First Lake Swim

[shuumai]

Originally Posted by KatieK

Great tips Naj and Westywoods! A couple more things I thought of:
1.) Practice sighting in the pool before you go out on the lake.
2.) If you get tired or anxious, float on your back; it uses less energy than treading water, plus it has a calming effect (for me, anyway)

I got in the pool for the first time in a long time today. I actually sighted naturally, though I usually had trouble when I /tried/ in the past. I felt that I had to look around for obstacles. Also, my stroke felt more automatic, until I starting /thinking/ about it. (It seems like my mind is the problem with my stroke. heh)

[shuumai]

Originally Posted by westyswoods

Wear a bright cap, use a pilot or guide when swimming in OW and water you can not stand in.

That could work out very well because I also want to take my son out on an inflatable boat. Then I could let him use the boat while I take a swim.

[sbechtel78]

Just finished my first sprint triathlon with an open water swim in the lake. Be prepared for the lake grass floating around and tangling around your hands and feet. I kept thinking that I was swimming in the wrong direction toward the shore instead of toward the buoys and then when I would site, I would see that I was on track. The lake grass never ended on the first half but on the return track there was less of it. Then when I reached the finish it was pretty bad. One time I really had to slow my stroke down to shake it off of my hand. The smell was horrific, too. I didn't notice any drastic changes in temperature and was glad that I wore a speed suit over my tri-suit because the smell didn't stick to my tri-suit. I didn't notice any snakes or fish or birds, though one of the triathletes ended up with a feather down her suit. and another emerged from the water looking like the creature from the black lagoon. I think the reason this lake was so bad is that it is a man made lake and doesn't have a fresh water source like streams and stuff. You will survive, if you get freaked out - flip on your back until you catch your breath and then go right back in to your TI stroke. That's what I did and toward the end, I felt like I could go all day and wasn't all tired out when I was done.