had to do it yesterday. surface was reasonably calm. broken sky.
air temp low 70’s. water temp at 56. just not a long yardage day but they are coming quickly.
everyone else was mowing their lawn. good feeling.
My open water swims are usually in the St.Lawrence River near Cornwall, Ontario, and the earliest I have ventured in is about May 25 - when the river is 56-60. It’s the air temperature that can put cold-water swimming into the extreme discomfort zone - when you need both sets of fingers to work the car keys due to the numbness, for example.
With Mooseman Half (NH) exactly 4 weeks away, I need to get some open-water swims in just for acclimatization. For Mooseman I plan on bringing some lard for my hands and feet (just in case), and have ordered a QR Polar Cap to replace my bedraggled Barracuda Hothead, so I think I’ll be fine. The bigger problem might be the first however-many-minutes on the bike, and I hope on race day I have the good sense to take the time in T1 to dress appropriately, as necessary.
Congrats on venturing into the non-chlorinated water; I hope to follow you soon!
i’d be thinking 56 with a current going would be a bit nastier.
you really use lard? never tried it. i’d be afraid of smearing it on my already sight challenged goggles.
Jim,
You are a mans man! I live just north of you and do a lot of open water swimming since the pool is 10 miles away and the no wake lake is a mile away. It is a spring fed lake and even into Jul it is sometimes enough to take your breath away. I especially hate it when that water first enters the suit!
I guess I will have to take the old body out and see what happens with the respiration and heart rate here shortly. Thank for another challenge!
go for it. i’m not particularly fond of colder conditions. but training through weather and terrain extremes is such a boost. when i hit them at an event, i’d rather have spent some time training under similar conditions.
I brought my wetsuit out to Half Moon Lake yesterday but I wimped out cuz the water temp was 58 deg F. I had a fun bike and run on the AA courses though.
jaretj
some would say that is not wimping out, rather a good use of grey matter. how is the trail holding up?
i’m undecided about going back over there (provided any open slots yet) or going back to Logansport, IN that weekend. i think i’ll be helping Kenny at Seahorse again so that following weekend will be the first race of the season for me. i had to back off from Triple T. several weeks of the crud in Feb and March knocked me back a bit.
Not to highjack the thread, but has anyone in the Chicago area been in the lake yet?
I suppose I need to get in the open water with a HIM coming upon May 21st in Upstate NY
jeez…for a moment i thought you were a leftover from lake macatoilet hehe
i’d have to figure the big lake has got to be high 40’s to low 50’s. that’s well beyond cold and into the brutal range.
with a half coming up in NY yet this month i’d just start jumping into any available open water to get pre-adjusted. that’s a long way to go in cold water any way you look at it.
The trail at Pinckney looks good to me, this is the first time I’ve seen it though, everything was dry and picked up. There is a fallen tree about half way through the course but I had no trouble ducking under it, it would be a problem for a taller person.
Thinking of the Seahorse again but I’m waiting to see if it is the same trail run as last year or back to the way it was 2 years ago. I didn’t care for the newer uneven trail portion.
jaretj
not sure what Kenny decided on that. with numbers increasing there was some talk last fall of going back to the original, mostly roadside,run course for the challenge. i’ll find out and let you know.
Not to jump right in but, I would love to know about the Seahorse run course myself, I cant handle a full on trail run in a tri without rolling my ankles about twenty times. If I run the Poto I have to wear ankle braces, and definetly not taking the time to put those on in T2
Yep, I went for my first open water of the season two weekends ago- San Francisco Bay, Aquatic Park (near Fort Mason). People round here do it year round (South End Rowing Crazies) but I was also pleased to see a couple of black clad tri geeks coming out as I was wading in at 6:30 a.m.
Thought I was going to go for an hour but after forty minutes, I couldn’t get a good catch because my fingers were all floppy and uncontrollable. No neoprene hood either. Forgot my BodyGlide too so got a nice wetsuit hickey on the back of my neck to explain to all my non swimming colleagues.
But, nice to taste the salty Bay again after a winter off. I think I’ll stick to the local lakes at least for a couple more weeks though.
holy smokes. 40 minutes in there takes the podium without question. what kind of temp? mid 50’s or thereabouts?
Well, I didn’t a thermo-meter so I can’t be sure but I’d guess high 50’s maybe 57 give or take? I’ll bet someone is logging the temp somewhere on line; perhaps the South End Rowing Club or maybe the USGS.
The other weird thing is I get a little seasick after a while probably due to a combination of the slight swell/surge and the ocean mixed with fuel flavor of the water. It usually gets better after I start regular swims over there but I was a bit queasy and light headed after coming out. Makes me sick just remembering it.