I survived my first Alum Creek swim in a wetsuit - thanks, COTT!
The wetsuit has been hanging on the Iron Gym in our bedroom for a whole five days. It was killing me that I hadn't taken it out in the water yet. I tried, unsuccessfully, to get a few folks out on Sunday afternoon. It's like herding cats to try and wrangle the schedules of active adults. I think we're on for later this week, but I was still dying to get suited up and try out the new skin.
My Run Club coach directed me to COTT who has regularly scheduled Monday evening swims out at Alum Creek. Technically, I am not a member of COTT - it's a Columbus based group, and I hesitated ever joining because I wasn't sure if I would really be able to make the workouts, etc. I emailed a couple folks from the team, and they emailed me back almost immediately welcoming me to come out for that night's swim. So, I did!
I am so glad I did. The group was very friendly, and they seemed honored I would have my first wetsuit swim with the group. ha! I actually managed to get the suit on pretty quickly (with the aid of Pam no-stick spray and a plastic bag over my feet), and we headed out to the water. It was amazing - the difference between wetsuit and non-wetsuit is very distinct. I tend to have a hard time keeping my hips and legs up in the water - and it slows me down a lot. The wetsuit did it for me. It was like swimming with a pull buoy. Amazing.
I need to do a good chunk of work on my upper body strength and my stroke. I lost the group pretty early on - there were some super strong swimmers with ridiculously long strokes. There also happened to be another swim group in the water, and I accidentally thought it was MY group, so I turned around at the wrong place. oops. But I was still out in the water for over an hour, and it was fantastic. I have to get used to the OWS feel - no pushing off the walls - you just GO. It's going to take practice, but I'll get there. Sighting is going to take some work, too.
Overall, I am in LOVE with my wetsuit. It fits perfectly, and it makes me feel so much more confident in the water. Having that bad boy on has almost fully removed the "panic" effect of getting out into the water. Hopefully that will hold on race days, too!
