Lake Swimming

There will be an 'Urban Triathalon' in conjunction with the Children of the Sun Jazz Festival in Lakeland, Florida, on April 21st.  The triathalon consists of  1/3 mile swim, 12 mile bike, and 3.1M run.  It's a Lake Swim (Lake Mirror), and the run and the bike will be on blocked streets in downtown Lakeland.  

I live in Lakeland, and I think it will be a good first Triathalon for me. I'm a little concerned about the swim. It's not because of the distance -- I swam competitively, I could still swim a mile at almost 300lbs (if slowly).  The problem is  I'm kind of phobic of swimming in anything but a pool.  I know it sounds crazy, but I was nose to nose with a black racer snake in my own pool last summer, and i about had a heart attack. I just assume if there's fresh water, there are gators not to mention snakes.   Thoughts?

Just as an FYI, Lakeland is 45 minutes from both Tampa and Orlando airports if anyone is interested. There are also limited flights into Lakeland-Lindor airport on Directair.

Your post made me LOL. My mom thinks im crazy.

I tried to go snorkling in Cancun, and as soon as I saw a fish, had a panic attack and sprinted back to the boat, never to get in again. I can't get past the fish and creatures that live in open water like lakes, and what not.

But, I think for an open water swim with a lot of other people, anything that might be there is going to swim far far away from a group of crazy thrashing people.

Im doing a triathlon in April the weekend before, but all the way on the other side of the country. Luckily I dont have to worry about gators!

Thanks, Allison. Glad to know I'm not the only one. I think perhaps I've seen to many iterations of Jass, Pirhana, Anaconda, etc., lol. 

Good luck in your Triathalon!  I'm sure you'll do great.  Is it in San Diego?  We lived in SoCal for 6 years. 

 Im going to do it in Napa. :)

This thread makes me smile, because I have issues with this and I feel like a crazy lady. I have done many triathlons, including an ironman. I do my best when I can't see the water and don't know whats down there. I once did a sprint tri in a lake where the water was clear, I saw fish swimming around and had a panic attack and almost had to quit but I closed my eyes and just kept swimming and eventually the swim was over. I am not the fastest swimmer so any animals will be out of the way and scurried away by the time I get to them, at least that's what I tell myself. I love triathlon, so I'm not going to let it stop me from racing. The ironman I did, the swim was in the dirty, murky Ohio River, so I couldn't see anything and I was perfectly happy with that.

Lakeland is too far for me to travel for a sprint tri, but I do sprint triathlons in Jacksonville from time to time. I will be doing the half ironman triathlon in Haines City on May 20th.

 LOL this was the thread where you tell everyone youve done tons of tris and never seen a fish!!!!!


I saw a tri with a pool swim - that might be right up my alley now. 

Wildlife freaks me out in all three sports actually, which is why I don't run on trails. I really want to do Ironman Florida one day, but being able to see sharks, fish, and jellyfi****hink I have to work out this personal issue first. If the water is gross and I can't see through the water I'm fine, so you can give that a try.

My first 3 triathlons this year are all pool swims, I didn't do this on purpose, that's just how the early season triathlons are contested down here. You can either do the pool swim tris in March and early April, or you can wait until late April when the races start with the swim in open water. I like to start tris as early as possible so I don't mind the pool swim tris. I know tri season starts early in your area as well.

That makes me feel better. Again, I'm glad I'm not the only crazy lady.  I'll have to just gut it out, I guess.  I don't think I'll be ready for a 1/2 Ironman by may, but maybe I'll drive over and spectate. That's not far from my house. 

Thanks!

not to scare you, but the worst open water swim I have done was in florida at the orlando half ironman in disney world.  Given, it was my first ever open water swim and a mass start, so in itself it was scary, but the part that really threw me off was the water was so dark, you couldn't see your hand in the water in front of you.  This totally disorients.. in the other lakes/river I swim in, they are murky, but you can still stay a bit oriented... So hopefully this lake is a bit more clear :)  

Thanks for the tip! I will keep the mass start frenzy in mind.  One thing about Disney is that they're pretty careful about keeping gators out of the water  even though there's no swimming in the various lakes allowed. They still don't want someone's kid snatched off the beach at the Polynesian.   The only natural lake is the big one outside the Magic Kingdom. All the rest of the water on the resort is man-made.