My First Open Water Swim! [Good, Bad, and UGLY!]

Hi again gang,

Just trying to report on how I’m doing in my quest for my first Ironman race this November.

Good news: I survived my first 1 mile Open Water swim at our local lake. ( Lake Juliette, Monroe county, GA. )

Bad news: I ran / biked before I swam.

Ugly: I cramped up to hell and back.

I was fine, until I started coming out of the water, and then, I cramped up BIG time. I could hardly walk. The water temp didn’t bother me that much while I was swimming ( 59/60 degrees? ), even with my “John”/sleeveless wetsuit, but ouch… I think it was the groin area muslces or inner quads or something. When I started to walk it nearly killed me. Taking off my wetsuit was even more painful.

I went for a short swim today (in the pool) and felt OK.

I’m scheduled for a 1 mile swim tomorrow, followed by short 45min bike and 3 mile run. I’m going to take it easy, and simply try and get through the workout. I should be OK.

I would not recommend anyone doing a REVERSE tri-order and then swimming in cold water. That was a bad idea.

I hope this post will help prevent someone else going through the same thing(pain) I did.

Trae