OK I'm probably gonna get a reputation for being flaky, but after talking with coach JGal, and calling the Utah State Parks to discuss my plans, I've reconsidered my goal for this weekend. If the water were say 68, I KNOW I could swim the length of Bear Lake, but with it possibly being 58, that's like sending men to Mars, versus the moon. And I don't want to set myself up for failure, so I'll shoot for the moon, instead of haphazardly launching for Mars. I gotta take this in smaller steps.
Swimming in cold water without wetsuits is dangerous. So I've had to take a step back and reconsider the serious nature of what I'm doing and going to take baby steps which means that this Saturday, I'll be doing the width as originally planned and tackling that step before plunging into the length. Sorry John, I totally respect what you did last year and I appreciate your confidence in me and encouragement, but at the same time, I don't want to rush it.
So here's the new intended route.
I feel totally confident I can do this in sub 60 degree water. This route will take me about 3 hours to do. I can handle 3 hours of that cold water. Plus, I've swam 6 miles in open water many times so I apologize for jumping the gun and getting people all excited. I feel kinda dumb for that.
I'll have to postpone the bigger feat of doing the length until next year when I feel like I'm more prepared and conditioned for cold water. I have to be realistic. This year I wasn't able to properly prepare for this event. I needed to train for the Boise Half Ironman and couldn't dedicate my time to cold water acclimatization. Since I'm now officially done with triathlons until after the channel, I can now dedicate myself to cold water acclimatization.
Tonight I took an ice bath. I filled the bath with cold water (nothing but cold, no hot at all). The thermometer read 67 degrees. Still way too warm, so I had Jonas bring up 4 large bowls of ice and dump them in for me. Dropped down to 65, which is still to warm. I stayed in the 65 degree water for 20 minutes while listening to the end of "Losing it with Jillian".
I'm feeling like a burden has been lifted with this decision. Like I can actually see the peak of the mountain rather than just seeing clouds over the peak. With more experience with cold water and getting used to it, I'll be able to take it on and realistically launch for Mars.
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