Cold Water Swim Logs 3.11 - 3.14

Swim 3.11
Date: May 11, 2025
Time in water: 1:10:31
Water Temp: 57°F
Air Temp: high 50s
Where: AM/PM Beach, Lake Whatcom
Neoprene: Sleeve-less wetsuit

Twice around the island, with a bit of wind! Felt pretty good, just a touch of pain in my bicep. This is my longest time in water so far this year, and it will be my longest before Whidbey. I'm very happy I did this swim and felt fine afterwards, because I've been really waffling on if I think I can manage 2.4 miles. This swim was 1.8 miles...certainly still quite short, but not too far off, and the temperature is about what it will be on "race" day. More on this later.

Swim 3.12
Date: May 24, 2025
Time in water: 45:09
Water Temp: 59°F
Air Temp: high 50s
Where: Silver Beach, Lake Whatcom
Neoprene: Sleeve-less wetsuit

Notice something? Oh yes, the nearly 2 week break with absolutely zero swimming! yeah... I had to go to Cleveland for a family thing, and then New York for a work thing. I brought my swim stuff with me, as my parents live 5 minutes from a pool. But lap swim ends Before 9am and I never really quite made it to eastern time. I think there were possibly lanes available later in the day, but it was a heavy trip, and I did not really want to stress myself out about it. I do wish I would have checked it out, for no other reason to have seen it, but oh well. This swim went ok, but I am really feeling a lot of tightness in my lats.

Swim 3.13
Date: May 25, 2025
Time in water: 54:30
Water Temp: 57°F
Air Temp: mid 50s, very windy! Where: AM/PM Beach, Lake Whatcom
Neoprene: Sleeve-less wetsuit

VERY choppy, VERY washing machine on the south side of the island. I would have liked to have the time to go around twice, but it was Ski to Sea day, so I had to get back.

Swim 3.14
Date: May 30, 2025
Time in water: 44:20
Water Temp: 63°F
Air Temp: mid 50s, still as can be Where: Silver Beach, Lake Whatcom
Neoprene: Sleeve-less wetsuit

Woah the water got warm in the hurry! I took off my wetsuit in the water at the end and yeah, I really did not need to be wearing it. Since the Whidbey swim is THIS sunday, this will be my last training swim with it on. Thank god, I am SO over it. Once again, my lats were feeling tight, and my forearms and hands felt cold--I think that has more to do with the air temps then the water. It has the effect of making it hard to feel the water. I don't know, I just was not feeling smooth at all for this swim. By the end of it, I had decided I would definitely swim the shorter distance at Whidbey.

And then, not long ago, we got another email from the race director, and the water is warmer than in their last update. 54-60 degrees. My longest swims have been at 57, so it's really right in line. But in terms of whether or not I should do the distance, I haven't been training that hard, really. I haven't even been in salt water yet this year, despite it being a 15 minute drive away. This event is just a date on the calendar to ensure that I've been swimming with some regularity ahead of Catalina, and I've acheived that goal. I think if I had not been out of town for 10 days, that would have been time to get in a longish swim in salt water, but that trip was really a pile of stress.

Mostly I've been concerned about the water temps; I feel like I'm just not adapting to the temperature at all, and I will place at least some blame on the wetsuit. This is the first time I've ever regularly worn one for training, and I feel like having half of me warm and half of me cold is just weird and not really working for me. I don't like using my sleeved one, since then I really can't feel the water, but the sleeveless has its own quirks. I wish I were not so stressed out about this event, every single swim I ask myself if I should go long or short. It is really starting to make swimming not enjoyable.

I want to push myself, I want to do events like this. So what would make me feel excited to train and less focused on what makes me nervous? I think having an actual plan that would make me feel prepared would be a great start! Imagine that! I just want to have FUN--that's why I DO this! I think I really need to focus on that. Also, swimming alone during the week has been kind of ho-hum, I need to change it up a bit.

After Whidbey, I'll regroup and figure out what, exactly, would make me feel excited, prepared, and relaxed about Catalina, rather then just worried.