and back and ended up doing about a mile in about 45 minutes.

Takeaways…

• Yeah, the buoyancy of the wetsuit is no joke.  It totally removes any drowning-based panic attacks I may have had.  But my feet kept poking out of the water and kicking air.  I definitely need to adjust.

• I suck at sighting.  That is, poking my head up to see where I am at.  It is very disruptive to my already choppy stroke.  I definitely need to practice this.

• Swimming against the current is annoying.  Best thing I can relate it to is running against the wind.  I’m glad I don’t have to worry about that on Ironman day in the Hudson.

• Brian’s video was very helpful.  The coaches videotaped some of us in the beginning of the season so we could get the benefit of seeing ourselves swim, but I was never taped.  Immediately after watching, I could see that my head poked up too much when I take breaths.  I need to work on that.  But I did appear to glide a bit, so that’s nice.

• And yes, as it turns out, I wasn’t even wearing *my* wetsuit.  Ben at the TNT office told me the order came in wrong and the suit I was wearing was meant to fit a guy his size.  He is literally twice my size. The suit he gave me was all it was built up to be.  I felt like a stuffed sausage after putting it on.

Next stop… Lake Placid!

The following weekend, the summer marathon team headed up to Lake Placid to run their events and I joined them to coach.  What a great opportunity for some open water swimming on the Ironman course in Mirror Lake!  The course is outlined with buoys and a rope under water that connects them all.  A swimmer can literally just follow this rope by sight which makes it super easy and super fast (that, and the absolutely still water).

Minutes after the swim, pre-bike ride.

What a beautiful swim.  I still don’t have a watch to swim with, but I think it was about 50 minutes.  I got differing opinions on the distance- either 1.6 miles or 1.2 miles.  I’m telling myself it was 1.2 miles, just to be on the safe side.  But if it was 1.6 miles, that would be pretty rad. No lie.

I followed this up with a 47 mile bike ride in the hills, and came back for another swim with Lisa on Monday.  I was pretty tired from the weekend’s activities (I also coached/ran 18.5 miles on Sunday), but still apparently did the course in 50ish minutes again.

I want to give a big shout out to Lisa, who helped ease me into this whole open water swimming thing.  I’ve only had mild oh-crap-something-is-gonna-snatch-me-from-the-depths scares and I think I quite like this stuff.  Being in the middle of a lake like that and having only yourself to rely on to get you back feels, well, kind of awesome.  Finding efficiency, getting into a groove, putting in a good effort- it feels great. 

I think I may have even experienced swimmer’s high.

Feeling good after our swim in San Diego.