First open water swim this year!

This was our first open water swim this year and it almost didn't happen!

We headed down to the beach for a swim with our wetsuits and the water was FREEZING!!!! Ice cube freezing!

We then tested the water in the river and it was almost as cold as the lake.

I knew of a smaller man made lake around the corner that would be warm so we walked over to that lake.

It was looking promising until we saw three HUGE carp lurking around the dock. 

We thought about it for a good 15 minutes but we just couldn't do it. I even waded in the water and splashed around to see if the monster fish would swim the other direction. The fish moved for a second but came right back towards us. Needless to say we had a good laugh at ourselves and our chicken like behaviour.

I can't imagine people who have to swim in water where sharks live. Yikes!!

We headed back to the beach to test the water again and the water was of course just as cold as we left it. 

We were getting ready to pack it in and call it a day. Lisa was taking off her wetsuit and I headed over to the river just to check the water one last time.  The water in the river was now warmer! I jumped in and looked over at Lisa and by this time her wetsuit was off. 

 Lisa really wanted to strangle me!  Back on went her wet wetsuit ( which is not an easy task!) and we managed 1000m swim in the murky river.

The water did not win! You know you are an Ironman when you are this stubborn!!! :)