Second OWS in the Lake

Swim Across America Team Lake Spivey teammate Stephanie and I swam in the lake on Saturday. We had everything we needed to conquer the cold. We had full wetsuits (Stephanie's first swim in her new Orca wetsuit), swim caps (a neoprene Blue-Seventy Skull cap for me and doubled-up latex caps for Stephanie), goggles, and noodles, of course.
 

Me and Stephanie before our swim

Susan followed us in the kayak carrying our noodles. We swam east toward the dam.

Almost half-way

 We used the noodles to take a break with before heading back to the dock.

Break-time

I was surprised that after we got started I wasn't as cold as I had been only a few days before during my first OWS of the season. I'm sure the neoprene cap had something to do with that. It was well worth the expense. The cap was comfortable to wear too. It did reduce my hearing to also nothing though. That's something to keep in mind on a lake where powerboats operate. I never heard the drone of any engines as the boats powered by us.  Stephanie said she wasn't cold either after we started swimming.

We swam about 1.5-miles.  Next time we'll go for 2-miles.  Kudos to Stephanie. She has really gotten faster since last year.

Thanks for reading.

First OWS of 2014 in Lake Spivey

Today was my first Open Water Swim of 2014 as I start my training for the Swim Across America on May 4th.  The water temperature is about 10-degrees warmer than it was less than two weeks ago.  I measured 65.5 degrees in the cove where I started my swim.  I think that was a warm spot.

I realized how cold the water was after I jumped off of the dock.  It was so cold that I thought I was Leonardo Dicaprio in the movie Titanic.  The part of the movie when he and Kate Winslet are clinging to a door in the north Atlantic.  I was clinging to my wife's kayak for dear life.  As the water leaked into my wetsuit from every possible crack and crevice I had second thoughts about continuing.   After about two minutes I regained my composure and headed out.  

I set my sights on something easily attainable for my first swim of the year.

I swam a total of one mile - one half of a mile out and one half of a mile back.  I never did get warm but the water did get tolerable and my hands and feet didn't get numb.

Thanks for reading.