The Traditional Mother's Day Lake Swim

It's become a Mother's Day tradition in our family: don't give mom flowers or anything silly like a blender, take her to the lake and let her swim! Since today looked like it would be rainy, we set out yesterday for this beautiful lake near the beach. This year I was joined by a couple of friends who are training for their first triathlon. They just got wetsuits so this was their first open water swim ever. What an experience!

The water was surprisingly pleasant and the skies were blue. The kids and dogs all romped around on the beach and we took off in the sunshine. Remember your first open-water experience? It can be a little panic-inducing. I get a bit of the heebie-jeebies the first open water swim of the year too, and I've been doing it forever. But they both did great! They were even brave enough to set out across the lake, leaving the shore behind. During last week's pool session, we worked on sighting but there's nothing like trying to swim straight out in the open water. It's a skill for sure. One thing I try to do is pick something on the horizon to sight on - a tall tree, a building, a hill - that's behind what I'm aiming for  in the water. That way I don't have to really focus super hard, I can just get a quick glance and make sure I'm on course.

I am usually a pretty straight swimmer in the lake, but one thing I noticed is that my left arm fatigued a lot faster in the wetsuit and so after awhile I started curving off to the left. I've got a couple more weeks before the triathlon to get that arm even stronger so I can swim straight.

We were given the gift of a beautiful day, clear warm(ish) water, good friends, and the ability to swim, swim, swim. So to all the moms out there, I wish you a wonderful day filled with whatever brings you joy. Happy Mother's Day!