Okay, I know I said last week was our last cold water training session… at 47F/8C, saying that it was going to warm up by the following week, seemed like a pretty safe bet. But I was wrong.
It got colder!
This week we had 79 swimmers and a water temp of 44F/6C! That, my friends, is “crazy cold”. Literally to do an official “ice mile” the water has to be 5C or colder! We were practically there!
It made for a bit of a weird day. It was actually quite nice and warm out. Which does make a big difference when the water is that cold. Swimming in 44F water in July is a lot easier to take than swimming in 44F water in December… both of which could easily happen!
But hey, that’s Lake O. And that’s open water swimming. I heard there were a few people that were a bit disappointed/frustrated by the cold water. A couple of weeks of this is one thing, but more than that is a pain in the ass.
I get it. Nobody likes water that cold. But unfortunately there isn’t much we can do about it. And secondly, I look at it like getting a flat tire on your bike while on a training ride. It sucks. But it you have to make the best of it. Maybe you didn’t get that nice long ride in, that you had been planning on… but you are probably better at changing a flat now.
A bit of the cup is half empty… or half full. I like to look at it as it’s “half full”… of freezing freakin’ cold water, in this example.
But like I said last time: it does warm up. I’ve been doing this for 12 years now and these surprising cold “roll overs” are actually pretty predictable. Yes, I missed it by a week this year, but it’s coming. I’m not going to jinx it again for next week, but let’s say just say, I’d be willing to bet quite a lot that next week you’ll be able to have a nice comfortable swim… for about an hour. We’ll see. You’ve now paid your dues anyway!
Again, on the bright side, it was kinda fun. Watching all the crazy LOSTies get in and get it done. And the surprisingly large number that went “naked”… amazing. The other thing that was pretty neat was the fog. The water was like glass and about as heavy of a fog as I’ve ever seen (again, because of the cold water, but I think we’ve beat that one to death!). Pretty cool though, either way.
So, all this is to say… don’t give up now. Good swimming is on it’s way!
PS. a big “Congrats” to the LOSTies that did big races last week, including: Mt Tremblant 70.3 IM, Welland Long Course Triathlon, Caledon Quarry Swim (congrats to Barrie & Miguel for hosting a successful mid-week race!), and the most impressive race last week was done by: Darren Osborne and John Stribany both completing the 20k “Swim Around Key West“! (more to follow on that, when I get their pics and stories! Results here). And not rub your nose in it… but the water temp there was probably double what we swam in! haha. Well done boys!
