First outdoor pool swim of the year

The water was 23°C (about 73°F). That's a bit warmer than the open water swim I did a couple of weeks ago, but I also spent a lot more time in the water this time.

It was cold. I didn't like the cold water in my ears, so I got out and went to get some ear plugs. What a difference! I can't believe I'd never tried this before. I'm an ear plug convert. It took my body a long long time to warm up after the swim, though. Even a hot shower didn't really do the trick. In fact, I felt cold for much of the rest of the day (this was yesterday after the ride). Weird.

Swimming in the outdoor pool is different from swimming indoors. There was a bit of wind and there were waves in the pool! Just little ones, but I could feel them moving me around as I was swimming. Or maybe that was Ronnie (see my whale post below) swimming in the lane next to me -- there are no lane lines up yet, so there was nothing to break the moving water.

Regardless of the cold water and the "waves", I'm glad to be swimming outdoors again, although most of my swimming will still be done in the indoor pool.