The clock is ticking.  My first tune-up race is only four weeks away at the San Diego Sprint Triathlon.  I will need to swim 440 yards in the pack for the first time in open water.  Something I have never done.  With success in the pool this week, I decided to jump in and give it a try.

 

I had heard that a good way to start is to swim in Mission Bay.  I had also heard that the San Diego Triathlon Club holds weekly training swims.  After a little Googling, I found the rumor to be true.  Every Thursday night they have a beginners open water swim session in Mission Bay.  The only problem was that it was at 6:00 pm and I had a meeting until 2:00 pm in Los Angeles.  With traffic that could be dicey, but I would pack my gear and see if I could make it.

Fortunately, I was able to depart my meeting early in Los Angeles and made it to Bonita Cove a half hour early to see a card table, some volunteers, and a slightly overcast San Diego evening with the sun peeking through the clouds every now and then.

This was good as my nerves had time to calm down and I could meet with the organizers to understand how the next hour was going to go and how I could fit into it.  It also would give me time to figure out how to get into my new triathlon open water wetsuit.  Getting in one of these is not as easy as you would think.  They are not like surfing wetsuits, and if you handle them incorrectly they can actually rip.  They are also fitted to be beyond extremely tight so that no water collects inside it.

My spiritual triathlon wetsuit and open water swim guide for the day turned out to be Bob.  A very helpful gentleman who sat me down on my towel next to two other ladies that were in the same newbie boat as me.  All three of us shed our personal comfort zones near strangers and stripped down to our respective swimsuits and Speedo to start the process.  Step 1, turn the wetsuit inside out.  Step 2, lay it in front of you with the bottom of the legs near your feet and the zipper side down.  Step 3, roll four inches of the suit legs into the legs of the suit.  Step 4, push your feet through each leg until the bottom of the suit leg is above your ankle.  Step 5, grab 2 inches of suit and pull it up over the bottom of your legs.  Step 6, keep doing Step 5 until you finally get it up to near your crotch.  This is all being done while sitting down on a towel.  Step 7, stand up and roll it up over your hips.  Step 8, roll three inches of the sleeves into the arms of the suit.  Step 9, push one of your hands through one of the sleeves until the opening of the sleeve is past your wrist.  Step 10, push your whole arm through the sleeve and kind of roll it all onto your arm.  Step 11, complete steps 8 through 10 on your other arm.  Step 12, (this is the hard part) carefully smooth out the sleeves on your arms because no matter how hard you try they still won’t be smoothed or fit right on your arms.  You have to be very careful now because you are handling the outside of the suit.  It can rip if you nick it with your fingernail or pinch it.  This process is very difficult because the sleeves are very, very tight.  Step 13, find a buddy to zip you up in the back.  Step 14, get used to your new layer of frog skin.  Step 14, if all of this has not taken so long that the sun has already set, go swimming.

Keep in mind, I had only put this wetsuit on once before with great help stuffing me into it by the triathlon shop owner.  I had never actually put it on and got in the water yet let alone try and swim in my new second skin.

After completing my fashionable look for the day with my new hot pink swim cap, Bob gathered 6 of us rookies and gave us the lowdown.  Walk into the water and shuffle your feet along the bottom so you don’t get stung by stingrays that might be resting in the water (new unplanned danger, thanks).  Get out to the water just above your knees and then swim out to the first buoy.  That was about all we got.

The buoy looked like it was about 100 to 150 yards away.  I could do that.  My thought is that I would make it to the buoy and then turn around and come in.   Keep it safe.  Between the wetsuit and the salt water, I glided like I had never glided before.  I floated like I had never floated before.  My legs trailed behind me like feathers.  The technology of the suit was truly amazing and started to give me confidence for the open water opportunity.

However, as I approached the buoy, the group was hanging out next to it having a little chat.  Bob told us to stop swimming and trying to tread water.  This Bob is a funny guy I thought to myself.  Was this some kind of rookie initiation?  He went on to explain that the suit is designed to make our entire body float if you just breathe normally.  I gave it a shot and sure enough, it worked.  A modern day miracle!

This was a turning point in my journey.  Thanks to the suit, it is virtually impossible that I will drown/die.  It was nice to have that factor out of the way to say the least.  This would have been good to know back in October when I started the swimming thing.

Bob continued to provide us with additional tips as we all bobbed up and down with similar looks of wetsuit awe in our faces.  We then swam off to the next buoy for more tips, then the next buoy for even more tips.  Then, Bob wanted us to swim all the way back to the first buoy and began to tell us how to spot it by looking at a larger landmark on the horizon.  I could not see this larger object which was a building.  My goggles were fogged.  When I alerted Bob to my vision predicament he simply yelled, “Lick your damn goggles!”  By this time, my trust of Bob had grown and lick them I did.  Sure enough, clear as day but lacking in flavor.

We swam back to the first buoy and I realized two things.  I have no idea how to look ahead and see where I am going, and I sometimes turn right very sharply for no reason getting way off track.  Areas for improvement next time.

We swam back to shore with smiles, gratitude for our new friend Bob, and the confidence that our wetsuit technology would save us from death and make us swim a lot better than we actually knew how to.  In other words, we could do this.