I’ve got about 15 minutes left of autumn right now, so I figured I’d get out this report before it’s officially winter in this part of the hemisphere! Bottom line, Sunday was a really chiller with a 37.4F lake temperature that was actually quite pleasant given the 18F air temperature (and accompanying wind). However, we did get very lucky with the water conditions which, as you can see below, were very calm and rather serene with the accompanying sunshine to the east.
Since I was just getting over the flu, I decided to go with my full neoprene setup – full suit, hood, gloves, and booties. While I had done some pre-swim cold water priming in the shower an hour earlier, I was still not at 100%. So instead of suffering needlessly to assuage my ego, I quite wisely chose the extra insulation so I could stay in the lake longer and be much more comfortable.
Other than the first few horrifying moments when the icy water went down the back of my wetsuit, it was actually a very easy and comfortable swim. I did a little over 1/4 mile, and I could have stayed in longer if my shoulders hadn’t started getting fatigued. This had nothing to do with my swim conditioning. Rather, I haven’t swum with a wetsuit since last February, so I am not accustomed to the restricted upper body movements!
The sun came out in full just as I was exiting the lake, so that helped diminish (somewhat) the intensity of the post-swim afterdrop. But it was still a mad scramble to get out of the wet gear and into the dry clothes – especially since everything was literally freezing up where we stood!
