Sunday, April 25, 2010

Zero mileage weekend

We were in Henderson, NV and I took the weekend off. One of the purposes of the trip was to get Andi out to Lake Mead to get in an open water swim and try on her wet suit again for her upcoming triathlon. She went out on Saturday morning with some friends that are also competing in their first triathlon at Iron Girl. They did a 600m swim which didn't go quite as well as hoped. She had some trouble getting used to the restriction of the wet suit and consequently had some trouble breathing and did not feel comfortable in the water. After the swim they got in a good bike ride that she felt better about.

She got out Sunday for another attempt at the Lake. I decided to go with even though I had only brought board shorts for swimming. I borrowed a swim cap and goggles from Ron and set off behind the girls for their 1000m swim. The temperature was 58 degrees in the water according to the internet. It actually felt really nice because the temperature outside was in the mid to high 70s. I had to stop every 3-4 minutes to breaststroke or float on my back to control my breathing but when I stopped I started to get cold quickly and hand to get swimming again. After about 20-25 minutes I could tell I was getting too cold to continue and cut back early. I figure I swam just short of 800m. I got out of the lake and could not stop shivering. I eventually laid down on a towel on the asphalt and they covered me in the rest of the towels until I started to warm up. It took a good 30 minutes to stop shaking, but it was a lot of fun!

The good new was that Andi and the other girls all had a great swim. Andi had no issues controlling her breathing and felt much better in the wet suit. It was a good confidence booster for them all!

3 comments:

Chuck said...

Great job Andi! I am looking forward to hearing all about your first triathlon.

Karl....There are not many people that would call swimmimg 800 meters in 58 degree water fun. But then, there are not many people that can run a 2:57 marathon or 50 miles on a trail in under 9 hours.

Dale Lister said...

good for Andi..... Karl, you have an odd definition of fun!

Anonymous said...

Dale, that was my first thought when I read Karl's entry as well. He didn't say anything about the 30 min. after the swim when he got home. Only that he got cold...