34

It's getting colder out! We've had a bit of a cold spell, and the water at the lake is at it's coldest ever that I've measured - 34. Which is cold. It's been even colder out of the water - it's been super windy and cloudy, both things that add to the chill after the dip, and the lack of desire to get into the water in the first place. Because of the wind, the water isn't really frozen except around the edges. Someone told me that Walden is frozen now, as are a bunch of other lakes that are more protected from the wind.

I've been swimming/dipping at the lake 4 times since I last posted on Saturday. Sunday I went and did another practice swim of about 200 meters in 36 degree water. It was cloudy out and when I got out of the water I couldn't feel my hands. After they warmed up they still felt chilly, and I had spots on the tips of my fingers that were numb.  I feel like the feeling has returned, but I've been wearing neoprene gloves since then. 

Monday I returned to my swim lessons at MIT, where I swam 1400 yards. For some reason my watch picked up my crawl as butterfly - I know my stroke isn't perfect, but seriously? It turns out that this isn't an uncommon thing with the apple watch, so I will live with it. 

Tuesday I met a friend at the dock in the afternoon at my lunch break. It was sooo cold out, according to weather underground it was 22, but 9 with windchill. While we were getting ready, an animal control officer snapped a shot of us and wrote "-5 wind-chill. These two are BEASTS." So maybe it was -5, I feel like we should go with what the nice animal warden says. Anyhow, the water was so choppy with the wind that I didn't even want to swim breast stroke with my head out of the water. I wore booties and gloves and walked in and just treaded water for about 3 minutes. It was warmer in the water, 37, but of course it felt pretty cold, especially with the wind. I had to get home to get back to work, which was just fine because it was too cold to hang out.

Thursday and Friday's dips were in the dark and the water was down to 34. Because it was dark out they were dips, not swims. I was thinking about a swim tonight, but that was just crazy thinking, it was way too cold without some sun. Both times I stayed in for about 5 minutes and felt fine in the water, ok after coming out, but then cold for a while after. Still, successful dipping! 

It's six weeks to the Big Swim, definitely going to keep plugging away with the practice and crazy dip schedule. I am going to keep wearing the gloves because I don't need it to take until summer to feel the tips of my fingers again. And I'm going to try to swim swim whenever I can, meaning when I can do daytime swims. 

In other news, I have been going to a new yoga studio that's in the same place as an old studio I used to go to pre-covid, and I'm pretty happy with it! My favorite yoga instructor doesn't teach there, but I had a new instructor this week who shares on her page that she's a witch, so that's got to be the next best thing. I've had several instructors there and they've all been good, and it's a little less expensive than the last place I was going, so that's a win too.