Daydreaming Cyclist in Aarhus: Open Water Swimming

Yesterday (midday) I took part in my first Danish open water swim. The season is slightly different to the one in the Leinster region. There are not that many swims during the summer (about 9 in total compared with about 22 in and around Dublin). Also most swims are of a longer distance, or at least there is a choice of how long you want to swim. So I decided to go for the 2.5km swim. It was in a lake in Silkeborg, so the conditions are like a swimming pool, which is a lot different to the usual conditions of the Irish sea!! Anyhow, since I haven't been training, I needed to challenge myself a bit. We were told that if the water temperature was below 16 degrees that everyone should wear a wetsuit. I don't currently own a wetsuit so I contacted the organisers and explained this and that I usually swim in the Irish sea without a wetsuit. They said it was fine, that I could swim either way. We were very lucky with the weather yesterday, and I'm glad to say that I brought along the high-factor suncream. The water was a delightful 19 degrees, yet the wetsuits were out in droves (except for me!). Well there was one other guy with a tri-suit on, so I wasn't the only one. Although I did stand out for the wrong reasons :o) I actually couldn't believe how warm the water was when I got in. It's been a while since I didn't have that, oh my God feeling when you get in. If these swimmers had to do the Liffey swim, I'm not sure they would survive that initial shock when you jump in off the pontoon! Swim went well, was pleased that I finished it, but have a lot of training to catch up on. All swimmers were given a medal for their efforts and given the nice weather, the only option was to go for some ice-cream afterwards! Esben was an excellent supporter and took some action photos ;o)

(I think he could be on for some swims next year....)