Your first open water swim?

I swam in the open water a number of times before my first swim/race of 10 K. I will tell you I never hurt so bad in my life after swimming that 10 K. My shoulders ached, my back ached and I was beat. I feel asleep in the car a mile from exiting the water, lucky I was not driving. A year later I was successful in swimming from Catalina Island to the California Coast. This was a distance of 21 miles. It hurt, but not as bad as that first 10 K in Horsetooth Res, outside of Fort Collins, CO in 2004. My dream is to do both those swims!!

I swam in the open water a number of times before my first swim/race of 10 K. I will tell you I never hurt so bad in my life after swimming that 10 K. My shoulders ached, my back ached and I was beat. I feel asleep in the car a mile from exiting the water, lucky I was not driving. A year later I was successful in swimming from Catalina Island to the California Coast. This was a distance of 21 miles. It hurt, but not as bad as that first 10 K in Horsetooth Res, outside of Fort Collins, CO in 2004. This is very cool! What was your longest open water distance before the 10k race? I can't imagine being able to do a 10k as my first ow swim event!

In 2002, I had to lay off running for a while due to an injury, so I took to swimming, although just as a lap swimmer, not in any formal masters' group. As a child, I learned to swim in a bay and always enjoyed salt water swimming, when I had the opportunity. But living inland, I had to make do with a pool. In any case, swimming was more a recreation, something I did to recover from running, not my main sport, so doing it instead of running wasn't my idea of fun. I dutifully swam laps, counting them out and was glad to be finished--especially if the pool was crowded. I missed the openness of being out on the roads by myself. I also missed competing in races. Then I found a flyer for a one-mile open water bay swim--this gave me the motivation I needed to work my way up to a mile and also to increase my speed. I still didn't join a masters' group--didn't even know of any available at the time. But the lifeguard at the morning lap swim was a great guy--very friendly, encouraging... a swim instructor and triathlete. So he gave me some helpful advice on my stroke. I'm a slow swimmer now, but I was even slower then--took me about an hour to swim a mile. The previous year's results for the swim I had in mind listed the last place time as 45 minutes. I wasn't looking for fame and fortune, but I did want to finish before they packed up the finish line clock and went home. I finally was able, with some coaching by this lifeguard, to reduce my time to 45 minutes and swim the mile without stopping, which gave me just enough confidence to believe that this thing was possible. But I hadn't accounted for the extra swimming I'd have to do before even starting the race. On race day, I was told the start was next to a boat that appeared to be about 200 yards off shore (but probably was closer--it just seemed that way to this newbie). Some of us had started out toward this boat, but were called back to a swimmers' meeting, then sent out again. By the time I reached the start, they'd blown the air horn and everyone else was underway. It wasn't looking good. But I reminded myself, I'd paid for this race and to get my money's worth, I'd better swim it. Plus, I'd gotten the t-shirt when signing up, and I wasn't going to wear it unless I did the race (it's a pride thing). It would be too bad to let a perfectly good t-shirt go to waste, especially when it didn't look as if I'd be getting any more running t-shirts for a while. So I resolved to keep going until I either finished or someone stopped me for being too slow. Instead of stopping me, though, the kayakers encouraged and cheered me on. They were wonderful! I even passed someone--although he soon caught and passed me again. Even so, it at least reminded me that I wasn't alone out there. After a while, I realized I was enjoying the swim--it was a gorgeous sunny, warm day, and the water felt pleasant--it was a lot more fun than a pool where you keep seeing the same things all the way through your swim. I was getting into it--though I was still happy to be finished... and, it turned out, wasn't even last... second to last... and I've since finished last, although that position doesn't discourage me anymore. I enjoy the outdoors, the variety and surprise of natural water. Whatever my place in any given race, I am grateful to have been able to take part and hope to keep swimming--and running--races.

So, FindingMyInnerFish, it seems that all your practice had been in a pool before the OW race? Do you feel it necessary to practice in OW at least a few times?

