Hey all, don’t give out on me now… there is still a few weeks of great swimming left!
Don’t ask me when the season ends… it ends when it just kinda fizzles out. I mean, some of our hardy (crazy) LOSTies go all year round… yes, through the winter even, but one we get down to just a handful, we shut’er down.
Typically the “official” end to the LOST season is mid to late September.
Having said that though… some of the best swims are from now until then. The reason is: the air temp is still very nice… and the crazy Lake has finally warmed up!
Lake O takes a long time to warm up… but it also takes a long time to cool off too!
That is also why we have the LOST Race on the 3rd Saturday in August. If we have it too early, we run the risk of a roll over (which happened twice when we had it on the 2nd weekend of August). In fact, even this year, it was 53F on the 2nd Saturday… and 68F last weekend!
Mind you, the later you wait into August, the more the weather is unsettled. Which we found out last weekend when we had to delay the start by an hour. But I’d rather deal with that than deal with icy cold water.
As it turns out, aside from the 1 hour delay and a hiccup in the timing, we had great conditions and a great race! A record, 192 total entrants between the LOST Race and LOST Mile! (although we lost a few that couldn’t wait for the delay).
But a good time was had by all! Thanks for coming everyone!
LOST of the Week: Janice
Like a lot of LOSTies, Janice started as a pool swimmer originally, joined Lost 3 years ago and found her passion for the open water!
As a Pisces she is always happiest in the water. But open water resonates with her as its a good break from the walls and flip turns. Janice is also one of “those folks” that does “cold water swimming” year round. She loves the challenge of it and the cold water after effects that comes with it. She has committed to herself to do this regularly, including pushing herself to swim without her wetsuit at least once per month in Lake Ontario.
Not a lot scares Janice in fresh water, however, ocean swimming is a different story. Its a common fear she believes and I will definitely second that of what is out there that can sting us or bite us. Thankfully there has only been one sighting at Lost beach of a lobster! (see earlier post this summer! haha). Her perspective on open water swimming is: do what makes you comfortable. Which is awesome advice for newbies. Wetsuit/No wetsuit be true to you and what works for you. It also coincides with the LOST philosophy, which is probably why she is such a good fit!
A huge passion of Janice’s, which I have incredible respect for, is her drive to make the world a better place with less plastics. She has been known to pulling out large objects from the water on her own. Janice is driven to use less single-use plastic, but also over all plastic. If a local beach needs a hand on a clean up she is first in helping. Her actions speak loudly.
She never really thought that she would be an open water swimmer. But with a little push of a friend she sighed up for a shorter distance at the North Shore. And then: bam… her first marathon swim of 10 k in 2018. Swimming in Lake Ontario on Christmas Eve with her crazy friends and a few times each week swimming sunrise are her favorite moments of 2018/2019.
Some of her favorite races are GSS races – Northshore 3.8k and 10k and The Finger Lakes Open Water Swim Festival. She pushed her boundary with night swimming this summer. Nothing says fun like when she’s surrounded with friends with glow sticks and water.
Janice would love to push herself in the future years with swimming past 10k. But she hasn’t been bitten by the desire to “cross” anything yet. But she didn’t say never. Never say never. In the meantime she will continue to push herself on cold water swimming goals and distance goals. Janice is one of those swimmers that has amazing judgement on what is safe. How long is comfortable. She knows and respects her surroundings. Something all LOSTies are pretty good at, but also always need to be wary of.
Thanks for being a LOSTie, Janice!
Cheers,
Rob & Kat
