Open Water Swimming

Today was the big day --- my first open water swim. Like all things, instead of easing into the distance I dove right into a 1 mile swim. Yowzers!

The Reston Area Triathlon Club (aka "The RATS") sponsored the region's annual 1 and 2-mile distance swims in Reston.

Just over 200 athletes showed up to hear the words of wisdom and frankly to also get a preview of the course.

Today was the swim clinic and practice swim. I am so freakin' happy that I paid to attend the practice before tomorrow's race. We received lots of valuable, practical information from veteran distance swimmers and we able to ask a ton of questions. As always, I'm super impressed by hearing the stories of those who've gone the distance --- one guy has done the Chesapeake Bay bridge swim twelve times, another swam Alcatraz and one guy even did a swim marathon --- that's 26.2 freakin' miles in the water. Impressive!

Before we had time to worry about how to integrate all this information into our own swim we were putting on our wet suits and lining up into our waves. As we moved forward to the starting line an official checked our names off the list and checked the numbers on our swim caps. Later as you exit the water you give the race officials your swim cap and they check you off the list.

In short order, we were walking down the boat ramp and were off and swimming.  Since I wasn't sure of my speed I ended up seeding myself somewhat further back. Oh well. Live and learn.

First off, swimming in a sleeved wet suit is weird. You are super buoyant, but the range of motion feels odd. I wonder what it would feel like to go sleeveless.  I did liberally use Glide and didn't have any rub issues on the swim.

Second, the first quarter mile was hard, I'm not gonna lie. There was this longer than expected dog-leg part of the course that seemed much longer than I expected.  You're also getting used to the wet suit, swimming with people, trying to swim straight and sighting the buoys properly. We were warned that the first 200 meters was going to be tough as your body got used to the swim. 

You're also a little hot in this sausage suit.  During the first quarter mile, I ended up pulling at the neck area and let some of the water into my suit.  That definitely helped.  I learned after the swim that dumping some water into your suit before you zip it up will make the suit fit better overall.  Live and learn.  Definitely a good lesson learned.

I finally got things going and was off and swimming. I was surprised how much further the distance was than I thought it would be.

I think I learned a few important points:

* I need to sight better and not get caught up following folks vs really looking where I am going. You can easily start following a clueless fellow swimmer.

* I need to keep kicking.  I have a tendency to pull harder than I kick.  What a waste.  KICK BABY KICK.

* and finally...take a couple deep breathes before jumping in, don't panic and just have fun!