How Far Am I Supposed to Swim Out??

I know how to swim.

More precisely, I know how to swim in a pool, where the water is calm, there's always someone there who can rescue me, and the boundaries are clearly visible.  I can propel myself forwards towards the wall and hit it with no problems.

I moved last August and now I live four  miles from the beach.  My still ailing cuboid bone in my left foot is flaring up again after a random 30 second toe up drill in a bootcamp class.  Convinced I need to give it some time off before my next running race (my sport of choice) I decided it was time to face the open waters of Huntington Beach in my many year long quest to do an Ironman triathlon!  

All things equal, I was situated pretty close to some of the best beaches of America.  Even in winter the temperatures were quite agreeable, there aren't all that many sharks about, and, if I get up early enough, there's free parking half a mile from the beach!  So last Sunday I dusted off my old Triathlon suit (purchased solely for the purpose of doing a the Pasadena Sprint Triathlon, a reverse triathlon that has a pool swim.).  Sure, I bought it when I was about 35 pounds heavier, but it looked like it fit alright, and it was 150 dollar suit!  I should at least try to see if it wears okay.  In the back of my mind, I thought of Chrissie Wellington's first race where she started sinking quite badly due to an ill fitting wetsuit, but decided mine was just a Triathlon suit so surely it won't get that packed with water!   So I packed up a towel and headed out.

It was only 8:30 in the morning, so the only people out were a couple of surfers eyeballing me strangely.  They all disappeared beyond the breakers with their surfboards.  I eyeballed the water, set my things down, and headed out.

Water, chilly, but not so cold.  Waves were pretty nice.  I walked deeper and deeper into the water, feeling slightly better.  After getting around waist deep, I decided to swim parallel to the shore for practice.

My head hit the water, and all I could see was murky water past my goggles.  This was very very not like the pool.  I panicked, and stood back up, only promptly to be hit sideways by a  large wave.

D'OH!

So went the rest of the practice.  I was too afraid to actually do the forward crawl OUT into the abyss, and walking towards it doesn't work since I just keep getting wacked by the larger waves.  I got an unpleasant reminder of how bad salt water tasted.  I knew I had to get out further to get to the slightly less wave crashy waters, but going out was scary!  How bleeping far am I supposed to swim out, anyway?!

I spent about 45 minutes being battered by the ocean before I discovered I could wade out as far as I could, then when the big wave hits, I would simply swim back towards shore to practice breathing, sighting, and not being so afraid of the dark waters.

Did I mention my wet suit was like an anchor?  Turns out it does matter if it was not TIGHT on your body.  The suit was 4 sizes too big and held what felt like the 35 pounds of fat I lost from when I first bought the suit.

Ocean + Ill Fitting Tri Suit: 1, Joyce 0

When I first learned to play this arcade dance game called "Dance Dance Revolution", it felt like I was made of five legs with no knees, trying to hit all the right squares without falling over.  What's worse, the machine was in our University arcade, so anyone could saunter up, and secretly point and laugh at my bad footwork.  But this did not weaken my resolve, I knew as long as I stuck with it I would HAVE to get better (when you sucked as much as I did, skill level could only go up!)

I would do the same with swimming.  I know enough not to drown, and I'm well versed in riptide safety, so now all I need is some practice, and I figure I would eventually get advice from some people who know how to swim.  I will have my  SWIM SWIM REVOLUTION!

First move: Buy a triathlon suit that fits!