A Pool is Not a Lake

For several months I did my swim training in a pool. It was a comfortable 82 degrees, flat as glass, and there was a wall to hang onto every 25 meters.

Then a friend of mine informed me of the cute little lake a couple miles from her condo that I could come train in for free. I thought I'd come give it a try.

Beware. Except for the fact that I was wearing the same suit, cap, and goggles, very little was the same. The water was colder (luckily, this really was a "cute little lake", so it's probably no less than 78 degrees). Even though I swam in the No Wake area, there were still waves and a slight current that tosses you around a bit. If you're not careful, a mouthful of lake water is always a possibility. There's no walls to hang onto, which is a strange sensation to get used to--the fact that you are in (what feels like) the middle of a lake, and just getting to shore requires at least 10 minutes of real effort. But here's the biggest difference: in a pool, with your fancy schmancy goggles, you can see all the way to the bottom, all the way to the wall, and every muscle or fat roll on the swimmer next to you. In a lake, your visibility is zero. You can't see your hand in front of your face; it's all a hazy green and brown cloud. So you have to get used to the "turn your head to breathe, then lift and look straight ahead to make sure you're still headed the right way" technique. And you'd be surprised how easy it is to get off course when you're swimming and there's no lane lines to keep you straight. One time I ended up literally in the middle of the lake where boats drive because I forgot to check where I was periodically. So lake swimming...

Not quite the same.