"Brrrrr"

That’s freakin cold water! I don’t know if it’s because the recent stormy weather stirs up the lake or what but it felt much colder than last time. When I first got there I pretty well decided that I wasn’t even getting in because the water was quite rough. It looked more like November weather. Just before I headed off to the pool however I thought I would just check out what’s known here as little beach, and much to my surprise it was quite a bit calmer there….the exact opposite to last time. It must depend on the wind direction.

But it felt damn cold! My feet and my hands never really warmed up the whole 40 minutes. The wonderful thing is that 40 minutes in the lake seems to pass so quickly. I know that my swimming technique has not improved at all but my arm strength definitely has because of the weight training. When swimming with a wetsuit it basically comes down to muscular endurance and all I care about on race day is getting out of the water and still feeling fresh. I’m pretty confident now that I can do so, both next Sunday and Aug 30th. We’ll see if it feels the same on Sunday in Peterborough when I will swim for about the same amount of time, but will be fighting for space with 500 other people. Just like Guelph Lake it will be a mass start and 2 loops.

I also did a short tempo run but not too hard as I want to have a good long run tomorrow. Right now my energy level is good and I feel confident that it will go well. I really need to knock off a controlled long workout for my confidence level.

I wish to dedicate day 286 to Lewis Gordon Pugh who last year swam approximately 1000 metres in 18 minutes, 50 seconds....at the North Pole! The water temperature was 29 degrees fahrenheit! And before you ask...no wetsuit of any kind.

“Good words cool more than cold water."---John Ray

"This may sound funny, but I'm not a risktaker. I consider myself a risk manager, and I take safety really, really seriously. I follow a philosophy that I call the "P factor": Proper planning and preparation prevent a piss-poor performance."---Lewis Gordon Pugh

love
peter