Pre-Thanksgiving cold water swim - 700 yards in 48° water

Met Goody, Josh and Jake at GSL Marina at 4:15pm.  Goody shared with me his draft plans to become a member of the International Ice Swimming Association.  He's been very busy.

Getting in is actually the easiest part
of the whole process.  The finish
and the recovery is the toughest.

We gathered at the boat ramp and took a temp.  My thermometer read 47.6°F.  The sun was quickly going down and I wanted to get going, so I went ahead.  I wanted two laps of the boat ramp to Marina opening.  Each lap being .21 miles or 350 yards.  Getting in was easy.  The start was easy.  Halfway through the second lap I noticed my muscles in my chest and triceps were "Sticking".  Like they were literally freezing.  I was starting to hurt.  The last half lap was the hardest.

I finished at the boat ramp and noticed my watch read 9:40 so I backed up a bit and went up to my shoulders and hung out until 10 minutes exactly, then I got out.  I immediately noticed that my left and right shoulders were rubbed raw from my scruffy jawbone when breathing to the side.  Looks like from now on when swimming in the GSL, even if it's a measly 700 yards, I'll need to put just a dab of channel grease on my left and right shoulders.

This was a tough week for me.  I got dressed and ran up to the car to warm up.  I don't like shivering and chattering away even among friends.  I realize that every one of them go through the shakes just like I do, but it's a little embarrassing, I don't know why I feel that way.  I suggested that next time we all go at once so we don't have to wait around and recover after the swim while others are just starting.

I told Josh, I'm still not convinced that I'm even considering setting a goal to be on the International Ice Swimming Association.  I think I'll stick to my 2 lap 10 minute swims.  It's going to get harder as the water gets colder, but the distance at this point will not increase until I'm more confident and able to strengthen myself mentally especially beyond the 7 minute mark.

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!  Looking forward to a day to rest and recover then kick it into high gear on Black Friday!