This morning, my friend Brandi and I tackled an open water swim.  My very first of the season.  Woo to the hoo!

The Lake Norman YMCA hosts a bi-monthly open water swim  throughout the summer.  It’s a very popular event and excellent practice for triathlons.  I’ve never done it before, but Brandi has, and she warned me that there’s usually big crowds.  So we woke up super early and arrived at check-in just as they were opening.  We ended up being the first in line!  Totally worth it.

The course is a big 750 meter rectangle.  You have the option to just do one loop but can do as many as you can squeeze in before 10 AM.  So there are all sorts of athletes at the event – first-timers to accomplished Ironmans.

I got into the water figuring that I’d do one 750 meter loop, which is pretty close to what I do in the pool.  But… the water was so lovely and warm.  And there was ZERO PRESSURE because it wasn’t a race situation.  Dare I say that I actually enjoyed the open water swim experience?!  Because I really did!  Especially when I would take breaths and see all the pretty trees alongside the bank of the water…

When I was done with the first loop, I got out of the water and stood on the bank for about 5 minutes.  After some stretching, I decided to just GO FOR IT and do the second loop.

The second 750 meters flew by – honestly, it felt better than the first loop because I was all warmed up.  Brand and I agreed that it was all the fun of a triathlon swim with none of the drawbacks… you know what I mean – no frantic start, no pushing and shoving, no panicky GO-GO-GO feeling.  I must say that I’m pretty pumped for more open water practice swims this summer.  And I can’t believe that I swam a mile this morning; I was definitely not ‘trained’ for that but I guess my recent running translated well in terms of cardiovascular fitness!

Brandi and I got treats on the way home – YUM.

How did you exercise today?