Open Water Swim

Ok, so we are down to six days for this sprint triathlon that we are doing. Swimming in the pool is a piece of cake, 500 yards or 10 laps and it was taking us about 13 minutes. We decided yesterday to combine all three events and do the full length on them all, which actually went well, other than the fact that we did the swim in Clear Lake, which is anything but clear! It was SO sea weedy! YUCK! I hate seaweed and all the stuff in lakes as it is, but this was like lilly pad haven and even once we got quite a ways out past the raft it was still gross. I still had seaweed wrapped around my ankles and I'd find a lilly pad around my shoulders or arms. I couldn't stand it at all... it was almost like panic city. So, after a little venture out and we still couldn't get pass the seaweed, we headed back and ended up with only a 10 minute swim. So, tonight we are headed to a "beach" area at Gun Lake and hoping that it is not so sea weedy and then we can try the open water swim again.

I know we can do the length, and after the 10 minute swim yesterday we finished the bike ride and the 5k run and I lived, and I'm still walking this morning (first time we did all three - we've been doing two things at a time until yesterday). The water even felt almost warm. So, now I'm just praying that Sherman Lake, where the tri is at this weekend, has a nice clear stretch for the swim... If not, the swimmers around me will think I'm the crazy loon in the pack as I swim each stroke saying, "I hate seaweed, I hate seaweed, I hate seaweed...."