At 7:00am on Thanksgiving morning, three intrepid Lake Monsters braved the elements for our inaugural “Thanksgiving Challenge” out-and-back cold water miler. Mother Nature gave us a beautiful morning along with perfectly calm swim conditions out at Ladder #1. The official water temperature came in at a steady 36F, so the three of us suited up right away and plunged into chilly Lake Michigan as if it was the most normal thing in the world to do.
This swim had far fewer complications because we did a much better job of managing the “front end” of the cold water exposure. The hot water in the diving gloves proved to be quite effective in preventing frozen, painful fingers as well as “thawing out” both our hands and feet after the swim. In fact, a good idea for future such swims might be to have someone stationed at Oak Street Beach with a thermos of the stuff to serve as our “pit stop” at the halfway point (a free Lake Monster t-shirt to any volunteer…).
Since I’d had some trouble with my core cooling down rather quickly during last Sunday’s swim, I opted to wear a slightly larger 3mm wetsuit over my Ironman Instinct. This proved to be a very wise choice for managing the extreme temperatures, but it also significantly compromised my swim range of motion. As such, I had a much more intense shoulder workout due to the extra resistance that accompanied each swim stroke. It was rather like using cable resistance machines at the gym – only in 36F water.
All three of us completed the out-and-back without any difficulties, and we hung out at Ladder #1 for a while and celebrated both the accomplishment as well as the holiday. A little while later, Dave and I walked down to Oak Street Beach where several of the Chicago lifeguards were carrying out their traditional Thanksgiving day “polar plunge.” Now THAT looked cold…!
Thanksgiving skyline
Dave post-swim
Chris and I post-swim
Hey Steve, you missed a perfect swim day today!
The air temp was near 26 degrees, and the water was still at a balmy 36 degrees with a mirror flat
finish. Dave and I both completed the full mile,
although at ladder#13 I told dave i was going to exit the fingers on my left hand were extremely
cold. Due to an equipment malfunction, I hurried
entering the water and did not cinch down the
wrist strap tight enough. By the time i got near the ladder dave had quite a substantial lead on
me so I decided to stay the course thinking he’d
be waiting with a thermos of hot water by the time i finished. Well i was wrong when i got back to ladder#1, the only ones there were two of the
ochoa’s Family’s Daughters. I quikly made it to
the parking lot where dave was already in his
recovery vehicle, he informed me that he used
up his hot water. I then went to my vehicle fumbled to get the key in to open the door,
grabbed my trusty thermos and filled both gloves
Ahhhhhhh!!!!!!!!!!. Ten minutes later hands were
back to normal.
Also will not be able to make sunday mourning
swim due to annual christmas tree hunt hope bag
me a trophy one this year maybe a couple hundred point one. Wish me luck see you next
weekend.