Swimming in a fog

This morning I got up early to swim in the lake. Wynn & Teresa wouldn't be there since they were heading up to NH for a race this weekend. Ian would be there, but I can't keep up with him. He's fast in the water. He'll do laps around me so he keeps me in his sight, but I was hoping someone would come down that was somewhat my speed in the water. Wynn's friend Dave came down. He's slightly faster than me, but enough that I have someone to stay near. I certainly needed it this morning. This was by far the craziest swim I have ever done. There was a little chop in the lake from the wind, but the fog was super thick. I couldn't see anything. Ian pointed out the general direction for us to head in. You could throw sighting out the window. All I saw when I looked up was white. I could see along the surface of the water and a little bit ahead so I could see Dave, but Ian and John swam ahead of us and were out of sight. I finally made my way over to the other side and they were waiting for me. We chatted about the ridiculousness of the fog and laughed. Then we were on our way back. This is where it got strange.

Dave and I stayed together for the swim back. We were constantly stopping to orient ourselves. The conversation went something like this:

Me: I have no idea where we are. Do you know which way?
Dave: Not too sure. I think it's this way.
Me: Do you see a white house? That's what we need to swim towards.
Dave: Are those road signs over there? That's the road.
Me: Well, if we can't find the shoreline, we can swim to the signs and get out and walk back ;-)

I laughed the rest of the way back to the beach. I swear I didn't even see it until I was ~50 meters out. I just followed Dave and hoped for the best. I have to say it was probably the most memorable swim I've had. I've been in that lake dozens of times to swim and it's not that big. But today it was huge. Amazing what a little fog can do.

When I got home I took a little 'power nap' since I didn't feel like I slept well last night. Once I got up I changed for my run. Once again I completely forgot I have a race Sunday and wanted to wear my new DS Trainers (running shoes) so I had to break them in. I wore then today for a 4 miler and man, I love the way new sneakers feel. It was a little humid out, but there was a nice breeze blowing so I felt comfortable most of the time. It was a solid run and I'm feeling great about Sunday. My goal is strictly to use it as a training day and will not go into it with the mindset of racing. It's the first tri of the season for me and I want to gauge where I am at. I definitely feel better than I did at this time last year. My only goal for Sunday is to not fall apart on the run. Last year was a miserable run and it looks like a lot of it was due to barely eating prior to the race. Got that under control now so I'm hoping for a solid effort.

A "Good Luck" shout out to Wynn & Teresa up at Mooseman this weekend. I did that race back in 2006 as prep for Lake Placid. It's a great race and they should do well. Wynn is doing the half and Teresa is doing the olympic. Good Look Warriors!!