So, FindingMyInnerFish, it seems that all your practice had been in a pool before the OW race? Do you feel it necessary to practice in OW at least a few times? Well, it's no doubt desirable, and if I lived near open water, I'd definitely take advantage of the opportunity. But even for my five mile swim, all my workouts were in the pool. Talk about hamster swimming... I did the race distance in the pool just to feel confident that I was good for that distance--after that, I was REALLY glad to do it in open water. Very liberating! I think what helped me in all these swims, despite not having the o.w. practice was that my childhood swimming lessons mostly took place in a bay, and I spent many summers swimming in water that didn't hold still for me. So the body memory was there, and when I would swim in these events, it felt like coming home.

I was just curious about everyone's "first time". When/where did you take that first plunge into open water?? I have been swimming in open water off and on nearly my entire life. However my first race was at 17 as a lifeguard on the Atlantic Ocean. That is over 40 years ago. I have gone years at a time without racing, but I've never missed an opportunity to jump into a new body of water where ever I'm traveling.

My first open water race was a 10K. I had praticed in the open water and swam about 6 k, but that was it. I may not have been ready for the 10 K, but looking back it was a great experience.

If triathlons count, my first was a half mile in a frigid spring fed lake in Spring 2005 sans wetsuit. My longest is 1.2 miles (also without wetsuit) in a HalfIron AquaBike (no run) called PrairieMan. With wetsuit the longest is 1.5K (Capital of Texas Triathlon). :applaud: I have signed up for the Ridges 5K this year, though. :bump: I'm thinking about doing a longer one...

A year ago, in December, I signed up to swim from Alcatraz to the Aquatic Center on the shore. I had never swam open water before, but I had 9 months to get ready. I went to a local man-made lake a few times to get used to siting. I swam a 2K in a very slow river in Austin. My coach would have the other swimmers in the pool take their kickboards and splash me as I swam distance to prepare. About a month before Alcatraz, I swam a 3K in the man made lake, then came the big day. I had a wetsuit (since I swim in Texas, was not sure I could handle 61 degrees without one). I jumped off the boat and swam to get away so other swimmers could jump in. I stopped to catch my breath, and see how far the distance seemed. At that time I thought 'man, that is far, I'm going to flag a boat to pick me up', then I thought 'no - I've done this distance lots of times, I can do it.' I stopped twice to look around - just to be in the SF Bay (I was born in SF) was awsome! A boat stopped me twice, once 'cause I was swimming towards Hawaii :D, and once to be sure I made the entrance to the Aquatic Center without being swept by the current into the Pacific (they had me swim more towards the left). I ended up 4th in my age group (that is with stopping and not even trying to get a good time or place). 16th out of all women in wetsuits, and 81 out of everyone in wetsuits (there were about 400 wetsuit swimmers and I am in the 45-49 age group). It was a blast, I plan on doing it every year, and this year, I have other swimming buddies that want to join me! Was this the Swim with the Centurions this year? The conditions sound familiar. If it was, we both had a beautiful sunny day in good conditions to do the swim. And yes it does look far from Alcatraz to Aquatic Park. Your response was perfect. If you really want to get jazzed, next time you are in San Francisco walk across the Golden Gate and look at the course from up there. Congratulations on a great accomplishment.

A year ago, in December, I signed up to swim from Alcatraz to the Aquatic Center on the shore. I had never swam open water before, but I had 9 months to get ready. I went to a local man-made lake a few times to get used to siting. I swam a 2K in a very slow river in Austin. My coach would have the other swimmers in the pool take their kickboards and splash me as I swam distance to prepare. About a month before Alcatraz, I swam a 3K in the man made lake, then came the big day. I had a wetsuit (since I swim in Texas, was not sure I could handle 61 degrees without one). I jumped off the boat and swam to get away so other swimmers could jump in. I stopped to catch my breath, and see how far the distance seemed. At that time I thought 'man, that is far, I'm going to flag a boat to pick me up', then I thought 'no - I've done this distance lots of times, I can do it.' I stopped twice to look around - just to be in the SF Bay (I was born in SF) was awsome! A boat stopped me twice, once 'cause I was swimming towards Hawaii :D, and once to be sure I made the entrance to the Aquatic Center without being swept by the current into the Pacific (they had me swim more towards the left). I ended up 4th in my age group (that is with stopping and not even trying to get a good time or place). 16th out of all women in wetsuits, and 81 out of everyone in wetsuits (there were about 400 wetsuit swimmers and I am in the 45-49 age group). It was a blast, I plan on doing it every year, and this year, I have other swimming buddies that want to join me!