My next event is Ironman 70.3 Boise on June 13th, and the swim is in reservoir with cold, cold water – 60 degrees is expected on race day. I’m a cold water weenie so I’m really quite apprehensive about the swim. I need a lot of cold water swimming to acclimate, so last Sunday morning I went to Lake Sammamish State Park for my planned 1500 yard swim.
Theresa and Danny our Corgi came along to keep me company and enjoy the sunny morning. I put wearing my wetsuit, two swim caps, and silicone putty ear plugs to keep the water out. Conventional wisdom says keeping cold water out of your ears will help avoid dizziness coming out of the swim – something I’ve had a problem with in the past.
I waded in, and found the water surprisingly comfortable – maybe 65, maybe 68. I had no problems at all swimming in that temperature. None of the gasping-for-air, my-god-this-is-cold reaction.
In the picture you can see course I took – swimming inside the buoy line is about 225 yards (so says Google Maps’ distance finding tool). I counted strokes and estimated it at 250, so I was close. Six laps of that was easy.
So if that lake in Boise is anything close in temperature, I don’t expect any problems.
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