Wind: from N 4.4 m/sec (10 mph) | Air Temperature: -4.1 °C (25 °F) | Water Temperature: 8.03 °C (46 °)
Today at the lake it was cold and clear, with snow-covered mountains in the distance. I met R, a young man I met a couple weeks ago on the beach. I would never have made it outside if not for meeting someone. In fact, I’d already decided not to go. But I got the message from R that he was up for swimming. Grateful for that.
I arrived before he did, so I got in the water and started swimming. My new swim socks work better than my old swim socks, but I still feel a rush of cold water when I enter the lake. Now it takes longer to seep in, and the rush isn’t as shocking. I still wear the crappy Amazon sock over my new socks. In the long run, my feet were more comfortable than usual, so any improvement is good.
The water was quite cold today, but it didn’t really impact me since my wetsuit, double hood, and gloves kept me toasty warm. There were the icy trickles seeping in through the back zipper, but they didn’t bother me.
I stayed in the swim area, swimming back and forth to the cement dock. I didn’t want to be too far away when R arrived. When he did I swam into the shallow water, then got out to help him zip up his wetsuit. He was wearing a regular 3/2 wetsuit and an ill-fitting, thin hood that was too short to tuck under the neckline of his wetsuit. I zipped him up, which I was happy to do. I often need help with my zipper, too.
We got in the lake, and I went back to swimming my short there-and-backs while he acclimated to the water. Two other women arrived, one in a wetsuit and the other in just a tank top and skins on her legs. They got in and quickly swam out to the speed buoy while I did my laps.
Paying Attention
As I started to go around the cement dock I noticed something shiny on the bottom of the lake – it was a dead fish. More than a foot long. Bummer. Then I saw a sunken frisbee. Then an aluminum can.
The milfoil is brown now, and it’s starting to droop. I feel like a boss in the lake today, swimming over the milfoil forests, surveying the decay. Nothing left to scare me.
I love seeing the light sand and the little clumps of lake floor shrubbery. There are random cement blocks here and there, resting on the floor. I wonder who put them there and why.
I swam over to R, who was in the shallower water, to make sure he was ok. I was glad I’d started without him because he didn’t plan on being in the water very long, and I really needed a swim. He was ok, so I swam off to do another trip to the dock. By the I turned around he was getting out of the water, so I swam over to the beach to get out.
He scurried up to the showers to see if they worked, and came back to the beach to report that they were not working. I’m sure the city turned them off during the cold snap to prevent pipes from bursting/freezing. This was bad news because I really need to be in the warm water while I remove all the layers of neoprene.
This is The Coldest Part
R wanted to change in his car, so we walked to the parking lot. I sat on my towel and trying to remove everything as fast as possible. I tore off my hood, removed the top of my wetsuit, pulled off my hooded vest, and yanked my sswimstui down to my waist, while pulling on an alpaca wool hoodie and a fleece jacket. Then I put my insulated poncho on. I couldn’t find my hat, which sucked because it was way too cold to be without a hat for even a few seconds. I pulled my wool hood on, then my insulated poncho hood.
I had to sit on my towel on the cement to remove the wetsuit, then wrestle with my neoprene shorts. They are hard to remove. My new socks were super hard to remove because they’re tight and tall. I got them off, but I was already feeling burning frostbite on my feet and toes. I couldn’t get my feet into the boots I brought, but I had socks, and tried to get them on. One was too tight and I was only able to get it over my foot but not able to get my heel into the heel of the sock.
I threw the boots into my car, then went to pick up my wetsuit, which I had discarded on the pavement. It was frozen to the cement! Same with every single pice of gear: gloves, socks, hood, vest. All frozen to the ground. I peeled them off, hoping I wasn’t ruining the neoprene and also not caring. I wasn’t panicking, but I was really worried about my feet.
Every Second Counts
Once I got everything in the car I turned on the heat and adjusted it to go on my feet. Then I drove home quickly in my socks. I used my plastic clogs to traverse my yard, and when I got inside I went straight to the bathroom to defrost and rinse all my gear. Neoprene is flipping heavy when wet. I hate rinsing my gear in my bathroom. It’s so much easier to do at the outdoor showers at the lake.
Note to self: do not leave the house wihtout packing warm post-swim footwear and placing my super warm, windproof hat on the top of my gear so it can be the first thing I put on.
Didn’t get to swim for 30 min today, probably more like 15, but I am glad I made myself get out of bed and do it.