Testing the waters

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So. I had been looking forward to the scheduled test swim in the "lake" (the Ingolstadt "Baggersee" is more of a dug-out) for weeks. Finally, a chance to swim in open water and try out my wetsuit. Alas, because it's been so cold here and the lake is not warm enough yet the test swim was moved to the local outdoor pool. This means my first real open water swim will most likely be the Ingolstadt triathlon in 3 weeks, which of course is far from ideal. The swim at the Munich triathlon next week will be in a pool. Oh well.
Two companies selling wetsuits and other triathlon equipment were at the pool today and you could "test swim" the different suits.
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I brought my wetsuit along (and the whole family :), but instead of getting it wet I borrowed the same model and size from the Sailfish folks. I squeezed into it and hopped in the pool. I learned a few things:

- Getting it on takes forever and involves plenty of pulling, pushing, shoving and adjusting
- Covering your hands and feet with an ordinary freezer bag helps immensely with putting it on
- I can NOT for the life of me zip it up myself, I need someone to hold the back together
- Once it's on you get pretty hot in it pretty quickly
- Luckily, I don't need help taking it off
- In the water it keeps me afloat nicely, but does restrict arm movement. My plan to switch from crawl to breaststroke if I get tired just fell through. I might have to flip on my back instead.
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I think if I can get into a good rhyhtm in the lake I will be able to do the 1.5k - provided I don't panic and head straight back to shore first. Facing the deep black cold vastness underneath is something I am NOT looking forward to. Didn't help that I happened to see pictures of humonguous fish called "Waller" that people have been pulling out of the Baggersee. Hopefully the masses of people in the water will keep those creatures away. :)
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Here are some pictures from today. It was actually nice out for a change!