Following the Sand Ridges

Jan 25, 2024

Wind: from S 2.5 m/sec (6 mph). Air Temperature:10.4 °C (51 °F). Water Temperature:7.67 °C (46 °F)

Today at the lake it was much warmer outside, but the water was still cold. It’d been nine days since my last swim, and I was desperate to get in the water. 

I went to the night beach with J, who planned to do a land workout while I swam. 

There are cement steps that lead from the main walkway to the beach, so they are great for a leg workout. There are also two benches, so J was able to make up her own bodyweight workout. 

So much warmer tonight, and it makes all the difference. I took my time getting all my gear on. Didn’t wear the neoprene shorts tonight because I don’t like wearing them. It makes me too warm, and I don’t like the buik. I also don’t like the cold blast that seeps into the wetsuit from the stretchy gusset. But it usually goes away fairly quickly. 

The water was more active than last time, but it was still totally manageable. Ripples, not waves.  I prefer it when the water is flat because it’s easier to swim,  but it wasn’t choppy so I was fine.

I walked out into water about chest deep, then dove in to start my stroke. The cold burn grabbed my forehead. I tried to ignore it, but after a few seconds I had to pull up. It took me more than five pull-ups to be able to leave my face in the water and just swim. 

Other than my face, I felt warm enough. My head was completely warm, my hands felt fine, and my body was warm. I didn’t even get a cold trickle through my zipper tonight. Yea. 

The light from my buoy was strong enough to light up the water beneath me, so as I swam I got to follow the grooves in the sand with my eyes. I wanted to swim to the apartment building and back three times because I only managed to do it twice last time. I wasn’t sure if my fatigue was gonna to stop me this time. 

I tried to set a reasonable pace for myself, then I focused on my breath, coordinating my movement so I could get into a groove and maintain my form and pace. It worked pretty well despite the fact that my head was kind of busy. 

Usually I am more spaced out and empty when I swim, but this week’s baggage was not really leaving my head. Most of me was focussed on not swimming too hard and having to quit before I reached my goal. Part of my head trying to remember things so I could sort them into “to do” files in my brain. 

It helped to focus on the wavy lines in the sand. A few times I got off track, swimming into really shallow water. I just stood up, turned around, and starting again. There’s a bit of a ridge on part of the lake floor. I can stand up in the water, then suddenly, the floor drops off into a steep hill. So I was trying to swim along that edge, not going too deep and not drifting into shallow water. I did a pretty good job. 

For me there has to be a goal. I want to know where I’m going to swim or how long I’m going to stay in the water. I can’t be casual about it. It’s not like I set a timer tonight to let me know when I’d been in for 20 min, then for 30, but I do need a route, have a purpose. When I finish I like to know what I’ve done. I never look at my stats, but I try to remember to time my swims, my walks, and anything else that counts as exercise. Tonight I screwed up, and the app didn’t record my red squiggle or time. Still, I know I was in the water at least 25 min because it took my 25 minutes to swim to the apartment building and back twice last time we came. 

Maybe I swam 40 minutes today. 

With temps in the 40’s F, it’s not as brutal removing all the wet neoprene and putting on warm wool and fleece. Still cold and a bit unpleasant, but nothing like changing when it’s 20 F.

I took my time changing since J was there and we were safe. It’s so nice to get out of the water and have a swim buddy to talk to, even if the swim buddy didn’t swim. I can’t find my shearling-lined slip-on shoes, so that is a problem. But I was able to find a pair of socks and put them on during the car ride home.

Now I am home, warm and hungry. I’m so glad I got to swim. Maybe I should look into finding a pool close by so I can swim more often. But I really can’t imagine liking it anywhere near as much as the lake. 

No ducks tonight. I’ll see them next time at my home beach.