Bear Lake 2020 #1

Yesterday I swam a Bear Lake Width.  Sam, Oliver, Jack (my English Setter) and I jumped on the Sea Doo at Rainbow Cove Boat ramp and jetted over to the Garden City Marina pavilion/beach at 10am.

At the start of our journey. Starting
by cruising over to the start from
Rainbow Cove over to the
 beach north of the west marina. 
Took about 20 minutes
to get there @ 24 mph

I pointed out the "nipple" to the boys and off we went.  I felt on the verge of cramping several times throughout the first hour of the swim, but avoided a full on charlie horse by kicking gently through it.

Jack watches intently on his swimmer.

I took feeds on these intervals (35, 1:10, 1:45, 2:20, 3:50, 4:10).  There were several things learned from this swim:

1. Just because you swim approximately 2 mph in an endless pool doesn't equate to that in open water.  (I was expecting a 3:15 finish)
2. If you take two people on the boat, one to drive, and the other should have the feed ready, instead of searching the cooler, for something.  As soon as I stop it should be ready to go.
3. Putting on waterproof sunscreen at the start, even though it says 90 minutes of protection. It really means just that.  After that, you're gonna burn like a raisin. 
4. DO NOT forget channel grease.  Chafing simply sucks!  It's no fun swimming when every other stroke you feel a burning sensation from your right shoulder.  
5. DO NOT look up near the finish wondering how much further.  I should know better than this, but I was concerned once I got to 3:30 and still wasn't done.

Spot GPS Track

Then I made the mistake of counting strokes.  Once I got to 1,200 I was getting super frustrated.  I quit counting, and did some backstroke, and getting discouraged.  I took a feed at 4:10 hoping it would be my last one.  I noticed the shore looked like we were about 500 yards away so I said to myself, don't look anymore until you can for sure see the bottom.  

4:21:58 

Once I got to where I could see the bottom was about 6 feet deep I told Oliver and Sam to just hang out at that point as I didn't want the Sea Doo's bottom to hit rocks.  So I carefully crawled in as far as I could, and then climbed out. I stopped at 4:21:58

Definitely a disappointing time.  More than an hour over my goal time.  I've never been so far off before.  Now I know what to expect for the race in two weeks.  I will shoot for a 4:20 time and know that I can definitely achieve on that if the conditions aren't terrible.  It was actually very good conditions throughout the swim. I can't complain at all. 

Enjoying the evening camping outside at the cabin
Bottom: Me, Cathi, Oliver, Sariah (Jonas' girlfriend), Jonas
Top: Sam, Isaac, Grandma and Grandpa Low

We went back to the van and got the kneeboard and let the boys have some fun on the water.  But they didn't last long. They were done and not super enthusiastic about spending any more time on the water.  Jack did well and watched patiently.

We went to the cabin and enjoyed our evening with the fam.

Next swim in two weeks: July 18th

Then I'm hoping to do a double on Labor Day.